PROPHET69

Yeah, have a HUGE prob, I recently finished stripping the paint off of my 1985 z28 project car. knowing it would rust, I asked opinions about how to keep it from rusting due to humidity. I was told by two mechanics to just spread a thin layer of vaseline around the body until i am finished doing what I have to do.

I am kicking myself in the *** now because just as I was measuring a few things, I noticed tiny tiny rust spots popping up here and there. I know i msut sand those spots off FAST! But my REAL problem is, how the hell can I stop the body from rusting until i am fully ready to pain it??

jccaclimber

It seems to me that the vaselene should have worked. I've used that before with good success. It has to be dry and clean when you put it on and you don't want any really thin spots, but its worked for me on other stuff. Grease works the same way and might be cheaper. This probably won't work if its in the rain as the raindrops will push through and get trapped against the body. Given that its probably only good for things stored indoors.

PROPHET69

I don't know what's up with that. It's inside, maybe there was moisture underneath or something. I'll have to remove the vaseline, sand the bad parts and re-grease it. What product would you all recommend to put on this car to protect it for another month?

LIL BASTARD

iTrader: (3)

If it's only going to sit for a month, I'd just leave it alone. It is only surface rust, it shouldn't eat through that quick. You'll sand it off when doing final prep.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

mine sat for a month indoors and i was able to sand it off during final prep. if your leaving it outdoors or somewhere with high humidity for a long period i hate to have a reply to that..

Bull

iTrader: (5)

Not to contradict your mechanics, but Vaseline seems an odd choice to me. Seems like it'd take a long time to butter an entire car with it, and then removing it will be a PITA, too. I've used frequent applications of WD-40 to keep freshly honed cylinder walls clean and rust-free until getting around to an engine rebuild before. I think there are other products specifically designed for this job, too, like Cosmoline.

For surface rust, I'd use a combination of mechanical and chemical removal. Sanding takes care of the mechanical part. For the chemical, you'll want to get some phosphoric acid on the panels. Ospho is a great product for this, but there might be others. I like Ospho because you don't have to rinse it off, which seems to defeat the purpose.

Sickness91Z28

iTrader: (1)

Cover an entire car in vaseline? I'm sorry....but that is probably one of the most stupid things I've heard. IF you do that...or have done that...and eventually paint it...anything you spray on that car will fish eye all to hell and you will have nothing but problems. If it's just tin surface rust..that's no big deal, run a DA over it. Are you driving this and working on it at the same time or what?

JimmyDavidson

Ever heard Picklex20? I never used it but I saw it used on Muscle Car on SpikeTv.

"Picklex®20 provides a combination of a surface cleaner, 100% rust converter, rust inhibitor, primer, and a metal surface conditioner, all in one step." -Straight from the website --http://www.picklex20.com/

JeffW

you can coat with epoxy primer........ vasaline is ok since its water based it will wash off quick. wd 40 is a huge no no on body work the paint will fish eye like crazy from the silicon in it, very hard to get off.

for one month leave it alone and just give it all a quick d/a with 80 grit when your ready to primer

jeff

Apeiron

There's no silicone in WD40.

Sickness91Z28

iTrader: (1)

I've never been able to get vaseline off with water....I've had to use grease cutting agents to remove vaseline.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

I don't think Vaseline is water based. After all, it is also called "petroleum jelly".

And as mentioned, WD40 doesn't have silicone.

Dr. Pepper

That sounds lame, they must have been pulling out the air on that one. I can't imagine the effort it would take to clean the body properly after gunking it with something like that.

Buy spray cans of laquer from the parts store if it is going to be exposed to moisture long enough to be a problem. The cheap spray cans sand off pretty fast and will give you enough protection to hold off rust for a year or two. Sanding off a spray can laquer layer is cake compared to sanding off a factory layer of paint.

Otherwise, work an area and treat it with Picklex and then epoxy primer it to give it a tough coating that will hold up great to moisture. Just don't let it get much direct sunlight since epoxy primer degrades in UV light.

online170

Vaseline? Yep, wierd indeed. If you were gonna use some greasy compound to seal out moisture, should have used a better product. Vaseline does seem like an odd choice, maybe your mechanic had $$$ issues in mind.

In any case, like mentioned above, a month shouldnt be a big issue, so long as its inside.

Epoxy primer is good choice, but primer is pourous. It will actually attract moisture, so if u let primer stand for a month and then paint, its not such a good idea. The proper way to do it, would be to use primer, and primer sealer. The sealer will need sanding when it comes time to paint, but it will prevent rust. Primer alone is not enough (contrary to popular beleif).

Dr. Pepper

Epoxy primer is not porous. If it sets it has to be sanded for adhesion.

Take a look at KP-21 at http://www.houseofkolor.com/hok/products/products.jsp .

However, it is a good point that *most* primers are porous and wouldn't be of any real help. This is true of the rattle can primer that auto parts stores sell.

1982TA

iTrader: (1)

Wow...thanks for that. I have been thinking of stripping my car down in the future and have often thought about the rust issue. This product looks like it is exactly what I'm looking for! According to the website, it seems you can store your car, bare metal, for up to a year or more without any rust forming on the surface after applying the product.