Reply To Thread Removing heavy Sheet Metal Rust and sealing. (pics)

[dust]

I’m looking for advice on how to remove the heavy rust from my Dodge’s body.
I’m on a tight budget so I may not be able to afford expensive equipment to get it all out.
If that’s that case, how do I seal the small rust pits before paint?

 

[1969GTS]

Sand it down, Rust Mort or acid etch and a good high solid EP primer(high zinc). Thats what I have been doing for years and have had great luck.

 

[pastortom1]

Apart from expensive media blasting, you can either buy yourself a small inexpensive sand blaster gun with a cup on it (for cleaning the deepest areas of rust) and use an 80 grit round grinder disc on an electric buffer.....you can pick up what you need at Sears usually.....or check your local body supply for the discs...usually 7" to 9" round discs that attach to the buffer like a buffing pad....somewhat flexible so they won't gouge your steel.

If you work carefully with an 80 grit disc, you can do a pretty good job......One fender etc. at a time, followed up by a good self etching primer. Don't let the bare metal set....get it primered......self etch or good epoxy primer.....and when you grind, you'll discover the dings and dents you didn't see so you can fill them properly.

You can smooth out the areas that were ground with very light coats of plastic body filler (after roughing up your primer)........let it dry and block sand with 80 grit 'til she's smooth again.

 

[SleeperScamp]

Rust ????? What rust ?????? That does not look like rust to me...... If that is as bad as it gets you have a good solid project..... The other guys gave you the right advice.... You may look at Eastwood's for there rust " stuff " forgot the name suppose to be some real good stuff.... Good luck and keep us informed...

 

[mrtires24]

WHere are you from Dust?

In My books, that looks pretty rust free. Surface rust is never an issue. Listen to the first two posts, and you will be fine. I was expecting holes

Phil

 

[dust]

No holes but many pits especially on roof (harder to see some since
I used that rust to primer stuff to slow the process). The pits are
what worry me, how do I get all the rust out of them, if I can't how
do I seal the rust and keep it from spreading?

 

[pastortom1]

Get a small sandblasting gun from your parts store........they have a small canister on them for small amounts of fine beach sand (white sand).......blast your pits with that.....it'll take a couple of minutes, then you can just scrape the rest off with an 80 grit disc, or 80 grit paper.

 

[2 Darts]

I've used a soft grade wire wheel brush to get rid of rust. If you have to get a sander, go for a dual action orbital. They come in electric and pneumatic models. They are the best at not leaving a sanding pattern.

Definitely primer over clean bare metal. If you're using a rattle can, use no more than you need to cover the area. It will have to be sanded off when you put automotive grade primer on the car. Some auto primers will not adhere to the rattle can stuff very well.

Caution about the wire wheel brush.
1. If you hit body filler it will dig down into it.
2. Use a new wire wheel on some heavy metal, like the K-frame first. This will set the direction of the wires.
3. Once you get the wire wheel "set", DO NOT reverse the direction of rotation. If you do, it will dig into sheet metal until the wires "re-set" their direction.