Rust
 

I see lots of products that claim to remove rust. What has been your experience? Winners and loosers?

Re: Rust
 

The only things (I know) that remove rust are chemical dipping and abrasive blasting.
All the other products just neutralize the rust converting it to iron phosphate that you still have to remove on seriously rusted steel. If you have the patience of a tooth ache you can remove rust using a die grinder and assorted wire wheels. It is very tedious and the 'rust dust" is not good to breathe. Then apply OSPHO and prime.

Others may have better ideas.

Re: Rust
 

Ditto - needle scaler or other mechanical means, followed by OSPHO and good primer. No shortcuts to my knowledge.

Re: Rust
 

coincidentally I just happened to finish folding some laundry before logging on, well for me this is a winner:D

On a serious note back in high school I used to use navel jelly and elbow grease to clean up areas before re-primer and paint if pulling a body part or part was not an option to cabinet blast and then primer/paint.

The POR15 primer/paint in a rattle can, chassis black have worked well for my recent parts/chassis touch up.

Looking @ your picture...that looks beyond blasting and cleanup. If you blast that you will probably have not much "real" metal left and probably expose a very unsafe frame ect.

Re: Rust
 

Jacques1960,
I've used that same method for many years. Always worked good for me.

Re: Rust
 

39portlander has made an excellent observation. That frame, floor supports, and floor are probably too far gone to save. The more rust you remove you will see the structural integrity is gone. What do the bottom of the A abd B pillars look like?
Best bet is to find a better frame. Does the suspension look the same as what we see in the photos?
If so, save $$$, time and effort as you will be digging a very deep financial hole trying to save it. Sometimes, you just can't save everything.

There are folks selling good 39-40 rolling chassis when they convert to street rod. Keep an eye on ebay and hamb. Look here:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...&o=relevance&c[node]=47

Re: Rust
 

If you want to keep it and do it right, media blast it. Then replace the panels that are too far gone, they will eventually need to be replaced anyway.

Re: Rust
 

Media blast is what I recommend.

Re: Rust
 

Bottom line "rust never sleeps" I think we all do the common, wire brush air descalers
acid etch soda blasting grinders POR junk you should see my truck looks like it been
in the ocean; two 3yr old new gas tanks toast 3yr old rear spring hangers toast. Front fenders
toasted. and I do not drive in melting salt roads either yes we plow but in a water plant
closed to the public all virgin dry snow & that won't hurt any thing. Not a believer come
to new englands rust belt. My poor baby's done.

Re: Rust
 

"Rust never sleeps?' Sounds like a Neil Young song. The rust isn't as bad as it looks it the picture. It's mostly the low hanging parts. Most of the rest actually has the original paint, and is not too bad.. I have used the navy jelly years ago. A friend who is restoring a vintage Camaro talked about a product that worked well for him. I'll look into the media blast. Thanks.

Re: Rust
 

I have had good experience using SEM's "Rust Shield Product". Call Dave at SEM's tech line and describe the situation, and ask him what he thinks. He one great resource when it comes to SEM's products. Dave usually suggests; remove as much of the loose rust & scale, and then apply "Rust Shield". I use the catalyst with it as it toughens the paint. Not bullet proof, but close. I used it on places on the underside of the unibody of a 2001 Jeep daily driver, and it has withstood a number of New England winters.

Re: Rust
 

Had good luck with electrolysis on small parts. easy to do, no harsh chemicals, kindalike start it and come back tomorrow. lots of examples and how tos on the web.

Re: Rust
 

There is no magical product that can truly deal with your situation. It appears your car has been in some very bad climates and/or had salt and other such stuff eat away at it. It takes a serious commitment of time, money, etc - to truly resolve what I'm seeing.

What needs to happen is to pull the body from the frame, have the bottom of the body blasted to "see what you have left" - and the same goes for the frame. Once the body is off the frame, you can pretty easily determine if it pays to restore the frame (depending on how much structural damage and where), versus finding a new one.

All metal work that you need to farm out (floor pans and frame) is expensive - given today's shop rates, but there really isn't much of an alternative if you desire to "fix" the issues for the long term. There are a millions ways to ignore the real issues (serious rust) and put band-aids on it - but none of them are really viable (given what I'm seeing).

Unless you have the equipment, time, facilities and skills, both the body and the frame will require outside services . . . and they are never cheap. ;)

If this is a car you want to keep, then it may be worth putting the $$$ into it . . . just understand what you're getting into (get real estimates) - before you head down the path.

From your description, it is a 39 Sedan - and I'm going to hate to say this, but - you need to decide how much you want to invest in it . . . as my guess is that unless you're capable of doing a lot of the work yourself, that you'll put far more into it, than many of us would want too.

With that said, most of us are NOT building wise "investments" - we're spending money on cars and hobbies that we enjoy - we know that in the end, we'll probably be "upside down" as far as the ultimate value if we desire to sell what we 'invested' in. We do it because we love these cars, we love to drive them and we want to see them on the road in as best of condition as possible (given time, money, emotional value, etc).

Just calling it out as I believe it to be . . . not trying to put a wet blanket on your fire. I hope you find a way to continue down your path, get it all sorted out as best as possible, make sure it is safe and that it can "live" many more decades.

Best of luck!

Re: Rust
 

B&S has expressed, in a sober and very thoughtful way, the essential questions for any restoration project.

Re: Rust
 

I'm not trying to be funny, but that does not look too bad to me. Admittedly, there is a lot of work involved, but at lease we're looking at it and not for it. I wonder what it is like in the area at the base of the kickup? That's the problem area on this era of frame.

Re: Rust
 

If you want quick , id pressure wash first . Itll remove loose and flaking rust and let you see what you have . Then you can determine a course of action , throw $10,000 into a frame off or paint what you have and enjoy for short drives .

Re: Rust
 

How well does Por 15 work on rust??
Gramps

Re: Rust
 

I am a bit like the guy that stands in front of the coke cola machine that cost a dollar, but he only has 15 cents in his pocket. His mouth salivates, he's thirsty. But no $$
I'm not sure I'd put 10k into this car if I had it. The car has had a frame off restoration in the past. Taking the body off on this car has it's own unique, and delicate problems. Because its a convertible there is not much support or bracing to prevent twisting and breakage at weak points if that were attempted. There is already indications of this having happened in the past. Once the surface rust from the frame is removed, by whatever method, I can paint it. It should be good. I get a great deal of satisfaction from doing the work I can do myself. I realize there will be things that will need to be farmed out. Its a hobby I thought would be fun. Endless money pits are not my idea of fun. My 39 may not ever be as rebuilt with fine high dollar parts as some of my fellow members here have done with their cars, but its still a fun project. Its a classic, and its mine. The big question is the engine. Will it crank and run? That's the real reason I haven't yet been brushing the frame yet. Maybe a before and after picture is in order. It was left in a field with a tarp over it for years. Wherever the grass grew and touched the lower parts, it rusted more. The rust you see is surface rust. I believe the frame is solid.

Re: Rust
 

I sandblasted the whole bottom of my '51 ford over the winter of 1987-1988 (with the suspension removed) and painted it with POR-15. It looks as good today as it did them. This was a out-state Minnesota car with some rust, but nothing serious. The issue with POR-15 is that UV light is hard on it. Since the area I did has never been exposed to sunlight, it has held up very well.

You didn't have to get everything scrupulously clean, just get all of the loose stuff off. I realize this is not a recommended restoration technique, but I didn't know any better then and it has held up well.

Re: Rust
 

That's it. Por-15 is what my friend used on the underside of his vintage 60's Camaro. It looks great. I plan to try it. Some others I looked at Corro Seal, Rust Converter, and quick glow. The quick glow was especially intriguing. It says it cleans the rust off of chrome. I ordered a can. I'll let you guys know how it works.