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Early signs of rust

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M

MiamiSprite

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<span style="font-weight: bold">Background</span>:
1962 Sprite. While I have no bubles or holes in my sills, I can feel heavy surface rust inside the sills (hole for jack) and after remving all interior, I can see heavy surface rust when looking into thoe small access holes. Floors are great.

After many hours of reading post, spridget and non-spridget, on the subject of rust, I did not fnd exactly what I was looking for. So I decided to start this post.

I realize there is truly one solution - removal. This is my conclusion after many hours of reaing excellent post, many about TRs, and some on electogadgets/junk.

My situation is that:
1. Very limited budget,
2. Want to keep driving,
3. Rust is mostly surface rust limited to inside of sills - no penetration, and
4. One of the conditions of buying the car was that I would not take it appart and it end up beeing no more that junk taking up garage space.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Options</span>:
For now, I simply want to postpone cutting/replacing metal work so I can maximize driving time. My options are, from simple to unrealistic:

1. Spray waxoyl type material (have recipe from others) in sills using exisitng and new holes.

2. Use hole saw to gain more access so I can use a rust disolver (eastwood or like product), rust converter, rust encapsulator, and maybe paint followed by waxoyl type material.

Both options rsult in new holes, but 2 more than 1.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Questions</span>:
1. Anyone actually try similar options? Outcome? Suggestions? Products?
2. Where are most strategic locations for access holes? Hole Saw,good or bad idea? Pictures?

Thanks!
 
Hello and welcome to the BCF. others will come on with better ideas but just wanted to ask if you nhave been over to the restoration forum as ther is alot of info there also.
 
Start saving money for sill replacement, and keep driving. You could have 5 years or more.
 
I vote with Trevor. I've got a couple holes in my floors (very small) and evidence that there is a bit of rust in the A-pillars of my Sprite. They haven't changed much in the 4 years I've had the car, so I'm still driving and making plans to eventually deal with them.

Of course I'm in Utah where it is *very* dry.
 
I think I did, but not 100% sure. I did spend several hours reviewing post using advanced search tool. I'll check to make sure - thanks.

While I never drive in the rain and keep the car in my garage, relative humidity in Miami is typically +80%.

I understand there are many factors to consider, what is typical cost/range for repairing sills and lower A-pillar assuming complete car respay is not required? Need to figure how much to put away over the next +/- 5 years.

Would spraying waxoyl like material (e.g., penetrol) slow the rust?

I should have mentioned that my first car was a 1974 MGB GT which I lost to rust. So I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to rust.

THANKS,
 
MiamiSprite said:
Would spraying waxoyl like material (e.g., penetrol) slow the rust?
Click to expand...

Definitely! Or at least wouldn't hurt anything. I'm not sure if they have undercoating places in Miami, but up here shops like Ziebart can professionally undercoat with rust stoppers and spray stuff into the sills to stop the tin worm.
 
Welcome to the fray, Miami.

Another option, not particularly palatable, would be to sell the rusty Sprite and buy another that contains no rust. You should be able to find a nicely sorted, rust-free example into which some poor enthusiast has pour waaay too much money, for approximately $5000-$6000 or so.

Repairing the rust at any time in the future will be costly, especially if you must pay someone else to do the work. Rust repair on Spridgets and most of the lower-value LBCs is often prohibitively expensive: rust repairs can and will exceed the retail value of the car.

Just a thought, maybe worth considering. :yesnod:

Good luck, let us know . . .
 
The Eastwood rust encapsulator is a good product, I would spray it in every orfice you can find. It is a lot of work to replace might as well enjoy the ride until it starts showing through.

Mark
 
I've had mixed results with rust encapsulators. Depending on how heavy the surface rust is I find there's a need to remove the "chips" of rust that aren't really part of the panel anymore. Otherwise they work loose and leave spots where the rust can continue. So I'd say better with the wazoyl or similiar that can be pressure sprayed and run in behind loose flakes.
 
The seats I got for my MK2 Sprite were very rusty.
I wire wheel cleaned them then sprayed a rust converter (True Value brand) that turned the rusty areas black then painted with several coats of black Rustoleum.
I think anything like that you do will help, you'll always have rust but slowing the process is good.
 
There are plugs inside the wheel wells at both ends of the sills that can be removed. You can get a cheap spray gun at Harbor Freight with a long wand made for spraying undercoat or rust inhibitors into hard to reach areas like those sills. I would shoot some rust converter in first the finish off with Rustoleum or Waxoyl if you really prefer.
 
Thanks to All.

Think I'll remove all interior panels and rug and access plugs and see how bad things are. May even drill some extra holes. Will finalize plan based on results of what I find.

Anyone have a good sectional view of sill and A-pillar (hand sketch?) they can post or provide link? Can't tell if there's one or two box sections.

Are these (diagram below) even close, where:

1 is vertical sheet metal
- is horizontal sheet metal
0 is open
J is jacking hole
D is drain holes

1---1----1
10010001
J0010001____________Floor_____
10010001
10010001
1-D-1----1

OR

1---1----1
10000001
J0000001____________Floor_____
10000001
10000001
1-D-1----1

Thanks,
 
Rust converter does nothing. I have never got that to work. I have a can of that I will give you. I used POR-15 for any outside area that had rusted after I cleaned it as best I could and that was after I cut out and replaced anything rusty. Its high but it works like nothing else I have ever seen. It goes on thin like kerosene or something and soaks in, then when it hardens you have to grind it off. I sandblasted my pedal box and then coated it with por-15 and brake fluid won't even bother it. I welded in a new thicker metal battery box and coated it with por-15 as well. Inside anything I could not paint, I used waxoyl.
 
Part of my dilema is that I'm currently in Maryland for training so I'm relying on memory. I'm taking advantage of this time to do the research so when I get back I can hit the ground running (hopefully not into too many walls).

So I should be able to add some access (A) holes (there are 2 or 3 original ones) from the floor side of the inner sill and see condition of inside of outer sill, right? If so, I should then be able to use high pressure air and vacuum to get any sand out and better inspect inside condition. Maybe even use a small diameter fiberoptic borscope to check condition (https://www.amazon.com/ProVision-PV618-Pro-Vision-618/dp/B000XW6ASG).

Anyone tried this? Does this seem like a bad idea (I can handle the truth, so don't hold back if it's a bad idea)?

11111111
10000001
J0000001
1000000A
1000000A
11D11111____________Floor_____

My goal is to slow it down, not defeat it.

Thanks,
 
Found this Eastwood product and figured I'll give it a try (they have 10% off and free shipping for orders over $75). I think my sill rust is at the same level as the one shown in photos/video.

https://www.eastwood.com/review/product/list/id/5183/category/235/

I will clean sills best I can, spray 4 cans into sills and A-Pillar (once I figure out how to get access to inside of A-Pillar) and followup with Waxoyl or Penetrol.

Should receive pacakge in 5 to 10 days so I'll report on how it goes after I give it a shot.

Thanks to all that replied!
 
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