Hi all, On my 53 Chevy most of the bottom and wheel wells are not full of surface rust. However, the driver side fender must have not been cleaned up when it was put on by the prior owner. I know it had 53 fenders but they were changed to 54 fenders with a 54 grill. I see a lot of surface rust on the inside of that one. Should I buy the black spray paint that rustoleum sells that converts to a primed surface and treats rust and then spray all of the inside? If not what should I do at this point? The body and outside of the fender is alright and I am taking care of a lot of other issues so I'm hoping not to have to do too much work for now. Thanks.
I'd take a wire wheel to it to get the loose stuff off. Then shoot that rusty metal primer and cover with under coating. Then again, I'm sure people will say not to....
Many will say to remove the part and have it sandblasted or dipped and while it's true that is the best way to deal with rust, that process takes time and money. From what I gather, you are not doing a complete tear down. You just want to make your car presentable and drive it. So your goal is to impede the rust, not remove it completely. So, I would first loosen any heavy rust with a wire wheel or flap wheel. You can also tap it with a hammer to knock loose the flaky stuff. Next, brush some Navel Jelly onto the rust. Let it do it's job and then rinse with water. Dry it well with rags (if you have a air compressor, use the airhose for all the tight areas. Scuff it with rough sand paper, wipe down with Lacquer Thinner or Acetone and then spray the rust converter. Once it's dry, scuff again, lightly, with fine sandpaper such as 300 and wipe down again. Then you can spray your desired final coat, be it undercoating, bedliner, eyeliner, enamel. etc............and your done.
Places like that on my '59 I've been blasting the rust off with a wire wheel on an angle grinder, hit it with a SEM primer and painting over it. I had some lesser rust on the inside floor pan, this will be top-coated with a Duplicolor white. Areas exposed like that on the firewall have been painted with a 1-stage car paint, after priming. I have under-side areas that will be sanded/wire-wheeled and hit with POR15.
Thanks, yea I am just working on other things (big brake kit, etc) and will have the wheels off and I did notice that surface rust so I figure I could do something to impede. I'm trying not to do any big teardowns as I've had the car on jackstands for a long time now due to fixing many issues at once. I will follow your suggestions.
I have a gas powered wet sand blaster, so I no longer put up with ANY rust. But before I had that built I'd use wire wheel or just a wire brush, Phosphoric prep&etch in a spray bottle and spend hours spraying acid, waiting, brushing, spraying again.. A 2" roloc disc, 24-60 grit at low speed also breaks up rust pretty quickly without chewing or heating up the metal. I did for a long time use Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer with good results. I tested one side of my truck bed with weathered surface rust by sanding lightly, blowing off the dust and putting on a few light coats of Rust Reformer black enamel. 3+ years later in the weather, the surface rust hasn't come through the enamel. I have top coated it too, but I don't have any idea what's going on under the top coat . It does work, as long as the surface is clean and DRY before you spray it. I like to dry it with a heat gun or a torch to make sure there is no moisture lurking in the pores or in the rust itself. But the stuff coats well, people use it, and it works.
Don't use undercoating it will trap rust underneath and rust out worse. Cheapest and easiest, and will solve the problem, brush off loose rust and dirt with a wire brush and paint with Tremclad or Rustoleum, POR15 or your favorite rust proof paint. The rust paint is cheaper and does a good job if you give it at least 2 coats. POR15 is tougher but expensive and nasty to work with. If you really want to go "uptown" you will take it all apart, so you can get into all the joints and paint everything. With rust paint you do not have to get all the rust off, just the loose flakes, dirt, and grease. A cheap alternative is to spray the underside of the car with old oil then drive over a dusty dirt road. Do this a few times and you will build up a thick greasy coating that is totally rust proof. No kidding, I have taken apart cars in junk yards, if they had leaky motors and transmissions the oil soaked floor boards and frame were like brand new if you scraped off the grease.
Thanks that is great advice. I'm going to clean with a wire brush and spray with Rustoleum rust reformer. I noticed the rest of the car is super full of black grease.. like caked all over the frame and underside. It's nasty to work on the car even to do simple things but it seems to have kept rust away.
First things first....are you worried about the rust because it looks ugly? or because you're afraid it will get worse? If you're concerned about how it looks, then knock off the loose stuff and spray it with something black, and it'll look ok. If you're concerned about it rusting away, then don't worry about it, it will be fine. You don't plan on driving it through Minnesota in the winter on salted roads or anything, do you?
Thanks, I was mainly worried about it getting worse. The rest of the car is black underneath from the grease, oil, dirt, and some type of undercoat so I thought I'd try to match that. No it will be driven in San Diego close to the coast but only every other Sunday for a couple hours or so then back in an enclosed garage.
I probably would break out the wire brushes and sand paper if it were me. or invest in POR 15 and go for it that way.
Sandblast them or dip them in molasses.I think thats the way to get rid of the rust. I have sandblasted parts like that,then primered or powdercoated them.
Have any of you guys tried to clean the rust off the inside of a fender while it was still on the car? Wear your eye and breathing protection. To expect him to polish off every trace of rust is asking too much, and unnecessary if using rust paint or POR 15. I would be brush painting it and maybe spray painting the seams and corners that were hard to get at with the brush. And, coming back for a second and third coat. To do it properly would be to tear the front end apart to the last nut and bolt, sandblast or dip all the parts, removing every trace of rust, then repainting from scratch, building up and sanding smooth several coats of primer and filler then giving the whole thing a custom paint job. Give the poor guy a break, all he wants to do is stave off rust for a few more years.
Thanks. I'm thinking light sand and then rusteoleum rust reformer. It can't be worse than the way it is. I've been working on so many issues on the car since January and have driven it maybe 3 times for a few miles and will lose all interest if I do any more major tear downs. Eventually I'd like to do it the way some suggest and take the fender out etc.. but I need to get back to driving this thing pretty soon before I just get rid of it altogether.
Rusty is absolutly correct, scrape the big stuff off and paint with rustoleum or por15 and never worry about if again
Its only surface rust,use steel scour pads and get rid of any dirt,RattleCans are a car guys best friend,i use fishoil ,it doesn't flake and it protects the surface!
I would skip the POR or rust reformer or whatever. The rust you see is typical on cars in the southwest, after 50+ years. The metal is not going to suddenly rust away or anything. Sheesh.
Thanks the 53 Chevy is from Los Angeles originally however the front fenders came from a 54 Chevy and not sure from where.
Perfect candidate for por15. Wire Brush it, degrease, brush on por15, let it cure then hit it with some chassis black.