Okay, slanters, I'm in need of your creativity/ingenuity. I'm finally replacing some of the mangled body parts on the Swinger in hopes of getting it ready for the Kearney races next August. The fender I bought has some surface rust near the bottom that I need to clean off. What's the cheapest/most cost-effective way to clean it off? Sending it out for sandblasting would be easiest, but not cheap. On the other hand, I'd rather not spend 3 days scrubbing it with a wire brush, either. Any tips, tricks, or suggestions? What would you guys do?

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vm

Clean it mechanically (sand it) until the rusty area is bright and shiny. The only areas that should still have rust are pitted ares. Use Ospho or something similar like Jasco metal prep. You can usually find these phosphate treatments are paint stores or hardware stores with good paint departments. You'll then need to build the surface to fill the pits. A sandable primer is fine if the pits aren't bad. You'll have to use filler if the pitting is significant. Prime, or fill and sand until the surface is smooth. Use a guide cost to make sure you sanded everything then top coat.

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Joshua

my favorite is a 4 1/2" grinder with a wire wheel. Itll take EVERYTHING off


before:
http://kevhart.webs.com/apps/photos/pho ... 082&prev=1


after:

http://www.sweptline.org/forums/downloa ... d=3683&t=1

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put your seatbelt on. Ima try sumthin

Proud NEW owner of a rusted project 1967 Plymouth Valiant with a 170 slant six

Be careful with those heavy duty wire wheels. You can put enough heat into sheet metal to warp it.

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Joshua

I'd probably just clean up the major rust and then put POR15 or the Eastwood equivalent on it............

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

vynn3,

Check out www.POR15.com and pick up the starter kit with the metal ready primer and rust remover/degreaser and follow the directions. I have repaired window frames, fenders, trunks, roof joins, etc. using fiberglass cloth and mat with the POR-15 paint instead of fiberglass resin and body putty. They make some great products. After being a shipwright and marine mechanic most of my life, I prefer the POR15 method of fiber-glassing and metal repair.

Years ago I bought the starter kit and did the battery tray. To this day it still is nice and shiny (like new) with no signs of deterioration.

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

oh! ted- where were you working in the maritime industry?

Anything will work for a length of time - A Castrol GTX sticker will cover a rust hole for years. I glued the spare tire into the trunk of my 74 Vega packing bondo and 2X4 blocks into a quarter panel rust hole.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for. I’m smarter now and nothing I own, that’s worth fixing, is for sale. I’d rather know that the rust is gone and I’m not going to paint it with a roller to save money. But, no matter how you slice it, it’s usually cheaper to remove the rust.

If it’s only surface rust, you can just grind/sand it off. If there are pits you have to try something else.

Large flat panels will warp with sand blasting. Small flat panels may warp but are easy to straighten. Lips and flanges can be blasted with no problem. Yours sounds like a job for a sandblaster. A $15.00 siphon-type sandblaster would work fine for small jobs.

If I were afraid to blast it, or if I didn’t have an air compressor, I’d use muriatic acid.

If you end up with little holes where the pits were, use at least one layer of waterproof, fiberglass-plastic-bondo type stuff. Regular plastic filler will get wet from the back and come loose. But if you get the fiberglass too thick it won't flex enough and will come loose when applied to metal.

Danny

I actually bought one of these at a sale at Harbor Freight for $7, just to try it out, but haven't yet. All of my research says that I need LOTS of protective safety equipment to prevent breathing the media (especially sand, a proven carcinogen), and that doing so would be dangerous. For the money I'd spend on fancy breathing apparatus to use it safely (regular respirators aren't NIOSH approved), I may as well pay someone to blast it for me.

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vm

For doing a couple spots (or cars for that matter), I wouldn't get too hung up on buying too much protective gear. A blast hood and dust mask, gloves, and standing up wind will do just fine for blasting a fender.

There are many different medias too. Silica sand will get you eventually, but the recycled "Black Blast" media made from welding and machining by products aren't going to hurt you unless you shoot it into your hand or head

I am sure that pumping gas without a respirator is bad for a guy too

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Chris'
Autobody
Restoration
Service

I have one of these. My grandpa bought it for me from harbor freight, as a gift. IT SUCKS, unless you have the compressor to handle it. When I tried it with my 8 gal 2 hp, it would work , okay. But when I got my new compressor, 24 gal 5 hp, it works awesome. The onlt problem is that the sand goes EVERYWHERE. It is very inconvenient to air down the area until there is no more sand around, only to find out that when you start to paint, sand comes out from everywhere.

On the wire wheel issue. It took me 2 hours to remove all of the paint on my cab and fenders (with a light duty of course). It took me 2 hours with a sandblaster to do the roof .

all the suggestions here are excellent ones. You have many options to go with, and all should turn out fine. Good luck

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put your seatbelt on. Ima try sumthin

Proud NEW owner of a rusted project 1967 Plymouth Valiant with a 170 slant six

sethmcneil,

For Uniflight Inc. in Bellingham, WA also Holley's Marina, Bellingham while going to college at Western Washington State, and Best Boat Works in Seattle on Lake Union.

Met Raymond Burr (Perry Mason), did the interior on his 42 Sport Fisherman. Super nice guy!

Built lots of PBR's for fighting In Vietnam. It was a mean machine for chasing the enemy up the rivers. Repaired several that came back with a 3' hole just above the water line from a tank gun blast. Tough boat!

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Aggressive Ted

http://cid-32f1e50ddb40a03c.photos.live ... %20Swinger


74 Swinger, 9.5 comp 254/.435 lift cam, 904, ram air, electric fans, 2.5" HP2 & FM70 ex, 1920 Holley#56jet, 2.76 8 3/4 Sure-Grip, 26" tires, 25+MPG

Slightly off topic, but would this thing work to remove paint from metal interior pieces such as sail panels?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=94015

Be sure to wear goggles to protect your eyes also. I have had wires thrown from the wheel and into my finger so hard, I couldn't pull it out by hand. I had to use pliers to pull it out (ouch!).

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It's ugly, but it runs.

Yes, but... Why not use sandpaper? With that wheel you are going to have to prime, sand, prime, sand and paint. That type of wheel makes quick work of scale and rust but interior paint should be easy to get off.
180 grit paper should make short work of an interior panel.

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Chris'
Autobody
Restoration
Service