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Why the rust?

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bugedd

bugedd

Jedi Knight
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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....?
 
A pillar doesn't drain, sills trap dirt and water, cheap steel etc...
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
Is it advisable to drill drain holes in the A pillars and other problem areas?
 
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
 
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:
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
bugedd said:
Is it advisable to drill drain holes in the A pillars and other problem areas?
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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