I'm one of what seems to be the minority of guys on here who doesn't have a garage of any sort, and limited storage space. I live in what would pass for "rural" up here in Northwest Jersey, where rust not only never sleeps, it seems to be on steroids. To that end, I was wondering how many of you have had to find ways of preserving your parts while off of the car, in ways that the garage-endowed might snub their noses at? I have found myself hitting my already rusting vintage panels/doors/etc with rust reformer to get it through the time period until I can clean up the parts correctly and get them painted and put back on the car. I figure I can just use the ol' trusty airplane paint remover to strip them down hard core when I get around to it. I'm originally from TN, and it terrifies me to see how much more quickly rust begins to form, and how existing rust seems to work double time to turn my tin into shit. Anyone else out there do anything similar, or should I have just kept this to myself as I'm about to get burned by the pros on the board?
Go get a SMALL storage unit. Probably 40-50 bucks a month and store your car goodies in it. Keeps them, dry and safe......
i had a garage but by time i striped the car the garage was full and i built the car outside. sometimes parts had to be brought in the house, things got a bit easier when i started using epoxy primer, i also had about 6 cats, 3 of them claimed my car as there teritory and kept pissing on everything wich also was like rust growing on steriods. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3337111#post3337111
I considered the storage unit thing, but up here in Jersey I don't know of any that go for 50 a month. I have an aluminum shed out back, but seems like things rust in there, too! Like love, rust finds a way. I'm trying to be good on my money spending so my accountant wife will look kindly upon me buying a covered metal carport to protect my junk from the hard ass winter we're supposed to have this year. I.....hate.....snow.
If your aluminum shed has a dirt floor, then you're going to have moisture problems, and the only difference between it and outside is you won't have snow on your stuff. If this shed is large enough for your storage needs, you could pour a slab inside it, and make sure to use a vapor barrier. Then foam caulk the hell out of any gaps between the new floor and the metal walls. Additionally, you may need a vent up top to allow airflow and keep the condensation down. Alternatively, you could spray a primer coat of oil all over everything. As far as explaining it to your wife, your going to lose all that money you've already invested if you don't protect what you already have. It WILL be destroyed.
She doesn't give me crap about much, but going out to drop $1500 on the carport is an amount that we have to make room for in the budget. My shed has a wood floor, and has gaps all over the damn place. Things don't rust *as* quickly in there, but they rust nonetheless. I might go for gold and convince here to put a full fledged garage on the property...$$$$$$. In the mean time, I figured that hitting the panels with a couple of rattle cans of rust inhibitor would keep them safe whilst stored in the shed until next spring, when I'll strip them down bare and do it right.
You could line the whole shed by taping or stapling plastic sheet over the internal walls & roof. It would be good on the floor too but you would need to cover the floor with some old carpet etc.
Seal your shed and run a power line out there for a dehumidifier, I use one in my shed, keeps everything fairly moisture free.
When I built my shed (wood) I placed thick plastic sheeting between the decking and floor joists and what I do store in there does not seem to rust. By the way, I have seen guys store bikes and parts in tin sheds with dirt floors and I'd have to say you may be better off leaving stuff outside on a sheet of plywood. With the moisture coming out of the ground and the metal sweating there are probably not many more toxic environments when it comes to metal than a tin shed with a dirt floor.
I used to use permatex gasket adhesive on drums and rotors that I'd pull off junkers and resurface and store til they sold. Then spray em with carb or brake cleaner to put em in service. It worked great. http://www.permatex.com/products/Au...Permatex_High_Tack_Spray-A-Gasket_Sealant.htm
It wouldn't be advisable to use that on rotors w/the calipers on them, would it? Would the carb cleaner do the job of getting it off the caliper, too?
Throw a tarp down on the floor of your shed to block moisture. Liberally apply the following products. Gibbs Brand - pricey, but DAMN the stuff actually works as advertized. http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/#intro Hit your bare sheetmetal and machined surfaces with this first and then bury it with LPS-3. LPS-3 Get it by the gallon jug or five gallon pale.....use a pump up garden sprayer with the nozzle's opened up a bit, don't bother with the wimpy spray bombs. Washes off in a parts washer. Use it on just about anything. http://www.lpslabs.com/product_pg/corrosion_pg/lps3.html Cheap motor oil (new oil, not used) works OK, cheap grease is better....but doesn't clean up as easy. You should look into monthly storage facilites. Its usually cheaper than replacing parts/reworking them....and once your accountant wife sees how the storage costs climb she'll no doubt come to her senses on building a larger shed/car port/etc or even a garage. The rust inhibitor coatings suggestion still applies regardless of where you store, as you know, the condensation is what really gets you. -Bigchief.
$1500 for a carport ? I built a wood shed 10'X12' for that. Think about building a nice garage. Single bay. You can add on later. In the long run will be worth the effort.
personally i wouldnt use oils or anything with silicone to protect the parts. if you strip a panel in a day and prep it and epoxy primer it the next day it should be safe for a while in the tin shed or under a car port, when it come time to apply the filler just scuff it up and put the filler over the epoxy primer. then once the filler is done you just put another 2 coats of epoxy over it and then put on your normal primer, the epoxy will help stop moisture getting through. with chassis and suspension parts i just prepped them on saturdays with a twist knot cup brush, sandpaper and scourers and primed them on sundays and then painted parts primed the weekend before on the sunday afternoon. the mistake i was making at first was prepping too much stuff to get the primer on in time and having to redo half of it the next weekend.
Living also in a rural area found no one kicks up a fuss if I have a couple of old station wagons and a caravan parked out the front, each is filled with carefully boxed parts. I do have a garage , but that's pretty full too.
Bags, bags, bags for parts. Slather rusty Paintless areas with oil. Will one of those as- seen -on -television electric buzzer paint sprayers throw oil? Probably... As said above, line that shed and floor with plastic and old carpet as a pad. Don't let metal stuff touch ground or concrete. If shed is tiny, build it a second floor a little more than half way up...heavy stuff on ground, relatively light stuff on platform, more efficient than stacking from floor to ceiling. If there is a real roof or much pitch, rafter area up should get actual rafters and some floor so small stuff can go there. Use of house depends on how much house stuff you and wife hoard...if there is not lots of stuff like old wedding presents and yogurt makers preserved forever, under and behind the couch, under the bed, etc. can take the best small parts most worthy of being out of the weather. Flat things can stand up against the wall behind your clothes in the closet. Areas under eaves are frequently just walled off in old houses...knock a hole in that wallboard wall and put in a simple cabinet door from someone's remodeling...North Joisey has GREAT garbage picking! Around here I can count on plentiful free lumber, carpeting, and kitchen pieces in the trash all the time from frantic yuppies remodeling everything in sight. Use of house requires NOT riling wife with tripping hazards and mysterious heavy things that fall over everytime a closet is opened. I can still remember my daughter's reaction when she tripped over a Merc crank in the kitchen and fell onto three more...this was a public relations debacle. The cranks were all right, though...
you think you got it bad i live less than 1000 feet from the atlantic ocean and believe me the minute you take the oil residue off a piece of metal it starts rusting . shit i bought one of those corvette repop grilles shit started rusting by the time i went from long island to detroit for the autorama. your best bet is do like the guys say and get it down to bear metal and epoxy prime the shit out of it. then when your ready to paint scuff and spray. everything I have that is chrome before I put it away for the winter I put a heavy coat of meguiars wax on the body and mothers on the chrome and aluminum throw the cover on it and thats it seems to work for me. It might be only in my minds eye but I think it works. this is what my garage looks like if you can call it that.
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