Help me remove the rust from the belly of the beast
 

I have minimal surface rust on my frame rails that needs to go before it gets cancerous. This is the only spot I am concerned with right now, other than the patch I need on the drivers side floor board, or the gas filler neck.

I'm more of a 'put things together' guy, and have never messed with cosmetics, how would I go about removing the rust from the rails, and then what should I coat the rails with to keep them from rusting in the future?

I've been doing it old school with a block & varying grits of sand paper. its a bit of work but its worth it. as far as coating I've read that spray on bedliner / undercoating works great. ( I'm new to bodywork so I'm not sure how truthful the last bit is)

It's almost impossible to get rid of the rust without cutting it out. There is usually enough moisture in the rust itself (red rust is iron oxide and water). The best you can do is remove the scale and use a rust converter. You want to remove most of the rust but not down to bare metal. I think Conquest is the best one out there from the research I've seen done. Tannic acid is the active ingredient and its commonly used along with phosphoric acid as well. Don't forget that it needs to be sealed afterwards with a paint, etc. A little trick to getting Conquest where you can't reach with a brush, etc is to thin it out with a little water so you can put it in a spray bottle.

yeah, the rust converter is good. Another way is to blast it with starshot a glass bead. It gets into places sandpaper cant, and removes the rust and etches the metal so you can blow it off, wipe it with metal prep, and spray a sealer without having to sand it first. I have a handheld speed blaster,and work on media blasted, soda, glass, and a few mixtures, all the time. Its by far the best method im my opinion. I dont have an aircompressor at home, or I would work myself to a dirt nap. So at home I use a rust converter. Its extra handy at the house, just be careful, read the lable first.

Hopefully it won't take a week for this reply to go through. If you want to lock down and prevent your frame rails from getting any worse go to the site Por15.com and check their stuff out. To put it simply their stuff works if applied correctly. I have been a bodyman/ painter for many years and my father retired from this business. Google the stuff (Por-15)

I also show places that I have used Por-15 on my 1981 280zx on my site devoted to this project. http://1DollarZ.com

BTW GM used POR-15 for a huge recall/warrenty campain fixing the rust on the backside of chrome chevy and GMC truck bumpers. They also make stuff just for frames.


http://1DollarZ.com
Lewis R. Cougill

Por 15 is good. Don't forget though it's not perfect either. For applications where it's exposed to UV it doesn't hold up very well and should be coated over.... Not something you'll have to worry about in the frame rails. Do what you can to kill and remove the majority of the rust or get the water out of the red rust by converting it. If you Por 15 over rust you help to seal and sevearly retard the oxidization process but the less rust left behind the less there is to continue the oxidization process.

Oh and POR 20 is another great product while we're on the POR 15 topic...

naval jelly can be found at most hardware stores and it is stupid but my buddy works as a cnc specalist for the naval base in norco and he says they use it all the time its good stuff but then again it's NAVAL gelly.

Reviving from the dead instead of making a new thread about the same car with the same stuff I mentioned long ago.

I'm definitely going to have to replace some frame rail.

I've got about 3 square feet of rust on the car that I can visually see, some of it on the rails, most of it is on the floorboards, some around gas filler, inside of hatch, and minimal on roof and a little right above the windshield.

This is about 90% of the cars rust. My friends won't quit trying to get me to scrap the car. This is the only (aside from there being no engine at the moment) issue with the car stability-wise, I have a friend who can weld, and he is actually one of the people trying to tell me to scrap it and put all effort into my S30

What would you guys do in this situation, do you love your Z as much as I do to keep putting money into it? I know I'm going to, regardless of what they say. Only if the frame were bent would I get rid of it, but it drove with no problem.

I'd like your guys' input, I have a lot planned for this car, and I'd like to get this frame work done either before or right after I get the engine back in and running

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...1002111721.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...1002111722.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...002111722a.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...002111722b.jpg

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...002111722c.jpg

Cut it out, MIG weld in new. Not fun, yours is a lot worse than mine was. I'd strip out everything out from under it and do it all before the engine was in. If you want to keep it then go for it, its just a whole bunch of work ( but you already knew that)

With an S130 you really need to deal with the rust first and foremost if you intend on keeping the car. The S130 for whatever reason used a seam sealer that actually is pourous and causes the car to rust away right at the seams. At the very minimum find the rusty spots and dig out the seam sealer on BOTH SIDES of the seam. Go the entire length of the seam because it can look like it stopped just to continue further on. It's always Iceburg rust with these cars. The little bit that you can see is the tip of a pile you can't see. Pull out the carpets and seats and start digging that seam sealer up. Don't forget in behind the seats - pull the sheet metal that forms the cubbys behind the seats where the rear speakers mount and dig up the seam sealer down in the corners. A small sloted screw driver, razor blade, putty knife and dental pick are your friends.... for the bottom of the car a drill and wire wheel. To get the tar material off the floors get some dry ice. The longer you can let it set on there the better it will work making the tar very brittle.

This is the spot in behind the seat's I'm talking about.... you can see more pictures in my build thread

https://www.zdriver.com/forums/attac...1&d=1312260402