live4formula

My suspension components are starting to rust. The car has 60K miles and is stored in a garage year round. The garage is insulated and drywalled with an epoxy coated concrete floor, but I do not keep it heated. I only take it for an occasional cruise in or local show and it hasn't seen rain in at least three years. Other than removing everything, sandblasting, painting and re-assembling, what can I do to clean up the rust and keep it from coming back? Ziebart offers a chemical bath and undercoating, but I'm not sure I want to go that direction. Opinions and ideas are welcomed!

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

I used WD40 in a squirt bottle(I bought a gal.can) that cleans up surface rust real good.Make sure you put a plastic tarp under the car first.

live4formula

Should I spray paint satin black after removing the rust or leave natural? What looks best?

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

If your car didn't have undercoating I would leave it alone.

Croz

Its up to you and what you want to do with your car. Do you want it to be completely original or can you live with painting components to make your life a little easier? If you paint your suspension components properly it will be less maintenance year after year. If you leave it bare metal you will always be dealing with surface rust.

If you leave everything bare metal you could try lightly coating it in WD-40 or an oil based product called rust check. Neither is permanent and can be washed off, WD-40 comes off easier and is cleaner then rust check. Neither is a permanent solution and would also require maintenance. Also, not sure where or how you drive your car, but if you went this route I would stay off dirt or dusty roads.

Personally, if the car is not ultra rare and there is nothing really special about it, i would paint it. Protects it from the elements better and less maintenance in the long run. If you took the time to get the correct satin black paint and prep everything properly I think it would look good. Just dont cheap out and get the ol' Tremclad gloss black rust paint and spray everything down, would look terrible.

As for the floor boards, as mentioned before, if the car hasnt been undercoated I would leave them alone.

live4formula

Thanks for the tips. Rare and Valuable? That is a great debate. It is a Tuned Port 5.0 with 5 speed manual Formula. Some say they only made 40 and some say there were thousands. It has been repainted, but other than that, it is mostly original. It has not been undercoated. I won second place in my class at the 2016 Trans Am Nationals, so I don't want to destroy any value it has. I may try the WD40 and see what it looks like.


Would it help to heat the garage? Dehumidifier?

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

I don't think you need to worry about the temperature. Did mine while it was on a lift at the body shop, actually the body shop recommended the WD40 for my surface rust.Like Croz said, it's not a permanent solution ,I did my car 3 times since.

live4formula

As far as the heat, I was referring to overall. Would the car be better off if I kept the heat on all winter? I live in southeast Ohio and the temp in the garage never drops below 40 degrees.

Galaxie500XL

iTrader: (1)

I vote WD-40, at least in the short term. It's only original once, and once it's painted, you can't go back..

As far as heat, I wonder if a dehumidifier might be a better choice?

Croz

[QUOTE=live4formula;6127510]Thanks for the tips. Rare and Valuable? That is a great debate. It is a Tuned Port 5.0 with 5 speed manual Formula. Some say they only made 40 and some say there were thousands. It has been repainted, but other than that, it is mostly original. It has not been undercoated. I won second place in my class at the 2016 Trans Am Nationals, so I don't want to destroy any value it has. I may try the WD40 and see what it looks like.


It sounds like you are thinking to stay more original then paint stuff. Crazy idea..........dont know if this would be worth while or not or if it would turn out okay......if you like the look of bare metal original, but dont want the maintenance of it, what about putting a flat or satin clear coat on all the bare metal parts? It wouldnt be shiny but would still protect the bare exposed metal. i know a lot of guys with "rat rods" that have had great success with this being applied to bare metal. I know if I had a bare metal diff and wanted that look I would give it a try.......just a thought.

LiquidBlue

Awesome Car! Go the WD-40 route, try it out. Don't paint it yet. You can always do that later!! It is rare.

live4formula

That's not a bad idea Croz. I will try the WD-40 and see what it looks like. May try the clear coat idea as well.

live4formula

Thanks!. I is a sentimental car to me because I owned one with T-tops in 1989.

mantaguy

iTrader: (5)

When you do the WD-40 spray it freely and soak in over night, the rust will just drip off onto your tarp.It makes a mess so use enough tarp.

F-body-fan

Anybody have original under chassis pictures of what was painted & what parts were bare steel? My 87 has never been undercoated & has a lot of what probably once flash rust that became more permanent over time. Nothing pitted, just a light dusty rust color. I thought my diff had some black paint on it though, but that could have come from the selling "detailing" dealer at some point. I know I never did it. Zero overspray on the surrounding parts, so if it was the dealer, they were very careful about it.

LiquidBlue

Follow this thread backwards. He uses WD-40

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ml#post5987895

Croz

[QUOTE=F-body-fan;6127909]Anybody have original under chassis pictures of what was painted & what parts were bare steel? I thought my diff had some black paint on it though, but that could have come from the selling "detailing" dealer at some point.

Here is another thread to look at:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...low-miles.html it is a sticky in the history originality section. If you start at the end and work backward you will see a good explanation of the G92 diff. From that you can see if you have a 9 bolt or 10 bolt cover and figure out if yours should be painted or bare metal.

F-body-fan

I found a picture I had on my computer from last time I trailered my 87. Now, I am not at all comparing my photo with some of these pristine under chassis in the other threads, but I first bought this car in 1992ish & the rear hasn't been touched since then. Notice the black on the axle tubes & there is no overspray on the brace lines? Interesting I guess anyway.
My car has been driven in the rain, but never in winter. For that matter it hasn't been driven much in the last 20 years...... lol

Croz

The diff looks like a G92, should be painted black

yo soy el warg

These are the years and combinations that got the Borg-Warner black painted differentials.

All others came without painted differentials from the factory during the IROC-Z years.

1987 IROC-Z with the LB9 and M5 automatically got the 3.45 B-W painted differential housing.
1987 IROC-Z with the L98 and A4 automatically got the 3.27 B-W painted differential housing.

1988 IROC-Z with the LB9 and M5 automatically got the 3.45 B-W painted differential housing.
1988 IROC-Z with the L98 and A4 without G92 got the 2.77 B-W painted differential housing.
1988 IROC-Z with the L98 and A4 with G92 got the 3.27 B-W painted differential housing.

1989 IROC-Z with the LB9 and M5 with G92 got the 3.45 B-W painted differential housing.
1989 IROC-Z with the L98 and A4 without G92 got the 2.77 B-W painted differential housing.
1989 IROC-Z with the L98 and A4 with G92 got the 3.27 B-W painted differential housing.