• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Rust, Rust Treatment & Removal.

Share this page

J

Jim Weatherford

Jedi Trainee
Offline
I have a few (3) small "bubbles" about 1/4" in diameter on the rear deck, what can be done to check how extensive the rust below the surface is. Will this mean that the entire deck will have to be stripped, rust removed and pitting filled and then re-painted or can you do only the immediate area.

I highly expect the latter, because of the age of the paint, I doubt if I could match it to the other parts of the car. It's British paint (naturally) to begin with and it's 30 years old.

Should I expect to take the car down to bare metal, fix, fill and prime and paint ($3,800 was my first estimate) or is there a less drastic & more efficient steps to be taken first. There is also rust bleeding through (only slightly, but it there) on the running panels below the doors.

When I put the car up on the lift and inspected the under side of the car, it looked rust free and solid in typical places where this car is known to have problems and it was solid, so I may only have minor problems and given the costs, I'd like to wait on the full re-paint, what do you think?
 
There is a product called "cold galvanizing paint". It's silver in color, so you may have to paint over it afterwards. Usually available brush-on but maybe available in spray too.
Mazda recommends it when dealers have to drill body panels (to add after-market accessories)....that's probably a sign that it's decent.
I'm sure "Eastwood" sells it (do a Google search to find Eastwood on the net).
 
LPS also makes a cold galvanizing paint (plus all those great lubricants). ACE hardware stores sell it around here.
 
Difference is, a drilled hole is pretty much self contained while rust runs underneath paint much like the roots of a tree underneath the ground...while a dealer can 'treat' a localized manmade hole with it, you can't treat rust with it unless you strip the entire area, remove the rust & then treat the edges of the good metal.
 
sounds to me like you had better fix it right before it gets away from you
 
Jim...Jensen Healeys are, I understand, more prone to rust than mine & chuck's MG's...&, our cars rust from the inside out...take chuck's advice: do it right.....unfortunately, right this time probably means stripping the entire car to find what you've got lurking underneath that old paint....depending on how much stripping & rust repair the bodyshop was willing to include, $3800 might not be such a bad deal
 
Hey all;

It sounds like good advice to do it right to begin with, the "rust running under the paint" really made an impression. Thanks again.
 
Craig...you've gotta find out what you have before you put anything on it....POR-15 over the old enamel won't do any good at all.....POR-15 on the bad metal will help but the only way to really get ahead of rust is to cut it all out!
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by CraigFL:
Nobody likes POR15??<hr></blockquote>

If the rust is under the paint you'd still have to strip the paint to apply the POR15.

Eastwood sells a product called "Rust Encapsulator" that can be spayed over metal with surface rust. They say it will stop the rust and prevent spreading. The current edition of Auto Restorer magazine has an article comparing it with POR15.

Regardless of how well those products stop rust if you want an "automotive quality finish" look you'll have to strip, sand, prime, sand, topcoat, colorsand and buff. If you have touch-up paint that is a close match and the bubbles aren't too big or too plentiful you might be able to get away with just doing the spots.

Jim, the Sherwin-Williams auto paint store over on Katella, across from The Pond, has an ace color matching guy. Depending on the overall condition of the paint he might be able to set you up. Haveing custom paint mixed is a lot more expensive than buying a "nail-polish" bottle of paint at Pep Boys but is much cheaper than re-spraying a whole car.


PC.
 
Aloha Jim,

Surface rust is like an iceberg, you are only seeing about 20% of the problem. Only treating the bubbled spot will just delay the outbreak of new spots, I'm speaking from experience. As others have said treating the affected area back to bright shinny metal is my recommendation. Also look on the underside of the panel, you may have a problem there also. If you do and it is not taken care of, the rust will reappear quickly.

Safety Fast,
Dave
 
Is it all original paint? I have had bubbles in paint where there was no rust at all.

I don't know if I would do anything with it right now.

I might live with a bubble or two than open a can of worms. Maybe you should have an expert put the eyball to it.
 
Thanks all;

Your replies and cautions will be looked into and care will be taken as I proceed. I really appreciate the caveats, it all helps.

PC, I know the shop but was unaware of the expertise, thanks for that. The paint on the Jensen Healey is original, well preserved for 31 years, but like I said, some areas of rust bleeding on the rocker panels and the three "rust bubbles" on the rear trunk area near the trim, each bubble is only about 1/4" in diameter, but they are there in plain sight, but further investigation is warranted.

The rest of the car seems sound and rust free in the areas typically effected. So while investigation is warranted and caution will be taken on the areas effected, a total strip and re-do will likely be the end, I'll see how it goes and proceed as funds allow. Thanks all again.
 
Back
Top