I'm starting work on dealing with the rust on my twenty year old Vitara. I've done some background reading but still got some questions.
All the parts that could come off were removed, shot blasted and went to the zinc platers. Unfortunately a lot of the parts trapped fluids from the pre-processing stage in the seams and welds. After zinc plating the fluids leaked out and spoilt the zinc as you can see in the photos. As these fluids are caustic or acidic (depending on which fluid got trapped) I'm thinking this is a serious problem for later life. I'm thinking of asking the plant to redo the parts and give them extra rinsing to try and reduce this problem. What do people think? If you look at the photos it does look like the seams aren't serious traps, so I'd have thought it should be possible to rinse them out properly.
Returning to the main car body, how should I deal with bits of the car body where there are two skins of metal and one skin has rusted? I was thinking of rewelding the rusted skin in a way that creates more space between the skins so that I can get a wand down there to spray inhibitor in?
Some of the seams on the body are starting to blow but are still structurally sound. Basically there's rust layers forming inside the seam (the seam seal is long failed) and the rust layers are starting to force the seams apart. Could I re-seal these seams without removing the existing rust and will that stop the rust continuing to get worse for so long as the new seal lasts? Or do I need to reweld these seams that are starting to "blow" ?
I've read some good stuff about POR15 paint. They do some primer that lets it be used on bare metal. I've also seen Rustbuster Epoxy Mastic 121 which is two part brush on paint. I only have about a dozen small rusted areas to do. Which do people prefer, the Epoxy or the POR15?
The car has a ladder chassis and I wanted to get this hot dip galvanised. I know some people don't like this for fear that it will distort the chassis (I'm willing to risk it - new chassis is cheap) and need for drain holes to let the zinc drain out. My question is how should the paint from inside the chassis be removed? Do I go for a caustic dip or pyrolosis? Which is cheaper and which is better? And I assume the chassis will have to be done at two plants, once for the strip and then to the galvanisers?
Some of the small bits which I've had zinc plated I also wanted to get powder coated for extra protection and to give them colour. I read that parts should be processed (etched etc) before powder coating but that many plants don't bother. Anyone recommend an affordable place to get the parts powder coating, a place that does the proper pre-processing? Seeing as the parts are already zinc plated they may just need degreading - I don't know.
Thanks for the help!
All the parts that could come off were removed, shot blasted and went to the zinc platers. Unfortunately a lot of the parts trapped fluids from the pre-processing stage in the seams and welds. After zinc plating the fluids leaked out and spoilt the zinc as you can see in the photos. As these fluids are caustic or acidic (depending on which fluid got trapped) I'm thinking this is a serious problem for later life. I'm thinking of asking the plant to redo the parts and give them extra rinsing to try and reduce this problem. What do people think? If you look at the photos it does look like the seams aren't serious traps, so I'd have thought it should be possible to rinse them out properly.
Returning to the main car body, how should I deal with bits of the car body where there are two skins of metal and one skin has rusted? I was thinking of rewelding the rusted skin in a way that creates more space between the skins so that I can get a wand down there to spray inhibitor in?
Some of the seams on the body are starting to blow but are still structurally sound. Basically there's rust layers forming inside the seam (the seam seal is long failed) and the rust layers are starting to force the seams apart. Could I re-seal these seams without removing the existing rust and will that stop the rust continuing to get worse for so long as the new seal lasts? Or do I need to reweld these seams that are starting to "blow" ?
I've read some good stuff about POR15 paint. They do some primer that lets it be used on bare metal. I've also seen Rustbuster Epoxy Mastic 121 which is two part brush on paint. I only have about a dozen small rusted areas to do. Which do people prefer, the Epoxy or the POR15?
The car has a ladder chassis and I wanted to get this hot dip galvanised. I know some people don't like this for fear that it will distort the chassis (I'm willing to risk it - new chassis is cheap) and need for drain holes to let the zinc drain out. My question is how should the paint from inside the chassis be removed? Do I go for a caustic dip or pyrolosis? Which is cheaper and which is better? And I assume the chassis will have to be done at two plants, once for the strip and then to the galvanisers?
Some of the small bits which I've had zinc plated I also wanted to get powder coated for extra protection and to give them colour. I read that parts should be processed (etched etc) before powder coating but that many plants don't bother. Anyone recommend an affordable place to get the parts powder coating, a place that does the proper pre-processing? Seeing as the parts are already zinc plated they may just need degreading - I don't know.
Thanks for the help!
