I'm trying to find some sort of chemical I can dip my entire hatch into so I can get at the rust hiding inside of it and hopefully remove all the paint from it, tho that isn't as important.

Anyone know of such a thing? I want to make sure the rust is 100% dead before I go trying to save this thing.

 

Sandpaper and grinder.

If you dip your hatch, you'll have to dip it again in something like e-coat to cover the internal areas you can't reach by hand. If you have such a thing... then do this (on a slightly larger scale)...

 

Tell me a way to get a grinder or sandpaper up inside of the hatch itself and that will work. I already have a way to coat the inside with zinc based primer. but i have no way to physically get to the rust, hence the dipping idea.

And thats a neat Idea tho I think there may be issues with that...

 

You could try an OA (oxycilic acid) bath (sold as wood bleach)

Inexpensive and mild. It's a restoration trick used to get rust spots of off chrome and stainless without marring the finish. But, it may not be strong enough if there is a lot of heavy rust.

Otherwise I would try throwing a bunch of rust converter at it. You wont be able to dip it but you could try a syringe with a hose attached to get it where you need it.

 

I took the rust off of a pair of half axles using something you probably have in your house.

White Vinegar. It did a fantastic job of removing all the rust in just a day or so I was down to bare metal. a quick wash with distilled water hung to dried with a hair dryer and then primed and pained. Surprised me just how well it worked and how long it's lasted. None of the tell tale signs of rust beneath the surface at all.

I'd hate to think of the stink and mess that a ton of rust removing vinegar would make... I've never used it on painted surfaces either. My garage smelled of rusty italian salad dressing for a week.