Trunk Lid

[SaxMan]

So, while waiting for the undercoat to dry on the right rear fender (the last one, phew!), I decided it was time to move on to the next issue. I had suspected I had corrosion issues on the deck lid. One I got it off, I was correct. The front and rear of the trunk lid had a fair amount of pitting, but little rust, as if there was a previous attempt to clean the trunk lid up. The pitting is very prevalent. Sanding, buffing, grinding, etc. is not bringing it flush. Part of me thinks I should put a thin layer of bondo on it to smooth it out. Part of me thinks it would be best just to clean it up and paint it and leave the pits. Again, I'm not going for the concours. I'm just trying to get ahead of the curve on rust problems and bondo would hide any recurrence of the rust.

Another odd thing was the car is currently up on jackstands for the rear. Both are placed under the forward spring attach point. When I went to open up a door, the doors binded a bit. I had my floor jack under the pumpkin and lifted the car a fraction of an inch. Doors worked fine. Is that kind of body flex typical? That seemed kind of scary, and from what I've read about other convertibles, that is usually not a good sign. Car will be back on all fours again by tomorrow evening.

 

[SaxMan]

Decided to set the car back down this morning. Once it was back on all fours, the doors were opening and closing properly again.

 

[nomad]

Not a lot of stiffening between scuttle and the rear spring attachment points. I wouldn't worry about it. Drive the wheels off it! I once advertised a rusty MGB body for sale and a guy showed up to buy it with a MGB that had the front fenders rusted off and flapping in the wind. To get in and out of the car he hopped over the doors since he could no longer get them open! He thought what I was offering was a cream puff!!

Kurt.

 

[Gerard]

Don't use bondo; it's not the best for fine finishing. Use Evercoat Metalglaze instead. It's thinner, and will flow better. Also easier to sand to a fine finish. Follow with a high build primer or you could use only a high build primer is the surface is even enough, but you'd probably sand through around the edges if you use primer only. Make sure you clean the metal with a good degreaser before applying anything.

 

[SaxMan]

Here's what the perimeter of the underside of the trunk lid looks like:

Some of the brown you see is residue from the grinding wheel and not rust
DSC_1205 by David Cohen, on Flickr

DSC_1208 by David Cohen, on Flickr

DSC_1209 by David Cohen, on Flickr

It's apparent that the trunk seal is (was) retaining moisture and causing this issue. The rubber seals are old and dry. I'm thinking that they probably need to be replaced.

 

[Gerard]

You need to treat that with some phosphoric acid or some Evaporust. Use a 6" wire wheel if you need mechanical abrasion. A grinder is fine to get the heavy surface stuff off, but you never get the rest off with a grinder.

Here's what the perimeter of the underside of the trunk lid looks like:

Some of the brown you see is residue from the grinding wheel and not rust

It's apparent that the trunk seal is (was) retaining moisture and causing this issue. The rubber seals are old and dry. I'm thinking that they probably need to be replaced.

 

[HealeyRick]

I agree with Gerard, you want to kill that rust before putting any coating over it.

BTW, nice Schwinn in your Flickr account. I had a Schwinn Varsity as an eighth grader in 1963 when a 10 speed was as rare as having a Ferrari. Rebuilt it 10 years later with the yellow on your Super Sport. Rugged bike, but heavy.

 

[SaxMan]

I agree with Gerard, you want to kill that rust before putting any coating over it.

BTW, nice Schwinn in your Flickr account. I had a Schwinn Varsity as an eighth grader in 1963 when a 10 speed was as rare as having a Ferrari. Rebuilt it 10 years later with the yellow on your Super Sport. Rugged bike, but heavy.

I did find some Naval Jelly in my supplies and hit the edges with it. Cleaned everything up afterwards, dried it out and then shot it with primer.

Thanks for the compliment on the bike. The Super Sport was a fun project. The Super Sport was Schwinn's entry level "Xtra Lite" bike. It had a fillet-brazed frame and was considerably lighter than the Varsity (32 pounds versus 39 for the Varsity), but still relatively heavy. It rides nicely and is extremely stable, as I can trackstand the bike at will. Narrow handlebars and rather slack head tube angle make it understeer like crazy through turns, especially compared to a modern road bike. Friction shifters take some getting used to again, especially when you've been riding indexed shifters for over 20 years and the brakes are scary.

Unlike cars, there's not a significant following of vintage bicycles until you get to pre-World War II bikes, and turn of the century "Safety Bicycles" and Penny Farthings. I'd love to restore a Penny Farthing as my next project.

 

[SaxMan]

Shot the trunk with the base coat this morning and hit it with the clear coat this evening. Baby Blue's respray that it had in the 1990s seems to be just a shade lighter than the original factory color of Mineral Blue, but the paint match is a lot closer than I expected. Now I'm letting it sit overnight and put the trunk lid back on in the morning, just in time for the weekend!

The lid is going to come back off when I start working on the trunk itself. I definitely have my work cut out for me on that project. No rust through, but a lot of corrosion on the trunk floor by the rear fascia. The floor itself is warped from the rear end collision it sustained sometime during its lifetime. I'm not looking to straighten in, only to arrest any corrosion issues. Looks like removing the rear bumper would probably be helpful, too.

 

[SaxMan]

Some more pics:

Masked off prior to painting:
DSC_0002 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Primer coat added:
DSC_0003 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Base coat shot. (Yes, I hit the primer with 220 grit sandpaper before shooting the base coat)
DSC_0006 by David Cohen, on Flickr

After base coat, but before wet sanding and the clear coat:
DSC_0010 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Clear coated and ready to go back on the car. You can see the slight mismatch in the paint:
DSC_0016 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Lid Reinstalled, the paint mismatch is much harder to detect at this angle
DSC_0019 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Lid down - somehow in doing this, I ended up with the trunk lid fitting better than it did before I first removed it, also you can't tell the mismatched paint when the trunk is in the down position
DSC_0020 by David Cohen, on Flickr

 

[SaxMan]

And here's what I'm up against in the rest of the trunk:

DSC_0001 by David Cohen, on Flickr

The warping of the trunk floor is evident in this picture:
DSC_0002 by David Cohen, on Flickr

I figure removing the bumper and the brackets will help make the job a bit easier, and I might was well clean up inside the bumper, too. This looks like it may be a bigger job than I first anticipated.

 

[JPSmit]

Doesn't actually look that big - a couple hours with a wire wheel - doesn't look like any more than surface rust.

 

[Bayless]

I agree, looks like surface rust. That spot in the middle may be a little deeper but still don't think you will have to replace any metal. Don't be too aggressive with the wire wheel on the parts that may be a little thinner. Just get it clean then treat with naval jelly or similar and get some paint on it.

 

[SaxMan]

I did a couple of test spins with the wire wheel and hand sanded some areas with 80 grit last night. Thankfully, it does only appear to be surface rust. One of the bumper bolts in the trunk floor is frozen, so I hit it with some PB Blaster and let it stew.

 

[SaxMan]

I got the bumper off this evening. It wasn't terrible, although all the left side bolts are non-standard and the left side bracket that goes in the trunk looks like a roller coaster on the bottom, to follow the curves of the damaged trunk floor. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the condition of the bumper itself. There was zero corrosion behind the bumper. That leads me to believe that this particular bumper is not original to the car. Also, there was no corrosion under the rear fascia.

Trunk well is sanded. Whatever rust the wire brush and sandpaper didn't get, the naval jelly will. Then it's painting time. The car may miss this weekend, but I should have it ready again by the next one.

 

[SaxMan]

Ok. So I'm a little slow. I just realized that the bumpers were aluminum and that's why there's no corrosion on them. I was actually surprised at how light they were. Don't think they'd do much good for anything more than a parking tap.

 

[SD Bugeye]

Looks like a good candidate for POR 15 to me clean it up as best as possible and hit it with POR 15
i have found it can get into places paint just can't it's wicking action is pretty darn good.
you can then paint over it .

 

[JPSmit]

Ok. So I'm a little slow. I just realized that the bumpers were aluminum and that's why there's no corrosion on them. I was actually surprised at how light they were. Don't think they'd do much good for anything more than a parking tap.

I don't think any MG bumpers are good for anything other than a parking tap.

 

[longbridgehealey]

Nice job on the inside David

 

[SaxMan]

Nice job on the inside David

Thanks, Larry! Can you believe it's already been 3 years since I bought the car from you?