Rust Cleanup and seal how? Basics help

[ab_slack]

Last winter was rough here and with the gravel they mix with salt and dump on the roads really beat up the paint on the trailing edges of the wheel wells of my BII and it is now showing some significant rust.

I want to get on top of this before I actually have some holes. Looks like rust on the back side too.

Saw in a thread that best thing to do was remove the rust then "seal it". I understand getting the rust off and down to bare metal but I have no clue what the best way to seal it is.

I've never done this. Not trying to do a perfect job but something to halt or significantly slow the progression.

So for those who are experienced, what tips can you offer?

What is best tools, method for getting the rust off in the first place?

What do I use to seal it? And when it comes to sealing/painting I am thinking the visible exterior surfaces and the hidden interior surfaces.

The exterior surfaces I would eventually want to get painted. I might even take it as far get some matching paint (or close) as a top color coat.

For interior I am just interested in rust protection so if there is something easier that protects well there as an alternative that might not want for exterior I would be interested in that.

And while I am at it, what other places are typical problems or otherwise would be good to protect on my BII?

Undercarriage has quite a bit of light rust but nothing really terrible. I been thinking of something like POR15 as a general protection underneath just painting over it, but I don't know if that really seals or if it is more marketing tricks than real value.

 

[RonD]

Rust is the same chemical reaction as fire, releases the same heat too, lol, just over a longer period of time, so roasting a marshmallow would take awhile
If you let a piece of metal rust long enough it will almost completely disappear, like the log in a fire, consumed by the reaction.

Oxidation is what is happening, water promotes oxidation and salts(minerals) speed up the reaction.

You can grind the rust away to get to bare metal, or you can use a product like Navel Jelly to convert the rust to a neutral state(it puts out the fire), or both.

Once you have a rust free surface you need to cover it with something that will bond with the metal and prevent oxygen from coming in contact with the metal.
Primer paint will bond with the metal and prevent oxygen from contacting it, but........
Primer is not very good at resisting UV light(sun shine) or other environmental conditions.
So an exterior rated paint should be applied over the primer, regular paint doesn't bond directly to metal very well, so always use a primer then add the coat of paint.

Never paint/prime over rust, it will slow down the rust but won't stop it, it will continue to spread just slower, apply Navel jelly according to directions, rinse and let dry then prime and paint.

 

[Destroyer000]

iam right next to you in ny and here too the salt is crazy. last few years ive taken a grinder and ground the frame down to get the heavy flake off and ive used a needle scaller to help . i paint with some oil based tractor enamel or rusoloeum and then ive used "fluid Film" as an undercoat. i sprayed it on with a shultz or under coat gun. its safe on virutally all materials and def protects it.. its the only thing that saved my 99 last year.

 

[ab_slack]

Thanks Ron, good info there with regards to the rust and Naval Jelly.

Thanks for the ideas there destroyer.

 

[RonD]

Phosphoric acid is the active ingredient in Naval Jelly.
"The phosphoric acid changes the reddish-brown iron(III) oxide, Fe2O3 (rust) to ferric phosphate, FePO4."

Most Cola's also have a small amount of Phosphoric acid, and it is a good rust remover for chrome, don's use Naval Jelly on chrome or painted surfaces.

You can clean chrome easily with coke and aluminum foil, it will really shine it up, works for faucets as well