Under body finish/protection

[ironage]

Hi
i.m still working on the underneath of the van and was wondering about how to finish it to protect it from the elements. i've had to do a fair bit of welding, theres quite alot of original paint and a little surface rust. i was thinking of giving it a good wire brushing, treat any surface rust with a rust killer, then a zinc primer then smoothrite or por15 followed by a spray coat of shultz.

i would welcome any tips advice on what you've done what products you used and the best way to key the surfaces to get a good bond.

cheers

Graham

 

[geenjay]

i steam cleaned mine and when dry wire brushed the loose &flaky bits then shultz everywhere i could get to poached a big tub of copper grease from work and copper greased all exposed cables linkages rear corners under battery tray jack points under side of the sills and anywhere that could be vunrable then sprayed underneath with fresh engine oil its a bit of a mucky job and the rubber gloves dont last long but come late spring i will jet off the grease & muck regrease lightly and oil spray again hopefully she should be ok try not to oil spray any rubber there not keen on it :mrgreen:

 

[ronmidg]

must admit I'm a fan of old engine oil for the cavities I cant see, my old 60's Triumphs would rust through everywhere except where the engine leaked. I dont believe sealing rust works, either grind it off or use phosphric acid, use it in solution 'cos the one treatment products dont penetrate enough before the sealer dries. Have been using POR15 for a few years now and find its good where the steel is clean and all the rust is gone.

 

[madjack]

What ever you do I would strongly suggest rotating the car on to its side .Done this when I sorted out the bottom of Bay and split the job time by 75 % as you can look straight at what your working on.

 

[kleinbusRonnie]

Good idea about rotating the bus, but you can do your job anyway....with risc of getting the stuff in your hair/eyes etc.

As a rust stop/treatment job i used Fertan rust stopper and Fertan Epoxy(Ferpox) primer on top.

http://www.fertan.co.uk/Item-Fertan%20rust%20converter.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As my bus is from Nevada and only had light surface rust i was in doubt if i should do something about it, but after a short trip here in Denmark, i noticed that the rust had evolved quite much. So something had to be done. Even if it meant that the beautiful patina where lost.

And i'll guess it the same problem in UK.

This is how i did:
I washed the bottom with surface rust soap..(pure poison) i didn't have to grind very much, just washed rust away
Then gave it a Fertan rust converter treatment
Then washed the parts of Fertan of, where it didn't react with any rust and painted with Ferpox epoxy primer
Then gave it some top paint, L7011 Ral grey in the middle and L87 Pearlwhite in wheelboxes and bellypans
Then some Fertan wax (looks like honey) (not done yet, waiting for warmer weather)
All cavaties etc will be done by a pro, unless i'm broke then i will use a Fertan product for cavaties. (and use Fertan rust converter first )

Yes i like Fertan! , other products might be as good as well, i just liked the comprehensive information from Fertan.
But for all products you need the right temperature, at least 5 -10 degrees.

Ronnie