I'm beginning work on my project Bronco and I have quite a lot of panels to replace. Some places however, will only require sanding and paint as there is some surface rust.

Has anyone used anything to put on this rust to "neutralize" it such as Eastwood Companys "Corroless"? Does it work?

The place the rust is will be a dickens to sand.

I'd like to get out of the sanding in these spots and just put something on it to stop and prevent rust yet is paintable.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Chuck

 

I've always used a sandblaster (pressure tank style). The only other product that removes surface rust that works really well is a 3M Clean-N-Strip disc. I use one on a die grinder. Dont use a drill you cant get the right speed. It is the only product I found that removes the rust and not the metal. You dont want to remove metal during the restoration of the steel. The disc is abrasive enough to deep clean the sheet metal. They are expensive and you need a special chuck for the grinder. Each disc is around $5 bucks. I used around 15 to 20 on my truck.

 

The rust inhibitors work great. Just have to knock off the loose rust and brush it on, The theory is that it dries So hard that air cant get to it, w/o air there is no rust =)

 

Chuck,
As with anything rusted, you need to remove as much loose ruct as possible. There are many brands out there (ospo, por-15, corroless, etc) that will either convert or encapsulte the rust. I would suggest that unless you just can't reach it, remove it or cut it out and replace it. You will definatly get better results in the long run.
The 3m pads that cid mentioned are great for removing the surface rust on panels and will leave the surface smooth but coarse enough for painting. No need to sand two or three times before painting like with sandpaper. I use a drill with mine but it's a Makita high speed drill (3000rpm).
The other alternative is blasting. Someone in your area should do soda or other media type blasting. I recommend you seek there help if you have a lot of rust. They should charge somewhere in the neighbor hood of $40 per hour if you reove everything first. Since they have the proper tools, they can blast much more efficiently than you will ever be able to at home. My cab took less than 4 hours at a local body shop. I took over 4 hrs just to do one floor pan!
I hope we answered our questions. If not, ask away.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

I guess the best approach would be sand-blasting. It's the bed floor in the back. 2 in. wide strips that the grinder wouldn't get to.

I guess I was looking for the easy way out. Dagnabit.

Thanks again,
Chuck

 

If all you have to do is the bed, I would suggest buying a small siphon feed blaster and use playground sand. Set the bed up on saw horses and lay a tarp under the bed, but over the saw horses. This way you can sift the collected sand and reuse some of it. A compressor with as little as 8cfm will work pretty good this way. For as little as your doing, (I was under the impression you were going to do the whole truck) This set up will work but will take some time.

 

Krosati,
Man, if you only knew! I wish I just had the bed to do.

I have to REPLACE:

Floor pans completely
inner front kick panels
inner front fenders
drivers side front fender
4 smaller floor panels

Plus various patches on the door posts front and rear. And extensive dent repair.

Yeah, I know I'd be better off with one of those fiberglass body kits but I don't have the 3 large it would take so....

Another Bronco for the body is also out of the question unless it were practically given to me. (Fat chance lol)

I hardly know where to begin. I'm not scared of it. Just kind of overwhelmed. Should I start with the floor pans, or do the inner kick panels first? They connect so I don't know.

The one thing in my favor is that I'm building it into a roadster so I don't need doors, top, or tailgate. Plus, I'm not in any particular hurry. As long as it's driveable I'm cool.

BTW, it's mechanically perfect! lol

I appreciate you guys help!

Chuck

 

Hey Chuck - maybe I can give you a few ideas:

Since you're wanting/needing to drive it, I'd start out with the areas that won't be seen. If it's interior, I'd wire brush or wire wheel the rusted areas, treat with Ospho (POR's Metal Ready is supposed to be rinsed off), then POR-15 it. Sandblasting will be a huge mess and you'll never get it out of all the interior

>>Floor pans completely<<

So, can you weld? What Steve did with the '41 was cut scrap metal pieces to size, welded to the outer cab floorboard then we Ospho'd then POR. We also used a fiberglass mesh on the inner floorboard after we POR'd for added strength.

>>inner front kick panels<<
>>4 smaller floor panels<<

If these are areas that are covered by carpeting anyway, I'd do the same.


>>inner front fenders<<

Is the problem rust holes or just rust? Visable area or not?


>>drivers side front fender<<

Is the problem dents, rust holes or just rust? May be able to find a fender at a junk yard if it's in too bad of shape.

Just a few ideas to get you started.

 

Since you're wanting/needing to drive it, I'd start out with the areas that won't be seen. If it's interior, I'd wire brush or wire wheel the rusted areas, treat with Ospho (POR's Metal Ready is supposed to be rinsed off), then POR-15 it. Sandblasting will be a huge mess and you'll never get it out of all the interior

Where can I purchase Ospho and POR-15? I hadn't considered the wire brush, or sand getting in the interior. Since it's a roadster, I can see getting myself getting sandblasted driving it down the road!!


So, can you weld?

You betcha!

What Steve did with the '41 was cut scrap metal pieces to size, welded to the outer cab floorboard then we Ospho'd then POR. We also used a fiberglass mesh on the inner floorboard after we POR'd for added strength.

I figured that's what I'd do. Buy the panels since I don't have s/m working equipment and then trim and weld 'em in.

>>inner front kick panels<<
>>4 smaller floor panels<<

If these are areas that are covered by carpeting anyway, I'd do the same.

No carpeting, but I would like to spray the entire interior with bedliner. So, same difference.


>>inner front fenders<<

Is the problem rust holes or just rust? Visable area or not?

Holes. they're not visible, but they are structural (cowl area) so I'll probably tackle these like the floorboards.


>>drivers side front fender<<

Is the problem dents, rust holes or just rust? May be able to find a fender at a junk yard if it's in too bad of shape.

Dents.I think the previous owner tried to hammer it out with a sledge, after hitting a few trees. I'm afraid it's beyond hope, unless someone wanted to make it a career in life.lol

Just a few ideas to get you started.

Thanks, I need all the help I can get!

Steve's a lucky guy to have a mate who's actually interested and TAKES PART in the repairs. You go girl. My wife says, "call me when you're done, I'll be in the house asleep. LOL

Thanks again.

Chuck

 

Hey Chuck - glad to help.

Ospho can be found at Home Depot in the paint department, probably at Lowes too, but HD is only about 2 mins away so that's where we head first. Plus, it's a whole lot cheaper than getting it at an auto paint store.

As for the POR-15, we got ours at the Daytona show, but you can also do a search on the web. Just search for POR-15 and you'll come up with a lot of sites. FYI, it took us less that a quart to do our entire frame (twice) and the floor board. We got another quart in the fridge now, but that's because we've used it on alot of other stuff since.

Good luck with your project.