I just removed my vinal top from my ranchero. It has light serface rust, but it has that dark black rust that sanding dosent remove.

What if I treated it with the Clear Rustolum stuff from napa, then used primer sealer over it and smoothed out the dents with Iceing.

Theres way to many dark rust holes to cut and weld in new plates. any other solutions?

 

Maybe post a picture? I can't picture how sanding wouldn't remove it. I personally like to use a 4.5" angle grinder with a knotted wire wheel for removing most stuff. You could try it and see how it does.

 

ill post a picture later tonight. I have a 5in sander and I was useing 40 grit but I cant seem to get the stuff off

 

I have seen that it is metal discoloration from the oxidation.

But if it will make you feel better you can add a bit of navel jelly to kill it.

 

Soak the rust with a diluted solution of phosphoric acid/water (like Naval Jelly - found in most hardware/grocery stores). I use a 50% acid solution followed with a cleaning with clean water (to stop the acid action). I restore pre 1957 Fords all the time and always wipe down with phos. acid. It's very similar to Dupont metal prep but way cheaper. Won't destroy the metal underneath. It will turn the areas black. Once treated you can paint over once dry. Make sure you wear gloves and don't splash any in your eyes. Make sure you use phosphoric acid and NOT muratic acid. Big difference. Good luck.

 

I just figured out a trick tonight for this. I often soak parts in white vinegar to remove rust. It works like a charm and the vinegar is non-toxic and cheap at $2 a gallon.

Anyways, I was working on removing surface rust from a replacement fender for my truck. I was using a wire wheel on an old drill. I was having a difficult time getting the rust out of the pits, so I put some white vinegar in a $0.99 spray bottle and sprayed all the rust. Let it sit a few minutes and came back to hit it with the wheel. Came off much easier doing it wet with the vinegar. From then on I would spray a little then hit it with the wheel some more. Didnt have to work near as hard as I do when its dry and it worked twice as fast. Each time I sprayed it washed away more rust, showing shiney metal. Had a few stubborn pits, but it worked like a charm overall. I smell like vinegar now though.

 

For the stubborn, hard set rust you could maybe try wetting a rag or paper towel with vinegar and let it sit on the spot wet. Re-wet it once in a while and it should eat out or at least soften the rust so you can remove it. Keep it on there 24 hours and I bet you will be amazed.

 

Thanks for the tip! Now I am going to have to run out and start working on some rusty thing to try this

 

My wheels kept turning after I posted last night, so I had to try the wet rag method too. I hadnt worked on the rustiest part of my new fender yet, so I laid it flat and wet that area with vinegar then laid a paper towel over the whole area, then soaked that with vinegar. I then watched TV for a while and came back and re-wet it one more time before I went to sleep.

Before I left for work I checked it. The paper towel had dried out and was all rust colored. I didnt think it had done much. I sprayed a little more vinegar on it, nothing really happened. Then I just took a metal scraper and lightly scraped the surface. It had an affect, but I couldnt tell how much. I sprayed more vinegar and ALL the surface rust in that spot washed away. Excluding of course the stuff in the pits. I will need the wire brush for that. In about two minutes before I ran out the door, I cleared an area about 5"X5" with minimal effort, just light scraping.

It works!

I would probably only use this overnight method on really tough rust, since there is no sense waiting overnight to remove the stuff you can zap off with a wire wheel or sander, but it does work.