Rust - The gift that keeps on giving? (1 Viewer)

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you might google for a soda blasting service in your area (like sandblasting but uses baking soda). Be a hellofalot faster than a wire brush.

Sorry for a bit of a thread resurrection, but i was interested in having my undercarriage media blasted (with soda, pellets, whatever they think is best) and completely coated to address the existing rust and slow the progress of any future rust. My question was how is this done so that there is no damage to anything somewhat fragile, like rubber, plastic electrical etc. I'll have someone do it as I have neither the space or the patience to do it myself.
 
You guys are optimistic as hell. I fix rust on high value classic vehicles as part of my job. I live in Maine. Here are some thoughts on rust.

-Rust is always many times worse than it looks. Always.
-If you don't completely disassemble (like drill out spot welds and take every thing apart to sand blast) there will still be rust or rust damage.
-POR15 doesn't work very well. I have repaired lots of stuff that it was used on.
-Soda blasting will not touch rust. You need a media harder than iron oxide like coal slag, copper slag, silica, etc.
-If you have good sheetmetal and frames now, coat them with oil, grease, wax. something that will not chip or allow water in.
-The land cruiser in question probably has a bit of body rust (holes) and some decent pitting on the frame. The mechanical fasteners and plumbing will not be very nice to work on.

All these reasons are why I bought my 1997 FZJ80 in Florida and paid ~$700 to ship it up here. Esentially $700 to not have any rust to fix. I have billed out over $20k to fix rust on countless cars. It take many hundreds of hours to fix it correctly.

The bottom of mine looks far better than any 2013 truck that has been through two or three Maine winters. The first thing I did was use a heated pressure washer on the entire underside and let it dry for a few days. Then I coated everything I could get to with a 30" spray nozzle with fluid film. I drove it last winter and it looks fantastic still. The fluid film is not durable in areas that get direct splashing. This winter I will use a heavy wax product like AMS oil HD chain lube, which dries to a harder wax coating. This is very similar to cavity wax OEMs use in some rockers. I have sprayed the AMS oil stuff in all my doors, quarters, tailgate, rockers and will do the wheel wells and inner rockers before it gets nasty up here. The fluid film is holding up fine down the middle of the truck and inside the frame. Sorry for the rant but I work on this stuff a lot and am always researching and testing the best ways to repair and prevent rust. I hate it!
 
You guys are optimistic as hell. I fix rust on high value classic vehicles as part of my job. I live in Maine. Here are some thoughts on rust.

-Rust is always many times worse than it looks. Always.
-If you don't completely disassemble (like drill out spot welds and take every thing apart to sand blast) there will still be rust or rust damage.
-POR15 doesn't work very well. I have repaired lots of stuff that it was used on.
-Soda blasting will not touch rust. You need a media harder than iron oxide like coal slag, copper slag, silica, etc.
-If you have good sheetmetal and frames now, coat them with oil, grease, wax. something that will not chip or allow water in.
-The land cruiser in question probably has a bit of body rust (holes) and some decent pitting on the frame. The mechanical fasteners and plumbing will not be very nice to work on.

All these reasons are why I bought my 1997 FZJ80 in Florida and paid ~$700 to ship it up here. Esentially $700 to not have any rust to fix. I have billed out over $20k to fix rust on countless cars. It take many hundreds of hours to fix it correctly.

The bottom of mine looks far better than any 2013 truck that has been through two or three Maine winters. The first thing I did was use a heated pressure washer on the entire underside and let it dry for a few days. Then I coated everything I could get to with a 30" spray nozzle with fluid film. I drove it last winter and it looks fantastic still. The fluid film is not durable in areas that get direct splashing. This winter I will use a heavy wax product like AMS oil HD chain lube, which dries to a harder wax coating. This is very similar to cavity wax OEMs use in some rockers. I have sprayed the AMS oil stuff in all my doors, quarters, tailgate, rockers and will do the wheel wells and inner rockers before it gets nasty up here. The fluid film is holding up fine down the middle of the truck and inside the frame. Sorry for the rant but I work on this stuff a lot and am always researching and testing the best ways to repair and prevent rust. I hate it!



^^^^^^^^ This

I suppose how 'bad' rust is....can be a subjective thing, depending upon where you're from and what you are used to, but I would never have touched that L/C.

Any vehicle with that much frame and component rust is bound to yield some 'surprises' the more you dig into it and none of them will be good.

There are lots of Cruisers from Southern States available (or the West). I'd gladly fly out to get a good rust free vehicle than to settle for a 'local' rust bucket. Not worth the work and effort.
 
I live east of Notch and he is right in my opinion. I sourced my 97 from Texas. I always stock Fluid Film and LPS3.
 
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Sorry for a bit of a thread resurrection, but i was interested in having my undercarriage media blasted (with soda, pellets, whatever they think is best) and completely coated to address the existing rust and slow the progress of any future rust. My question was how is this done so that there is no damage to anything somewhat fragile, like rubber, plastic electrical etc. I'll have someone do it as I have neither the space or the patience to do it myself.

You have to mask off or somehow protect what you don't want hit with the sand or other media. Soda is a better cleaner than super rust blaster and sand etc is better at really eating away more material. Clean, use a rust converter, paint, hope.
 
Living in Maine and having fought rust for my whole life I can tell you a few simple truths:
1. Rust is cancer...must by removed of neutralized to stop
2. Simply coating it in POR-15 or similar will actually make it worse if you leave ANY rust pockets as it seals in the moisture
3. Products that weep in like boingshield, waxoyl, oil and fluidfilm are your best bet as they displace moisture and arrest or at least slow the rust.
4.dust and dirt on rust will make it very bad as it will hold moisture against the metal...the the frame internals free of dirt.
 
It's not great, but it doesn't seem that bad to me. I have been dealing with rust for 25 years as a northern state liver and what you have there could still be salvaged with the wire wheel and Fluid Film. It will never be rust free, but it's a 20+ year old vehicle that still looks nice from the rocker panels up.

People say you should only buy rust free trucks and I agree that is best, but it's not always an easy option if you are on a budget and live in a rust state. I surf CL all the time for rust free trucks from the desert or out west or the SE and while those are nice looking trucks, they are also at least 25 hours away from me. I would be taking a chance to buy a truck sight unseen, which presents it's own set of problems.

The way I look at it is that I bought my 80 to drive and have fun with. I wasn't looking for a museum piece and I couldn't afford one even if I was. My truck is much rustier than yours is underneath and I still think the truck is valuable enough to maintain. These trucks are rare where I live and it's not as simple as just putting mine up for sale and picking up a rust free one. The body of mine sounds just like yours, the underside is a tad worse.

The people here who are telling you to paint it or POR15 are misguiding you. Don't do that, you need something like Fluid Film or even used oil to spray down the metal and lock out moisture, not trap it, which is what paint and POR15 do unless they are covering completely clean, bare metal, which you are well beyond ever having again. The Fluid Film works. It stops or significantly slows rust and it keeps new rust from forming. I have been using it on my rust free AZ Tacoma for four northern WI winters and that truck is still 100% rust free. You need to apply it in the fall and then after rinsing everything again in the spring, but it's easy to use and non toxic.

If you are seeing plenty of rust free 80's lying around and you don't feel like dealing with the rust on this truck, by all means sell it and buy one of those. If not and you live in an area where any 80, much less a nice looking one is a rare sight, like where I live, I would just keep the truck and enjoy it for the next 20 years.
 
I appreciate everyone's insights. i actually bailed on buying a 470 with a great body and low miles because of undercarriage rust. i can live with/treat surface corrosion however flaking frame rust is where I draw the line.
 
I grew up in Ohio. I've dealt with rust. I now live in SoCal and I don't miss the broken bolts or EZouts one bit. There's a reason Cruisers in rust free states like CA, AZ, NV, NM, UT fetch a hefty premium. In my opinion, paying as much as two to three thousand more for a rust free car is worth it. When you factor in how much you're going to spend on upgrades, starting out with a solid foundation is the cheapest money you're going to spend.

Here's what my "neglected" 200K mile '97 looked like when I purchased it from its original owner in San Francisco.
25597442166_169b6b1fb5_b.jpg
 
Just don't fix your oil pan, tranny pan leaks, let the oil soak the bottom and you'll never get rust

Pretty much. The only parts of 70 year old cars that don't have rust are where the oil leaks were. Oil of almost any kind works 1000% better than just paint. There is a reason our military coats some high exposure mechanical parts with grease.

My buddy just got a new 2016 Tundra last week and we are coating the hell out of the the entire thing before it hit 500 miles. Inside doors, wheel wells, floor, inside rockers, cab corners, bedsides, frame, everything. This will be one of the nicest '16 Tundras in this part of the country in fifteen years.
 
Those are not isolate spots... Just the symptoms of a larger issue. My choice would be to bail.
 
I know rust is no fun but it's not the end of the world. I find it amusing how folks from the rust free states cry run run run when someone posts pics of rust like this. If your trying to restore it, find another one. If your trying to drive/wheel it, fix the safety issues and drive it. Just dont try and make it into a cream puff cause it ain't. Just my 2 cents, pleas don't take offense.
 
I am with superjuice. rust happens. get over it. I had a 1997 jeep that rusted so bad, the fender rotted through, frame cracked in three places, skid plate fell off and with it the transmission. My new jeep got coated when it left florida, did it every year for the past 10 years....you know what...still a tiny bit of rust. AT this point, rust is rust, rot...I run

Folks from rust free states don't understand the concept of degrees of rust just as they don't understand how to drive in the snow or ice. They see rust...they run, they see snow they crash into the nearest ditch
 
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lol!! :)

I remember once in VA a snowstorm had just started. I recall seeing all these vehicles hauling ass by me as they typically do. A few miles up the road the same vehicles where up side down, in the woods, multi vehicle accidents, etc etc. I'll never understand the disconnect on snow driving down there. Sure, no one has proper tires and the DOTs lack the ability to deal...but damn....I've had to drive in 6" storms on the road before the plows ever touched them.
 
I had my underbody blasted with a synthetic sand called, I think, Starburst, then coated in an epoxy primer and painted. It did its own damage in that it nic'd a brake line and ruined the seam of the gas tank. But that rear axle looks impenetrable; I'll get some fluid film on there and all that but I needed some extra defense.
 
I am with superjuice. rust happens. get over it. I had a 1997 jeep that rusted so bad, the fender rotted through, frame cracked in three places, skid plate fell off and with it the transmission. My new jeep got coated when it left florida, did it every year for the past 10 years....you know what...still a tiny bit of rust. AT this point, rust is rust, rot...I run

Folks from rust free states don't understand the concept of degrees of rust just as they don't understand how to drive in the snow or ice. They see rust...they run, they see snow they crash into the nearest ditch


Yes! Degrees of rust, that's exactly what this is. My 62 had a bad case. I had cut major sections of the body off and fiberglassed over expanding foam to keep the truck on the road. The frame was a moth eaten nightmare. You know what? That truck still ran like a dream and I had no trouble selling it to a guy that continued to drive it for another 5 years. It was an awesome winter rig and I didn't fret over getting salty crap all over it since it was already well on it's way to being a pile of iron oxide in my driveway. It was my first cruiser and the one that inspired me to get another one that is much less rusty.

The truck in question is many years from being anywhere close to that bad and there is still plenty of time to get it knocked down and looking presentable.

When I see trucks like midfat's, all I can do is drool. But hey, buying a truck sight unseen from San Francisco and getting back up to Duluth, MN would not be an easy task and it would add a lot of cost to the purchase price. There are also different levels of owners out there. I love my rust free 1997 Tacoma that I bought from a guy that picked it up in Phoenix, but the Cruiser is more of a second car/fun/winter rig anyway. As long as I can keep the body looking decent and I can get parts on and off, the rust on the Cruiser just isn't the end of the world.
 

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