weltyrp@rpics.UUCP (Richard Welty) (11/26/85)
At last, the long delayed article/followup to "Rust and Older cars"
(yes, I've been busy). I suspect that many are worried but few
have any idea of what to do. Following are the letters received,
along with my comments (prefixed by a *). I will post another article
soon with some of my thoughts on the subject.
* From a fellow sufferer:
From seismo!harvard!mit-eddie!mck-csc!jfp Tue Oct 8 20:46:14 1985
I face a similar situation with a '79 Fiat X1/9.
I have about 20 small (dime sized) rust spots in various places.
I have considered just sanding them down, drying them well, and coating
them with silver primer (Rustoleum auto primer) ... but haven't had the
guts to actually do this .... please forward any answers you might dig
up (or results if you have proceeded yet )
regards,
pries
* The aforementioned is probably a good idea. If you don't have the
* time to get it all off, then Rustoleum "Rust Converter" will slow
* the rust down.
* The sanding goes faster with a wire brush or a grinder in an electric
* drill -- the grinder is better for solid rust, the brush is only
* good for flakes ...
* A can of sprayon undercoating (available at many autoparts stores
* is good for the underside, if you get ambitious and do it.
* ********
* some suggestions about prevention
From seismo!ihnp4!drutx!review Wed Oct 9 15:23:36 1985
Knock the snow off the body when you get home. Don't let it build up
there the rust already is. The worst thing you could do would be to
put it in a warm garage at night. If the snow stays frozen on the
body, the salt can't do much harm, but if you put the car in a warm
garage the snow melts, letting the salt do it's thing.
The best thing you could do would be to move to somewhere like
Denver where they don't use salt on the roads.
--------------------------------------------
Brian Millham
AT & T Information Systems
Denver, Co.
...!ihnp4!drutx!review
* (the suggestion about geographical relocation is well taken,
* but I'm happy enough here in albany)
* *****
* and an interesting solution, for those who are relatively unconcerned
* about appearance (of course, few care what their inner fenders
* look like).
From seismo!ihnp4!utcsri!ralph Wed Oct 9 03:49:52 1985
I am in a similar situation to yours, but with an older car.
I change my transmission oil each fall (as directed in the owners manual).
I mix the used oil about 50-50 with varsol, and spray/squirt it at the
rust spots and all over the underside of the car and wheel wells with a plant
mister. (If you don't mix it will varsol, you cannot spray it).
Do this a long way from things you don't want oil on (other people's cars)
as sometimes you squit instead of spray, and it goes as much as 20 ft..
This works really well.
Do not use used motor oil (it drips off, and all the corrosion inhibitors
are used up by the time you change it). New motor oil is ok. New
transmission oil is best, but is expensive (about $2.75 CDN a litre, one
litre will do my car).
Cleaning the oil off when you begin the body work will be a pain, but
what ever you do, you are going to have a cleaning problem when you
begin the body work.
* And a followup when querying what kind of transmission oil was meant ...
From seismo!ihnp4!utcsri!ralph Fri Oct 11 21:44:10 1985
Sorry, should have been more clear about the type of oil.
I mean extreme pressure gear lubricant, as used in standard transmissions.
I have discussed this with my father, who used to work as a lubrication
engineer (yes, that is a real branch of engineering, really a subfield
of mechanical engineering). It is his opinion that used motor oil,
diesel oil, or heat oil (all the things that most people spray on) have
little value. You need the anti-oxidents that are only found in new motor
or transmission oil, and (to a lesser extent) used transmission oil.
I have found the technique very successful. Once every two years seems
to work. Since I started doing it, I have had no new rust. Most people
I know get used motor oil sprayed on every 6 months or so, and they still
get rust.
I hope this is enough info to help you make a decission.
Good luck with what ever you do.
* the stuff refered to is sold by auto parts stores
* as "Gear Oil". Anti-oxidents are common in any multi-grade
* oil, the wider the grade range the better. One of the things
* in a motor oil that is lost with use are the anti-oxidants.
* *******
As for me, my inner fenders turned out to be bad enough that they
are going to be welded by an expert ...
--
Rich Welty
"P. D. Q.'s early infancy ended with a striking decision;
at the age of three, P. D. Q. Bach decided to give up music"
- Prof. Peter Schickele,
from "The Definitive Biography of P. D. Q. Bach"
CSNet: weltyrp@rpics
ArpaNet: weltyrp.rpics@csnet-relay
UUCP: seismo!rpics!weltyrp