Fixing Rusty Body Seams
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Fixing Rusty Body Seams
Not that my truck has any rust where the cab seams are... 
I was wondering what, short of letting it swim freely in a big tank of phosphates and such, would be a good way to stop rust from forming between the layers of sheetmetal on the seams and mitigate existing damage.
I have an old English car that could really use some help in the future.
I was wondering what, short of letting it swim freely in a big tank of phosphates and such, would be a good way to stop rust from forming between the layers of sheetmetal on the seams and mitigate existing damage.
I have an old English car that could really use some help in the future.
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From: NM
Are you talking about bolted-together pieces or the welded-up pieces of the structure? If welded, I think all you can do is try to keep water out of there with something like Eastwood's seam sealer.
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From: West London, England
Clean the seams as best you can with a sand blaster, I use one of those small hand held spot blasters that catch most of the sand and re-cycle it
If any holes appear weld in new metal
Paint on a phosphate rust converter, epoxy primer then seam sealer
If any holes appear weld in new metal
Paint on a phosphate rust converter, epoxy primer then seam sealer
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same thing
This would be the spot welded seams; two flanges put together and spot welded. My '72 Mini has seams that the flanges point out from the body rather than into the interior. They are then covered with a "U"-shaped piece of steel. Rust can be everywhere on these cars, but those seams are especially bad on some of them.
I have used RustMort in the past on surface rust. It's a liquid phosphate solution that's about as thin as water. Is that the kind of you're talking about Steve? My concern there would be that it may not dry and therefore continue to acid etch the metal over time. I guess I could apply some heat with my heat gun and force it to dry.
I have used RustMort in the past on surface rust. It's a liquid phosphate solution that's about as thin as water. Is that the kind of you're talking about Steve? My concern there would be that it may not dry and therefore continue to acid etch the metal over time. I guess I could apply some heat with my heat gun and force it to dry.
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From: West London, England
I am not familiar with rustmort I haven't seen it here in the UK but it sounds like it will be fine. The product I use sounds the same and dries fairly quickly, the hot air gun should be fine to speed things up
I know the seams you mean on the old minis, can you get to the inside of the seam, if so I would clean, treat and seal from the inside as well, might be worth sealing the channel before you put it back on
Its funny, I'm here in the UK fixing up a American truck while you are in the USA restoring a mini
Stephen
I know the seams you mean on the old minis, can you get to the inside of the seam, if so I would clean, treat and seal from the inside as well, might be worth sealing the channel before you put it back on
Its funny, I'm here in the UK fixing up a American truck while you are in the USA restoring a mini
Stephen
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Go figure it. I didn't realize you had the Union Jack as your avatar thing! I've been trying to install camber adjusting kits in the front and rear suspension of my Mini. I started at the back end only to find that the whole rear subframe was junk. I thought cars from New Zealand were supposed to be "rust free". I'm beginning to think it means the rust is free! Anyway, thanks for the input and have a good time working on your truck.
