Bare metal question

[highrlr]

I have spent the past few months replacing lots of rusty metal on my bronco and i am wondering what I can do keep it from rusting over the winter since I will not have the money to get it painted for a little while yet. It will be remaining indoors all winter but the shop that I have it in is un-insulated so it is therefore not heated and I am worried that even though it is indoors that frost will form on it from the intense cold we get in NoDak, and then melt and form rust when it melts. I was thinking of just rubbing all the metal down with some wax and grease remover and then spraying it with some self etching bomb can primer, is this an ok route to go? Will it be ok to paint over then when I do get it painted or will this cause a big headache for my bodyman? Any better methods of coating the metal? Any input would be greatly apreciated since I am new to this body stuff and have no clue what to do next. Oh and should i seal all the seams with seam sealer before i spray anything on? Thanks and sorry about the long winded post.

 

[bigpappa]

You could either prime it or give it a good coating of an oil of some sort. Then when you are ready to paint give it a good degreasing a couple of times.

 

[74bronc]

if it is inside, i would rattle can primer it. Whatever you do, DON'T spray something like WD-40 on it. That is an absolute nightmare when you try to paint it. I wouldn't even put oil on it because it will get down in the cracks and stuff. Just shoot some good primer on it and you will be good to go. The primer in rattle cans isn't catalyzed, so it will be easy for your body guy to take it off when you get ready for paint.

 

[highrlr]

Hey thats a pretty good idea about the oil, never thought of doing that, plus i wouldnt have to try and heat the shed warm enough to prime and get it dried corectly! Would regular ol WD40 work ok?

 

[highrlr]

Woops, guess WD40 is a bad idea, sorry 74bronc, your post appeard while I was typing mine i guess. I also started to think about th cracks also, guess I should just get some good heaters in there and get it primed. Oh and sorry if its a dumb question but what do you mean by the promer not being catalyzed? Oh and no one answered the question about seam sealing before I prime, should I or shouldnt I, and is there any tricks I should know about the sealer, I bought some already but have never used the stuff.

 

[brian72]

what about POR-15 or rustbullet? Solves rust "forever" (according to their product info)

 

[highrlr]

I have actually been using some por-15 and have used it on other things as well with good results. On this project i painted the portions of the inner rocker panels as well as the inside of the rocker panels themselves, not sure how it held up on there after welding(there was a little more smoke than normal but not bad) but I am hoping that this will protect the surfaces in there for quite some time. I was also thinking of doing the insides of the door post, its too late for the passenger side since it is already welded on but I may still do it on the driver side. Im not sure about using it on surfaces that i am going to paint since im not sure how it accepts paint? i think I am gonna try rustbullet on the whole inside of the tub before i line-x it since there is some light surface rust in some areas that i worrie about just sanding down and covering back up, and they say you can use bedliners over the top of the rustbullet.

 

[eds66bronco]

i use SEM metal etch primer and then topcoat or ppg dp40 2 part epoxy primer and it can be left indefinitly- the stuff is like a poor mans powdercoat. don't oil it or you will shoot yourself later.

 

[1975stroppebaja]

I would almost vote to do nothing unless you're ready to prime it. At least in my case it works. I have had my Bronco with unpainted sheetmetal in an unheated garage in WV for about 2 years now and it still looks like this...

http://www.frontiernet.net/~jmray/Baja/RearFloor1.JPG

For whatever reason it does not rust. The temperature definitely swings out there. That pic was taken back in May, but only because I just fitted the new rear floor section in. All of the sheetmetal (inner quarters, floors, wheel tubs, etc) have been in place for at least a year. The front floor pans have been in longer than that.

Just my $0.02, it works for me. Good luck!

 

[mitzel]

checkout the Picklex20 rust converter product available over on the
www.autobodystore.com website. I've seen it recomended many times on
the forum there for use when storing bare metal panels for extended
periods.

 

[malcolmzilla]

I am in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, similar climate, and so far in my unheated garage barely any of my bare metal stock has rusted over the past year or so, I have an bare work bench that has been in there 2 years. A lot of that still has the mill scale although I do have some CR sheetmetal and CR ERW and it is doing OK. I think big temperature shift leads to condensation, if yours is inside and stable temp maybe do nothing until you can paint it right?

I epoxy primed my tub after blasting, but it does have to go outside under the tarp every now and then, and it was the most convenient surface prep for the primer anyhow. If this is your case maybe use some rattle can galvanizing / weld thru primer. My painter says he primes over this all the time.

 

[74bronc]

Woops, guess WD40 is a bad idea, sorry 74bronc, your post appeard while I was typing mine i guess. I also started to think about th cracks also, guess I should just get some good heaters in there and get it primed. Oh and sorry if its a dumb question but what do you mean by the promer not being catalyzed? Oh and no one answered the question about seam sealing before I prime, should I or shouldnt I, and is there any tricks I should know about the sealer, I bought some already but have never used the stuff.

yes, defintely don't go the WD-40 route. I knew a guy once that sprayed the tops of his wings on his airplane with WD-40 because they stripped it but couldn't paint it and it was going to sit outside. No painted would touch that airplane with a 10 foot pole after that!!!

There are no dumb questions. No paint or primer that comes out of a rattle can is catalyzed. Basically what that means is that when you are painting a with a quality auto paint/primer, you will have the base paint and a catalyst that are mixed together before they are sprayed. This causes a chemical reaction which makes the paint harden up. Catalyst is also sometimes known as hardener. A catalyzed paint is always tougher and stronger than a non-catalyzed paint and will seal the surface better than a non-catalyzed paint/primer.

yes, I would seam seal before you prime. Seam sealer can be bought at any auto body supply store for about 10-15/tube. I use 3M seam sealer from my local auto body supply store and it works great.