• The Roadster Factory Recovery Fund - Friends, as you may have heard, The Roadster Factory, a respected British Car Parts business in PA, suffered a total loss in a fire on Christmas Day. Read about it, discuss or ask questions >> HERE. The Triumph Register of America is sponsoring a fund raiser to help TRF get back on their feet. If you can help, vist >> their GoFundMe page.
  • Hey there Guest!
    If you enjoy BCF and find our forum a useful resource, if you appreciate not having ads pop up all over the place and you want to ensure we can stay online - Please consider supporting with an "optional" low-cost annual subscription.
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this UGLY banner)
Tips
Tips

Why the rust?

bugedd

Jedi Knight
Country flag
Offline
Yes, I don't have a car right now. But I was wondering why the Spridgets are so prone to rust? Given a car is driven as a normal car is, why do they tend to rust out the A pillars, sills, etc? Outside of leaks that can be fixed, why did these areas, and others, not survive like any other car? Just wondering if its a craftsmanship issue or....?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Guest
Offline
A pillar doesn't drain, sills trap dirt and water, cheap steel etc...
 

smaceng

Jedi Knight
Country flag
Offline
Cars made before the middle 70s did not have any significant rust proofing. Buy a 50s or 60s car back east, and the fenders would rust through in 3-5 years. Our cars were not designed to last the 50-60 years that they have in dry climate. Why do you think that so many of our American "british" cars are being shipped back to England? All their cars rusted out due to the damp climate.
 

mightymidget

Jedi Knight
Offline
look on the bright side,
if you were restoring a 1958 Cadillac there would be a lot more rust from sheer size of Cadillac. Since our cars are small-less rust
 

JPSmit

Moderator
Staff member
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I would also say a craftsmanship issues - these cars have a lot of mud/water traps - and, don't forget they were not designed to last - they were 2-5 year cars.
 
OP
bugedd

bugedd

Jedi Knight
Country flag
Offline
Is it advisable to drill drain holes in the A pillars and other problem areas?
 

SD Bugeye

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
I think the scroll seal on my bugeye did a fantastic job of rust prevention from the rear of the crank to the rear of the car
 

tomshobby

Yoda
Offline
In days gone by it was not uncommon to have a "winter-beater" to drive in the salt and icy roads. We didn't consider taking our nice rides out from first snow in the fall until after the spring rains cleaned the salt from the roads.
I now drive a rust bucket Chevy truck during the winter. I fully expect to go out one day with a broom and dust pan to clean it up. :friendly_wink:
 

Slick Willy

Senior Member
Offline
I don't know of any car built to last 30 years. I think price and location had more to do with the survival rate of cars and trucks. Rust proofing was a joke, the old splatter paint was as best hit or miss. Cars are designed to be transportation, sometime style plays into it more than long life. Rust is a natural part of the life cycle of steel. Raw, steel, car, junk, recycle, beer can, recycle and finally Toyota. Well close anyways. The fact is know one could see 10, 20, or more years down the road. Just part of owning an old car.
 

nomad

Yoda
Offline
Hey, its capitalism.....consume and use it up. That's the way they were designed. I have seen a hole drilled from the A pillar into the door jam area. Don't know it that would help or not. I vacuumed mine out and ran in some wax-oil. Frank C used to drill the bottom of the rockers till they looked like swiss cheese. Figured that made them last and he sure had the experience to back him up!

Kurt.
 

tomshobby

Yoda
Offline
Reading this thread I remembered some of what I learned in a metallurgy course I took in college. We had to prep a piece of mild steel for an inspection with a microscope capable of some serious magnification. Up until then I thought the surface of a piece of metal was "solid". The result of prepping the metal and using the microscope was that we could see how porous the surface was and could actually see into the metal. We also had an electron microscope in the lab. With that we could actually see individual molecules. That made the flaws in the molecular structure really show.
 

Gray_Cat

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Is it advisable to drill drain holes in the A pillars and other problem areas?
The A and B pillars have drain holes. They become plugged up with dirt etc. And trap water leading to rust. Additionally, the metal is not coated inside adding to the problem.
You can drill holes in the shut panels between the trunk pan and rear fenders to allow moisture to escape there. Though difficult a person can clean and paint the interior of the bottom rear fenders to neutralize rust too.
You can clear and clean the A and B pillars and spray rust preventative fairly easy from the top of each. Also can use a very thin wire to clear the hole at the bottom of the pillars.
 

jlaird

Great Pumpkin
Country flag
Offline
And here is how that prob is solved. When you are restoring your rusted mess, and are ready for primer, use an epoxy based primer.

Rust prob is gone for your life time for sure. Make sure all is sandblasted first.
 

HealeyRick

Yoda
Silver
Country flag
Offline
To be fair, it wasn't just LBCs that rusted away in the 50's and 60's. Living in New England, the domestics rusted away pretty quickly back then, too. And don't even begin to talk to me about the Fiats I owned in he '70s. Rust prevention has certainly improved in the years since then. I rarely see any car under 10 years old now with rust issues.
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
5 BJ7 Boot Rust-Through Austin Healey 13
E Rustproofing and Rust Austin Healey 2
1 General Tech Rust Proofing Triumph 7
ROARRR For Sale 1930-40's AUSTIN 10 SALOON! straight, good glass, no through rust, very complete Austin Healey Classifieds 0
D TR6 Rust and hesitation 71 TR6 6 Triumph 9
D Removing the last rust from pitted steel Restoration & Tools 11
algot1901 My Prefect in her B-Day Suit and playing with rust-Flash! Other British Cars 19
O For Sale 1969 GT6+ Mostly rust free. Triumph Classifieds 3
SteveTheBrewer Spitfire More rust repair Triumph 1
KiwiStagguy Re building my power steering 71 Stag . Rust and pitting bad . Need a business name to fix it Triumph Classifieds 0
R Rust in Block? Help needed! Austin Healey 6
F TR2/3/3A Rust under flanges Triumph 7
D MGB Stopping rust under patch panels MG 1
P BJ8 Frame Rust Options? Austin Healey 14
Rut TR4/4A Rust for sale Triumph 2
S TR2/3/3A door blistering with rust Triumph 4
R TR6 Rust on the floorboards Triumph 5
J TR2/3/3A inner sill rust prevention Triumph 1
Chuck9482912 Rust in new fuel filler neck Austin Healey 4
R GT6 Looking to purchase GT6 Rust repair question? Triumph 4
Rut TR4/4A Rust bucket, save, sell, or part out Triumph 15
D General TR Fluid Film Rust and Corrosion Inhibitor Triumph 8
J TR2/3/3A Flash Rust Triumph 21
E For Sale 1955 Austin Healey 100 /4 rust free project car Austin Healey Classifieds 3
Lukens Outer rocker showing "rust" Restoration & Tools 11
R TR2/3/3A Good Rust Remover Triumph 14
Rut TR4/4A Rust free TRs Triumph 4
69MGC MGC Cut out the Rust! MG 9
KVH General Tech New Camshaft Has Rust Triumph 7
JimLaney Engine rebuild - how critical is rust? Spridgets 3
B 1960 TR3 With rust in cylinders Triumph 7
Rut TR4/4A Rust removal by Electrolysis Triumph 9
H Bugeye seat pan rust and possible repair Spridgets 2
Popeye TR4/4A Seat frame - rust "repair"? Triumph 1
Keoke Cars keft behind turned to rust by mother nature Austin Healey 8
bugedd Rust advice Spridgets 24
Sopwith_Camel Compressed rust Jaguar 1
T GT6 Opinions on what a rust free GT6 is worth Triumph 22
C TR6 New rust discovered Triumph 10
S Rust treatment recommendation? Austin Healey 5
maxwedge5281 who buys rust buckets? Austin Healey 16
nevets "RUST The longest War" Austin Healey 5
catfood Self tapping screws an rust prevention Austin Healey 10
Chuck9482912 Rust holes in engine of Austin Healey 3000 Mk II BJ7 Austin Healey 22
S Rust Bubbles Spridgets 17
G Rust repair needed for 66 AH 3000 Restoration & Tools 4
B MGB-GT Best rust repair person/shop on the East Coast? MG 2
T Sprite rust Austin Healey 10
MG Lily Best way to safely remove minor surface rust? Restoration & Tools 5
Sopwith_Camel MGB compressed Rust MG 3

Similar threads

Top