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Detecting Rust ?

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Sownman

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I've looked at a 1966 model year Tiger recently. Car has a few weak points and some strong ones and seems quite fairly priced.

My only real concern before moving forward is to know how much rust exists now (none visible to me) or how much was found and repaired or bondod or spray undercoated ?

How does one determine what lies beneath a 3 year old paint job on a 42 year old car ?

Thanks in advance

Steve
 
Someone must know where they are prone to rust,once pointed in the right direction check carefully from different angles for diformities or bubbling and with a magnet covered in soft material(so's not to scratch) check these points if it's all bondo no attraction ,you should be able to feel where any bondo is by the strength of the pull
 
years ago AHM had us checking cars made in the Ohio plant for rust, metal thickness. They had a tool that looked like a spring loaded center punch,only with a round ball instead of a tip. We would go over suspected areas of the car(from the inside panels) and "poke" the car.

If the depression was deeper than a certain depth and it's been better than two decades, so I sure can't remember the measurement) the car was rusty...


Maybe some investigating from that might help you?
 
is it British?
 
Thinking out loud here.....seems to me you could take a magnet and go around and inspect all areas to see if the magnet sticks or not - ie putty, bondo, etc. Now the trickier part would be to determine rusty areas. Since the metal would be less dense or thinner, the amount of pull on the magnet would be less - I think. If you could use a small scale like a fish scale like fishermen use to measure the amount of pull needed to remove the magnet, couldn't you then determine if the area was rusty? The actual number isn't as important as the comparison between a known sound area and a questionable area. Test say the hood, get a number of say 11 ounces of pull. Then test your suspect areas and if you get less than 11 ounces, there may be troubles of some sort. Seems like a reasonable scenario to me....not sure if it is a real world application though.....my 2 cents... :smile:
 
Magnet and also tap it (carefully if the paint is good) with the edge of a coin. Any change in material will sound different.
 
When I bought my MGB, I carried a phillips screwdriver, and to the completely horrified (but speachless) looks from the owner, I layed on the ground at each sill, and poked really hard along their entire length, both inside and outside the sills and the floors. No rust was about the only thing he had going on to sell the car, as almost everything else was not working or missing. The entire front of the car was covered in a nice BRG color from the moss and mold growing on it.
 
Sownman said:
I was thinking a magnet might be helpful, just wasn't sure.

Steve
Click to expand...

Depends.
You can make up a filler using resin matrix, talc and iron powder that'll pass any magnet test you care to try.

( So I'm told :wink: )
 
this is getting too complicated - it's an LBC it has rust. question is - how much?
 
JPSmit said:
this is getting too complicated - it's an LBC it has rust. question is - how much?
Click to expand...

Nothing is too complicated if it helps avoid a $20,000 mistake. I have interest in buying a 42 year old car with recent paint job. I doubt any paint covers rust, but maybe it does. I would like to have an idea if I'm getting steel rockers or bondo rockers. I guess to some degree a buyer has to feel out what sort of man the seller seems to be and decide if the seller had quality work done because at the time he planned to keep it of did he paint it three years ago trying to fool me now ?


BTW I've seen it a couple times and figure BC in LBC means Brit Car. What does LBC mean ?

Steve
 
<span style="font-weight: bold">L</span>ittle <span style="font-weight: bold">B</span>ritish <span style="font-weight: bold">C</span>ar.

All British cars are LBC's, even the big ones. I consider those honorary "Little" British Cars.


PC.
 
Steve, be assured I was not meaning to be dismissive or flippant - Trust me, I can't afford a $200 mistake let alone a $20,000. The point I was trying to make (poorly) is that rust is the enemy of all those cars and that the best way to determine it is, as you said, guaging the seller, using the available buyers guides and looking as hard as you can. Even then something could be hidden. I was very fortunate with mine as it only had minimal rust - but I know others who have found terrible surprises - particularly in rockers etc. I guess the other piece of the puzzle is determining how expensive panels are - if they need to be replaced - mine (for instance) are not that expensive.

Anyway, do let us know how it goes. (And buy it quickly before the world realizes that it is the "Get Smart" car and the price goes up :wink:
 
JPSmit said:
Anyway, do let us know how it goes. (And buy it quickly before the world realizes that it is the "Get Smart" car and the price goes up :wink:
Click to expand...

I don't think that will make much difference. High gas prices and fear of recession seem to be putting a damper on vintage car shoppers. I am more afriad of Carroll Shelby kicking the bucket before I find my Tiger.

This Tiger is near a major US city and in 7 days advertising I am the only person who went to look. I also am the only person who went to see this Elan despite weeks of listing.

https://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f94/fs-1967-lotus-elan-s3-55770/

BTW thanks for the paint thickness gauge. That looks real interesting. If I can return it if not satisfied I think I'll pick one up.

Steve
 
Wow, that Elan link is worth looking at just for the pictures! What a NICE looking car!
 
Silverghost said:
Wow, that Elan link is worth looking at just for the pictures! What a NICE looking car!
Click to expand...

Car was very nice, but not as nice as the pics. The seller is a pro photog for Car and Driver. His website morgansiegal.com has some nice car pics. He is selling the Elan because he just bought a Catherham SL

Steve
 
That's Mopho's car. He posts here.
 
Sadly this was not a big problem. Got the car on a lift and needed no magnets or anything else to see a serious rust problem. The car that looked good from above was a mess. Holes rusted clear through frame pieces. I think it was in danger of breaking in half so I am not a Tiger owner yet. I pssed on this one.

Steve
 
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