northeast drivers, rust prevention tips?

If you spray oil or undercoating inside the doors roll the windows up first.

 

in ct .I have a 4x4 bronco 3 inch lift 3 inch suspension lift 36 inch tires I only drive in the winter ( hot rods in summer) To get ready for this winter I just replaced trans lines gas lines and brake lines .Have pin holes in rearend housing I put small screws in and epoxyed over . replacing gas tank tomm after putting patches in the frame . Appears the chemicals they put on the roads now react and eat metal when temp hits 70 degrees . so if you just park it and dont clean good you will spend time to fix like i just did

 

I've been getting my drivers oiled for years.The oil soaks into the pinch welds,welded seams and anyplace salt and water collect.I rebuilt my 98 ranger 12 years ago and have driven it every winter since 2000.I have never replaced any brake lines or fuel lines and have no rust anywhere. It's getting alittle harder to find people who do oiling nowadays,because of environmental regs,but there are still a few around here.Yes I am in the heart of the rust belt,We even have a beer called "rust Belt". the worst thing you can do is keep the vehicle in a heated garage after driving.every time the snow wnd ice melt off your car you are bathing everything in salt water.

 

Wd-40

 

Short of moving south I think the proverbial "Beater with a Heater"is the
best answer. I chose south about 30 years ago. Who knew you could
actually unscrew a brake line out of a wheel cylinder without mangling
the line? Still,I miss autographing those fresh parking lots in 200' tall
cursive lettering...

 

yup ---thats the sum of it

 

Just replaced shackles, brake lines, and did backing plates last year on my 2001 S-10 Pickup. All rotted. Once the salt and chemicals hit the road the 32 stays in the heated garage.

 

yeah man. i had a 95 and my mom had a 97 both with the i6 and they are some bomb proof motors. the 4 banger is just as reliable. his has 168k on it but for the money i figure what the hell. i know a couple people who have run the i6 well north of 300k with zero issues

 

Took the car off the road in Connecticut, fixed the rust, and put it back on the road in California.

 

Good thread. Would love to keep hearing ideas. I put both my summer daily late model ho rod and my vintage car BOTH away for the winter and drive a 35 year old vintage 4x4. I love the truck but it is almost 100% rust free and I feel sort of guilty for exposing it to the slop. I undercoat it heavily EVERYWHERE every fall, and am thinking of spraying some sort of oil inside of the quarters and doors, etc. My concern is the smell of the oil in the summer as I do use the toy then too. Staying tuned for more ideas.

 

I've been using Fluid Film the last few years and it seems to be working O.K.
It's actually lanolin based and you can brush it on steel,aluminum,rubber,etc.
It soaks in and stays put-Good Stuff!

 

PS: I don't know what they are using in Indiana now, but even on 25 year old pickup trucks that already have significant rust, they seem to get twice as bad in a single year. It seems a crime that the government is putting down something that is that corrosive. Can't be good on our late model daily drivers either.

 

I'm sure there are road de-icers available that won't eat your car up,but it's probably a political thing.Cargill has huge salt mines in Central NY and other areas of the country that employ a lot of people plus the car manufacturers don't want vehicles to last forever.

 

The Fluid Film NAS semi-gel rust preventative is the only effective thing I have found. Have been using it for several years and it has stopped the rust on daily OT cars and plow truck. Goes on easy, smells good, and WORKS. Has to be done each fall and will creep into all the seams and pinch welds. I remove tail lights, door panels etc. and spray inside and all of underside and it will still be coming out around the edges the next spring. Attracts dust and dirt big time.
Link to company ---I have no connection with them other than Happy customer.
http://www.kellsportproducts.com/index.html?gclid=CLOgx9n2-rMCFUOK4AodqGQAmw

 

When I used to work on Twin Otter float planes on the west coast (salt water is TOXIC to aluminum) we would coat the interiors of the fuselage with LPS-3. It's the best corrosion prohibitor I know, repels water on contact.

 

Interestingly, I found that my '47 Hudson has large "windows" all along the bottom face of the inner doors...original from the manufacturer. Those big square holes don't allow any moisture or crap to remain in there...and the door bottoms are cancer free.

 

I sold mine for $3,700 4 months ago. If you can get one for $1,000...thats a good deal.

 

A friend swears by yearly oil spray. The coat the underneth, inside doors, rockers, any access hole gets oil ect. About $40 to have it done. Seems to help for sure, his 87 Truck was done since new.... has rust on the roof above the windshield only
Al Gore would not like it, it drips for a few weeks.
Try to find an old water/airpressure fire extinguisher, fill it with oil and go crazy. I have one now, at 100 psi in it it will spray cold used oil about 12 feet. I need a nozzle to be effective though.
On my 54 Ford, I am painting the frame and oild spraying inside to keep it nice. Also coating the floors, inside fenders and doors with bedliner because I drive it alot, just not in the snow. Yea yea yea, I know, what am I hiding? LOL

 

WD-40 is good because it polymerizes, but stay away from penetrating oils because they can cause paint problems.

Non-detergent motor oil between panels is good for bolts and prevents rust if paint wears off in a seam.

BEST OPTION - Oil is a chemical rust prevener while paint is mechanical.

I have tried the sacrificial anode thing... sometimes it causes galvinic corrosion where the two dis-similar metals touch. I bought zinc strip for roofing (moss killer) and put it under bolts lika a floppy washer. Unsure of results so far.

 

Solution: put them away for the winter. I drive an emasculating, embarrassing 2000 Saturn 4 banger in the winter here in NY. It gets 36 mpg and it doesn't give a flying shit about getting salty and rusty, and neither do I. I haven't washed the shitbox since I bought it and it's paid for itself 10x over already. It does the dirty work while the toys sleep in the garage.

 

this is the perfect example of what i meant in my first post. if you study how and why cars rot you will find it is from trapped moisture, the salt/crap they use just speeds it up.
i have never run the numbers, but wonder if you spend $1500 a year on a winter beater, would it just pay to redo the underside of your old car every now and again? around here to put a set of wheels under you, with maintenance, initial cost, and resale/junk, that is the number +-. so if we know the spots that our particular vehicles rot we can address those areas when we redo it the first time. my truck, '39 gmc, work truck for 20+ years, has rust showing now and needs to be redone but if i were to figure in the yearly cost, what it is still worth, and subtract what it will take to repair the numbers would be a lot less per year.
in full discloser; rusty cars are my living...let em rot...i'll fix it.

 

I add wax to the mix to prevent dripping.I use toilet ring seal (new) .
Pat

 

Thanks for clarifying the "new" part. Figured the "seasoning" on the wax ring may be the secret to a long happy life for the old iron.

 

Wow - it's like reading a horror story.

 

Lesson learned from experience from our time in Baltimore. Don't just think about body parts. Pay attention to stuff like brake lines, too. Had a steel brake line rust in two on a '90 Ford Ranger. No body rust on it at all.

 

Another thing I try to do is shove a water sprinkler under my cars on a day that's above freezing.If you move it around every 10 minutes or so it does a good job of flushing mud/dirt/salt out.

 

How are you heating the oil and wax?

 

I'm thinkin possibly internal rust. Brake fluid adsorbs water and must be changed every 3 to 4 years or so to prevent internal (or is it infernal) rust.

 

The Northeast sucks this time of yr for the car/ MC people. Since I have both, this is the worst time of yr for me. Ill ride my motorcyle pretty much daily untill they start salting which was just this past week.
Now that the roads are crusted w/ salt, everything will get put away over the next week or so and nothing will see road time till the pavement is black again.

Its just the way it is, nows the time of yr to build a rework.


Jeff

 

My first post on the hamb was about this same topic. I killed my model A street rod by daily driving it daily for 95,000 miles in 6 years. Rusted everywhere. Knowing I wanted to do this I went nuts coating things. There was a gallon of rustoleum inside the coupe. There was por 15 in the fenders and a ton of Bedliner under the fenders. The wheel wells rotted behind the por 15 which held the salt and water against the fresh steel replacement panels. The fenders were subject to holding road salt at the wire bead. I'm now trying out cold gavinizing spray to go under paint. I am also not going to use it as a truly daily driver as I bought myself a plastic car (C6 'vette) as a daily driver. Good luck but I doubt you can beat the rust unless you can truly galvanize the panels after you finish your bare metal and your welding is all done like the current oems do. Good luck! MIKE