The Best way to remove rust from a 80 year old body?

IF you blast it you will get every last bit out if you want to. If you take it too far you will just blow a hole through the sheet metal.

ROB

 

Thanks Rob!

What would be the preparations to take after blasting it to prepare for primer?

 

as a general rule, if Chopolds says it, it is pretty much gospel.

I don't like to kiss alot of ass, but this guy freakin rules.

Picklex...I will track it down and do the Pepsi challenge.

 

I got my first, small sample direct from the manufacturer, down South, Georgia, or the Carolinas. When I decided i liked it, I found that Len, over at autobodystore.com had it, and since he's in NJ, shipping is cheaper.

 

Citric acid...

 

Chemicals are not always the best way to go for a do it yourself 'er. Lot of hazards involved. I heard great things about dupont STAR BLAST, and called blasting media suppliers, and foud it for about 7$ a bag, and told the blasting guy I use that this is what he had to use. It takes about 4 or 5 bags for a model a body. Once done, he goes over the whole thing with baking soda. This preserves the metal, and i can let a body sit in my shop for months without flash rusting. I prep the surface for primer by going over the surface with a DA and some 220 grit or harsher paper. Blow, and vac out every nook and cranny, and clean the surface with prepsolv.

Not to mention it is so easy to start welding little spots of a body back together, add bracing, chop, etc. on a bare steel body.

ROB

 

Rob, I'm also in Wisconsin and am wondering where to get some of this Star Blast? I can imagine shipping being pretty expensive.

 

I'd like to hear more from "Carb-Otto" and his use of citric acid. What form it was in, brand name, % in solution, time, etc.

Regardingling Picklex, I have 10 yearrs of experience using it and it sdes work well. However, it is best used as a preservation material and primer-base after a surface has been cleaned using other processes or methods.

When trying to use it as a primary leaning method and using a spray-on application, it will convert the surface of a rusted panel but does not get to the material below. This can be proven by wire brushing a treated panel and seeing red-rust appear after the top is knocked off of the treated area. Soaking a panel would treat all of the rust although Picklex is not at all cheap so I don't see soaking as a "solution".

- EM

 

9" variable speed sander/buffer with 80 grit pads. Take it to metal to be certain. do it right the first time. You can do that whole thing in a day. Run the sander around 1000 or less so as not to heat the metal.

 

He's probably dead, like your neighbors pets... Silicosis??

 

I've had good luck with Gibbs oil and a DA.

http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/#intro

Terry

 

Redistrip or dipping/soaking can cause problems later because it seems like it will come out from behind rain gutters and other inaccessable places some time later and lift your paint. I have seen it happen before no matter how hard they try to get it neutalized and rinsed out. a DA with sandpaper will remove metal, is slower and doesn't clean it as well as a stripper pad. Picklex sounds interesting, especially in areas that are lightly rusted, but most since most old bodies still have a mixture of paint and rust, I like to do it like this:

I used 3M black paint/rust stripper 4 1/2" pads on a Makita style grinder or the 7" pads with velco backing for the 7" body grinder(Eastwood sells them all) to strip all the rust/paint off the flat panels that are susceptable to warping from blasting. You can work pretty fast and what's nice about it, is you can do a little bit at a time inside your shop without having to set things up and then clean things up every time. When I get all the flat panels done, then I move it outside and sandblast the reveals, corners, pitted areas, nooks and crannies that you couldn't do with the stripper pad. It is the safest way to avoid warpage of the flat panels, especially if you are not experienced. I used a Tractor Supply 20 gal. $129 sandblaster with Black Diamond media, It seems to work much better than silica sand. The pattern with it is wider and it cuts faster (with less heat/warpage). It does leave a coarser finish but you can knock it down with a sanding pad or your filler primer will cover it, since it will have to be blocked out anyway. Here is some before and after pics of my Cabriolet with one side done.

 

I have a 28 Ford sedan with rust similar to your T. I used a 4" wire wheel on a grinder to take it down to bear metal. It worked really well. You must wear eye protection gloves and a pair of coveralls as the wires fly off in all directions as they wear off. It doesn't take all that long to do and the results are fantastic. Just primer when done. You can say you did it yourself. Joe

 

You guys taking sanding discs to metal are not doing any good to your sheetmetal. A lot of this rust is deep pits when your talking about a body this old, and to get all of the rust off, you would have to grind so far that the metal would get very very thin. Its only asking for a ton of troule later, especialy if you plan on doing any modification/welding to the body.

Wire wheels do not get all of the rust off. You may think its gone, but it only takes microscopic leftovers to start the rust growing again, but this time inderneath your paint job. Wait a few years, and see all of your hard work gone to crap.

The idea posted above about going over the body with the 3m stripper disc (these remove VERY little metal), and then blasting the problem areas (i.e. deep pitting that using a sanding disc would either not reach, or thin your metal if used to get rid of pitting), is probably your best solution.

Whatever you do, dont sand that sheetmetal thin, it will ruin a nice body forever.

 

I'm leaning towards the stripper disc and blasting with the star blast...

Thanks fellas for all the help!!!
\

 

The coal fired powerplant 5 miles from here sells a residue product called "Black Beauty" for blasting steel. It works quite well and was reasonable last time I needed some.

 

I use a shower, but I'm only 54...

 

Just curious, where is the guy located and what did he charge to do the shoebox woody? If I get lazy, that sure looks like the easy way to "git er dun".

 

Finally found Star Blast available locally in Tempe at Porter and Warner (602 244 9166)@ $20.30 + tax for a 50# bag. Must have went up a bit.
They also carry a product called "Copper Slag" @ $5.31 a bag, its a 30/60 mix. Eqivalant of coal slag I guess.

 

The lower the numbers = corser the grit = more/too agressive, so be careful. 30/60 is pretty agressive. use 40/80 if you can find it. dont try to clean sheet metal completely in on pass you will damage or warp it move lightly and quickly over tin.

You can find this slag stuff at Northern Tool or Tractor Supply also. about $7 a 50# bag

 

he is in Adams minnesota...that's south of rochester . cost was $1100 with front fenders, hood etc

Anderson Blasting 1-877-582-3440

 

Earlymopar, I sent you pm also.

Citric acid can be bought from drugstore (they use it in jelly or such to adjust acidity) but it is very expensive there. Therefore Finnish rodders buy it from some agriculture-store. It is not expensive. Officially it is used as pigs obstruent! I dipped those parts in citric acid for overnight, next day brushed it with wirebrush and flushed it with water. Then again back to citric acid over night and wirebrushed + flushed it next day.
Flushing is important, you'll want to get all acid away, otherwise steel will turn to yellow.
You can't use this method on all parts because of hydrogen brittleness. So no pedals, frames, brake drums, engine blocks or such to citric acid!!! And yeah, parts should be clean -I've cleaned 'em with fuel- because grease will neutralize acid. Ratio was 3%
Parts must be dried soon as you get them flushed, I quess you guys know why...

You're not the only one to ask this, maybe I should write some tech post with more pics some day?

-Otto-

 

I use coal slag as well...

works great the finer slag you dont have to worry about warpage, the heavier grit slag you do...I just used it for door jambs and underside work so I got the heavier grit to cut faster...

 

where do you get coal slag at Salty?

 

I second that.

 

I had a google to see what coal slag is,it appears to made from coal slag and has alu -silicate added to it.
Be aware that ANY fine dust will cuase silicosis especially coal dust .
If you though lung cancer was awful...silicosis is worse!
http://www.optaminerals.com/blackblast_coal_slag.html

 

Sorry for the delayed reply...

Being as we live off the ocean we have alot of major corperations around here that specialize in commercial blasting (bridges and shit) I got mine from one of the local joints...400lbs for $35 you load it

 

I've been using chemical rust removers and converters since the early Seventies. I swear by them. I've got the first parts that I ever used chemicals on, with no coating put on over (i.e. no paint)...and they still look just as good as they did the day that they were done, circa 1973.

My newest favorite (still in the testing it, though) is Rustoleum Rust Reformer in the spray bomb. There are other Rustoleum Rust Reformer products not in a spray bomb...but those are NOT the same product. The spray bomb goes on much like paint and looks like flat black paint. I have a T body that I did with this last November (2006, not 2007). It has sat outside ever since (with no paint over it). NO rust has returned, yet.

I have NEVER had rust return under paint from any chemical treatment that I have ever used.

The only drawback is that it is difficult sometimes to get into all the nooks and crannies, and you usually can't get between two sandwiched together panels.

I'd NEVER let a sandblaster come near any of my sheetmetal.