This is why it is so important to properly treat rusted panels.



http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1215053183

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...g?t=1215053205

These are pics of the patch that the previous owner put in and I have to replace again because they did it WRONG. The welded in the patch and put rubberized undercoating over it to seal it. No primers, no paints, no real sealer. They left rust underneath the new panels and it spread like cancer. I am not a body man by any means but I surely know to do much more than this if I want my car to last. I have tried to cut as much rust out as I can and then it's getting treated with POR15. If I had a torch I would heat it first then POR15. That will be followed by an epoxy etching primer. I hope that this treatment will last a long,long time.

Unfortunately right now my time is limited and I'll have to seal the floor with fiberglass before I can get panels welded in. I hope to have them complete by next spring providing I can get a winter beater so I can park the Z.

I am adding this post in the hope that all of the people that have asked about dealing with rust can understand why it is so important to follow the advise of some of the great guys that offer it freely from their own body work experience. A big shout out to Nismopick, shady280, lww for their expertise on this and all of the other z owners that have added their experiences with patching rust. THANKS!!!

 

w00t! I'm so sick of rust...

 

and i thought my rust was bad... yikes!!!!

where can i get some por 15? i think it would work good for the rust spots i have...

 

What's that thing called.... oh yeah... the internet. Or that other thing called "your local auto paint supply store."

 

oh... i dont have a local auto paint supply store or internet connection... im screwed... i guess ill have to go borrow some from the local paint shops...

 

if you had a torch you would heat the metal before using por15?

whys that, i havent herd that before.

 

Torching removes moisture (the cause of rust). It's not 100% effective, but it slows rust. Then you use the POR15 metal conditioner... then apply the POR15 paint / epoxy.

 

When you buy sheetmetal from say home depot or something, do they do anything to it that keeps it from rusting over? I'd think that bare metal sitting out in the store would start rusting over.

 

Sheet metal from Home Depot would be galvanized which prevents corrosion. I know it was just an example, but Home Depot sheet metal is not thick enough to use as body panels (just an FYI).

The Germans figured out LONG AGO that galvanized steel stands up to weather much better than untreated steel. Too bad it took everyone else so long.

 

After scraping, cleaning, degreasing, sanding, etc in my 300. Most of the metal in the area is all in good condition, there are a few small spots that will need to be cut out and replaced. Until then I por-15'd over everything. Anyone ever tried that rust encapsulator stuff?

 

i sees.
did your car list get longer?

 

This is a lot of work. The hole in pass side is glassed in for now and the new carpet is in on that side. It sure makes a big difference. The glass is curing on the dr side and the hole in the rear of the pan has been cut out also. Since it is so close to the structural support for the rear suspension I'm going to cut the metal from my parts car. Fortunately it is solid at the rear support.

Hey Nismo, you haven't let me know what you want for those parts.

 

Really, if you think about it, say if you fill up little holes, or make patches from fiberglass is that going to be that much worse? I mean I guess for the floorpans it could be sort of bad, but if you have small holes and stuff, I'd think that would be fine? Probably better since you then wouldn't have to worry about that spot rusting? I may actually start doing fiberglass patching for areas that aren't very structural.

 

As long as you are ABSOLUTELY sure the metal under the fiberglass has been properly treated. Otherwise, the fiberglass will trap moisture between the metal and the fiberglass and ACCELERATE the spread of the rust.

 

about 2 months ago i was looking at getting a 79 RX-7 and did you know they come with a i think a zinc coating over all of the main body pannels... the body was in perfect condition except for the hood wich didnt come with the zinc plating.... it shocked me that all manufactures dont do this

 

Didn't think about that, I'll grind out the glass before laying in the steel. That's what I mean about experience.

 

I'm taking the block in on Monday to see what the damage is. I'll let you know this next week.

 

Cool, there's a lot of us waiting to here the news on the damage to the block. By the way, where do you keep 12 vehicles?

On another note, I cut the panels from my parts car and my neighbor is going to weld them in for me. I was sanding the fender and found that the previous owner didn't use primer/sealer or even primer between the paint and the factory coating on the aftermarket fender. There are a lot of small surface rust spots. What do I do in that case? I tried sanding out as much of the rust as I could and I used spray bomb self-etching primer but I'm afraid that's not enough. Any products that will provide a better chance that the rust won't come back. I going to search the posts after I post this to see what I can find.