This is the quarter panel on my 55 olds super 88. As you can see, there is some pitting in the metal under where the stainless was, and various minor/moderate pitting throughout the rest of the body. I will be using high build epoxy primer before paint, my question is, what should I do to prevent this rust from coming back through? Will it be okay just grinding off as best I can and going over with the epoxy primer? Im open to any suggestions. Thanks guys.
After 39 yrs, like he said. You might want to give it a light coat of zinc chromate primer right after blasting then your epoxy primer, then filler for the pits if the primer doesn't cover after sanding. Problem is a thick layer of any material is not ideal especialy under trim. Cross your fingers it holds in the long run, say 5-10 yrs. I must stress thou, prime those spots right after blasting and don't touch them with your hands to keep any oils and sweat off from you hands. Another thing is wait for a nice dry day and avoid humidity for blasting and priming. Another thing about blasting. Use fine sandblasting sand and make sure you have ALL those black spots clean til it looks grey like the rest. Critical. One little black dot of rust or rust than is almost turned black to carbon can grow under the primer because nothing really sticks to rust and adhesion will give out resulting in a bubble under the paint.
I use a product called Phix. It converts rust to a zinc coating. It seals up the rust so that it doesn't come back. I havens had a problem with it causing any paint or filler problems later on. I think its the only reason that my truck is holding paint.
I'd use some naval jelly and make sure I got all that rust out, sandblasting will only remove most of the rust and still leave those very small black/rust spots but a little elbow grease and the naval jelly and you'll get it out completely and just as everyone else has stated make sure once you clean it don't touch it and get it covered with some primer.
What about a converter like OSPHO sprayed first? Has anyone ever used it? I knew a guy who swore by the stuff. Thanks Kevin
Labor is the only answer. That means there's no shortcuts to stopping it. A red Scotchbrite and metal prep is the best answer for a panel with that much tension on it. Blasting w/out experience will give you issues with warpage that will make you wish rust was your only problem. To properly use metal prep, you want to keep scrubbing until the water lays on the panel. If it beads at all, you're not etched. Keep a blow gun handy, rinse with hot water if you can, and once dried the metal should look like a pearlescent blue/gold. At that point you're ready for fill with either 2 coats of polyester primer or start with a quality primer surfacer. Sealing the bare metal with epoxy isn't a bad way to go, but if you need filler it can cause issues (regardless of the success stories of filler over epoxy) so filling 1st is recommended. The fact is that no matter how hard you work at it, there's a possibility it might come back, but since it's under superior materials to the past as well as under some stainless trim, you may never see it in your lifetime. Just remember, no shortcuts, scrub out the rust, dry it well, you'll be fine.
You can remove the rust chemically like stated above, or you can buy a hand held sand blaster for under 20 bucks. Clean up the areas you need to without any damage. Remove ALL rust. Like Highlander said NO shortcuts. Conversion coatings are a band aid for the lazy.
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