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I just picked up a pretty nice hood for my '56- no signs of rust in the usual places underneath- which is good. As you can see- surface rust is the issue. I'm sure you guys have ideas- so what's the best way to tackle surface rust issues?
sand it clean and primer it with good primer is what I have done. The body shop used a black primer that is waterproof or something like that but they use it all the time on cars and trucks. I am not what you would call pro more like a woooooh! I have used some stuff called renew that works until you are ready to start working on the body.
It's been almost 2 years, and with the exception of some areas that i did not cover very well i have had no rust show up. Before spraying I used a paint stripping wheel on an angle grinder to remove as much rust as possible.
But don't worry it will fit perfectly and know looks like us will know. In 56 the hoods had two flat bolt heads at the back of the hood about 4" apart. Matter of fact I have a 56 hood on my 54. I'll trade you straight up!
There are many options, KBS makes a product called Rust Blaster that dissolves rust completely. Picklex 20 is another that works like magic but is very expensive...I use it when I want perfection and I don't have time to wait. Take a look at this video and be amazed...
Home depot sells a product. Krud litter, "the must for rust". Works really good. I used it on some parts of my truck where I was leaning on bare metal. Works fast and prevents rust and can be painted over with no issues they say.
Check out a product called OSPHO. You can get it at West Marine by the quart for around $25.00 or a gallon for alot more. Check their website for pricing. It is expensive but goes on like water so it goes a long way. OSPHO causes iron oxide (rust) to chemically change to iron phosphate. You can use the apple cider vinegar but the OSPHO really works good. You will have to sand after the OSPHO drys then prime. A little experimenting is a good idea.
I would take it to someone and have it sandblasted to bare, clean metal. It won't cost much, and it is the only way to truly and completely insure that the rust won't be a problem.
I look at rust from this point of view:
I am going to spend hundreds of hours doing the body work on my truck, and tens of hours painting and polishing it, and probably at least $1,500.00 on primer, paint, etc. After all of that, I do not want to see rust bubbling my paint after a year or two, so all of the rust must go. I know that a lot of guys swear by POR15, Ospho, and various other rust convertors; but face it, rust is rust, and I personally don't want to take a chance that the rust convertor doesn't do its job.
The roof on my '37 Buick was sun bleached and pretty much stripped of paint for who knows how many years. It had deep pitted rust but on such a large piece of sheet metal I didn't want to blast it for fear of warping it. I used what Chad suggested,
It has phosphoric acid in it. It worked great, got the rust out of the deep pits, you could see clean metal in the pitted metal. I used a stainless steel brush to agitate the solution and keep it wet.
forgot all those bad ideas.sand with a da or random orbit best u can.
oshpo does work.i prefer metal prep. follow instructions to a t.
best is to get it blasted,never use media.sand blast edges only,never blast large flat surfaces.if you use crushed glass you may it wont warp it.but keep pressure down.without blasting it you will never get all nooks crannys clean.every rust spot must be removed,rust neutrilzers are a scam.
use a decent epoxy only primer.nothing else.
once you blast it you cant use oshpo or metal prep
Thats similar acid same as osoho.but eastwoods stuff is low end.still converting rust is a bandaid solution
Why not remove it?use real muriatic acid like metal prep and it removes the rust.rust only needs one molecule of air and moisture to come back.
For a daily driver why not.for a nice truck your gonna put tons of money into.i would never do it.
Only way to stop rust is to elimate it.
Google por 15 failure.about 16 trillion hits.its a so called rust converter
, POR, "Rust encapsulator", Zero Rust and all the other products such as this is like using perfume to cover up body odors
They are "Magic potions" and don't "fix" anything, just "encapsulate" that is a marketing term for "cover up" How many cans of this stuff would they sell if they called it "Coverup"?
As I have said before, they have their place. Not every car, trailer, truck, tractor, wheelbarrel, lawn mower, bridge, swingset, etc. "Deserves" to be sand blasted, etch primed, urethane or epoxy primed and painted with a SS urethane top coat. So these products are great for some projects.
You just can't expect them to "work" everytime. You are spinning a roulette wheel when you use them.
If you sandblasted the metal clean, applied etch primer, and then epoxy or urethane, it WOULD work. If it didn't you screwed up. You are walking a tight rope trying to cover up rust with one of these products.
