Hello,

First off, thanks for providing a place for us auto body novices to get answers. I am working on a 1966 Chevelle that is currently completely disassembled due to the amount of rust that came with the car. I am currently working on the on the cowl and wanted to get some advice before I get too much further.

My primary questions being, is it necessary to strip paint out of all the nooks if there is no apparent rust in that area?

For rust pits, media blasting is the best solution but do products like Eastwood rust encapsulator or converter provide a comparable dilution or do they just hide the rust until a to be determined date?

I am planning on doing a lot of prep on my car but not painting it myself, what is the recommended epoxy primer to go with? I've read multiple posts on the subject and they all seem to vary depending on the top coat vendor.

How do you treat rust in hidden/hard to reach areas? In this instance I'm referring to the inner cowl area but I also know I have some rust along the roof pillars under the roof that I would like to treat but don't see a real way to accomplish that feat.

Last, I envision I will be working on this for a year or two longer before it is ready for paint. Once I am down to bare metal do I need to do anything beyond cleaning with w&g(any recommendations?) and a couple coats of epoxy primer?

Hidden Rust


Not fully stripped metal


Rust pits


Thanks,
Jeff

I suggest you try to get your pictures showing.

If you want the car done right:
1. Strip all the old paint off
2. Remove the rust don't try to convert or encapsulate it, this may mean cutting out rusted metal and replacing with good metal
3. You want to use a quality epoxy primer. Some are very expensive because of the brand name but ********** and Tamco (sold here in storefront) are quality products with reasonable price tags.
4. Rust is like a cancer that eats from the inside out. If you know it is inside your rocker panels or roof pillars Ospho or other phosphoric acid based rust converters will stop it for a while but in reality how will you know you actually treated all the rust that is inside?
Best to cut open the area to see the extent of the rust and then remove it or replace the metal.

Your pictures are not showing up.

chevman wrote:Your pictures are not showing up.

It would seem you cant link from Google Photos anymore so I moved them over to imgur and re-linked, the pictures are showing up now.

Jeff

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:I suggest you try to get your pictures showing.

4. Rust is like a cancer that eats from the inside out. If you know it is inside your rocker panels or roof pillars Ospho or other phosphoric acid based rust converters will stop it for a while but in reality how will you know you actually treated all the rust that is inside?
Best to cut open the area to see the extent of the rust and then remove it or replace the metal.

Here is a picture from the top left corner of the roof. I'm not concerned about the window channel or the rusted section of the drip rail since I will replace those when I install the new brace but I did find surface rust inside the supports that run the length of the roof. That would be the primary reason for my question. Based upon what you are saying, it would be best to open up the channel all the way down and sand blast it and then prime it. My thoughts are that I can treat the inside in that fashion but I would have to remove the roof skin to treat the other side.


Things that come to mind to me are its lasted 50 years with only surface rust so it likely to last another 50 but then again I have a high desire to do it right. So philosophically, what is the right or more correct way to approach this? So here I am soliciting advice and insight.

Thank you for your input and advice,

Jeff

like you said, it lasted 50 years out in the weather most of the time. if you keep it dry and inside during the winter left untreated if will probably last another 50 years or more. you could clean it up as best you can by hand and coat everything with epoxy that you can spray and brush on. anal is anal, but to much anal is well just to much.
Jay D.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:3. You want to use a quality epoxy primer. Some are very expensive because of the brand name but ********** and Tamco (sold here in storefront) are quality products with reasonable price tags.

Thanks for the advice, I do see three Tamco products in the storefront. Looks like a universal epoxy, a 2k rust killer, and a 2k. Any recommendation between the three?

Also, I've been looking around at primer guns. Any thoughts on this kit from HF http://www.harborfreight.com/profession ... 94572.html
I'm just planning on shooting primer so it looks like it would fit the bill for standard primer but would need a different tip for high build primers.


Thank you for your input,
Jeff

Jeff

do a search for cavity paint gun or similar, i'm not sure that's the correct terminology. but they have long tube with a 360 deg. nozzle. you can poke it in places you couldn't normally reach with a gun or brush. they were made for rocker panels and would shoot wax preservative. my boy uses one sometimes and at times shoots epoxy out of it. might be something you could use. i'm thinking Eastwood has them.
Jay D.

Jeff, you could also go with a quart kit of epoxy and coat the underside and all nooks/crannys -- then use either one of the 2K DTM primers as an overall primer.

Jay - is that a 'shutz' gun? For undercoating...but might also work for primer (?)

badsix wrote:do a search for cavity paint gun or similar, i'm not sure that's the correct terminology. but they have long tube with a 360 deg. nozzle. you can poke it in places you couldn't normally reach with a gun or brush. they were made for rocker panels and would shoot wax preservative. my boy uses one sometimes and at times shoots epoxy out of it. might be something you could use. i'm thinking Eastwood has them.
Jay D.

Thanks Jay,

I found this guy at Eastwood - http://www.eastwood.com/undercoating-gu ... ottle.html

As for the HF gun, I was looking at that just as a primer gun.

Thanks again,
Jeff