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BE Fender Beading and slot cleanup.

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Jim_Gruber

Jim_Gruber

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So far have made some progress with Bugsy II's bonnet with cleaning up the Fender Beading. Old fender beads had been cut off and what was left was really rusty in there and really nasty. Tried cleanup on one side with very narrow groove between hood and fenders. Thin cutoff wheel on a Dremel Tool was the only thing I could get to fit in there. Very slow going over several nights. Trick is to cut the middle of the T section out without cutting the fender or hood. Very, very slow work and it will need some more work to ensure a straight groove exists where a new fender bead with a much shorter/almost cut off T Center section can be glued in.

Driver side was another story. Much wider gap existed and I was able to use very thin cutoff blade on my angle grinder and inside of 45-60 minutes had the complete channel dug out, straight, and shiny. More practice at technique improved speed at the end. Angle grinder actually was easier to use than the Dremel and was steadier and made a much cleaner cut. If you do this,start with wider section of the gap. Dont start with narrow sections first.

Area on lower valence for fender bead will need a lot of work as there are some significant welds every 3 ". Again the front of this bonnet had an early '58 bonnet grafted on and those are some of the welds holding the two pieces together. I may be able to use the angle grinder again to go down about 1/4" so a trimmed down fender bead can be glued on. I'll post some pics later.

Before I head out of town on vacation tonight for 10 days, any thoughts on treating remaining rust in the channel of the fender bead. Rust converter, dump some muriatic acid down there and rinse thoroughly, acetone, Trick is to get something in there to keep the rust I can't reach in an inert state but at the same time not fill up the groove. Need room to glue the new fender bead in place. Thoughts gentlemen?
 
P.S. Entire bonnet will get the flapper disc on an angle grinder treatment when I return fron vacation and I can really begin to make progress.
 
Jim_Gruber said:
Before I head out of town on vacation tonight for 10 days, any thoughts on treating remaining rust in the channel of the fender bead. Rust converter, dump some muriatic acid down there and rinse thoroughly, acetone, Trick is to get something in there to keep the rust I can't reach in an inert state but at the same time not fill up the groove. Need room to glue the new fender bead in place. Thoughts gentlemen?
Click to expand...

DO NOT USE muriatic acid! Yes, it works fast, but it's very toxic and once the metal has been exposed to it, it will never stop flash rusting, and quickly at that! Use phosphoric acid. It take more time and will require scraping off the ferric phosphate (black residue) and repeated applications, but it will do the job.
 
Thanks Gerard, I was just throwing muraric out there are some type of acid...phosphoric acid it is. Now if I could figure out a way to use a kids swinning pool, several battery chargers and a whole box of Washing soda....to de-rust the entire bonnet... No, then water would get in the seams where the '58 bonnet and valence area was grafted on. That won't work. That area has been totally dry for the past 28 years. Don't want to get water in there now.
 
What you should do now depends on what you expect to stick later. If you're going to glue the beading down with 3M Panel Bond, call them and ask if you should or shouldn't prep the cavity with phosphoric acid, or what they recommend?
 
Good idea!
 
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