Too much rust? (1 Viewer)

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Apr 25, 2017
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Chicago
How bad is the rust on this thing? The front is actually in pretty good shape so I didn't post a picture. Going to tackle sanding off as much as I can and putting some POR15.
Also, does the rear swaybar look a bit funky?

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At first glance I was thinking not bad but the last picture has a body mount that looks like it’s rusted through in the bottom side.
 
A little taste of what you're in for: Check it out

IMO it's only worth adding POR-15 or similar if you can fully remove the part and sandblast, degrease and spray multiple coats of POR-15. He ended up hiring someone to spray the rear without fully removing parts and it's starting to rust through.

You could also just generously spray with WoolWax and drive it!
 
A little taste of what you're in for: Check it out

IMO it's only worth adding POR-15 or similar if you can fully remove the part and sandblast, degrease and spray multiple coats of POR-15. He ended up hiring someone to spray the rear without fully removing parts and it's starting to rust through.

You could also just generously spray with WoolWax and drive it!
Nice!

Yea, if I had the cash I’d do a frame off restoration but..... you know lol

So trying to do whatever I can now till I have that type of cash just laying around somewhere in my house.
 
At first glance I was thinking not bad but the last picture has a body mount that looks like it’s rusted through in the bottom side.
I don't see that. Can you circle it?

Otherwise, that is nothing worth not buying a nice 80 over. Get a 25 gallon air compressor, a pneumatic needle scaler and a cheap air feed paint spray gun and coat it with woolwax or bar/chain oil.
 
Nice!

Yea, if I had the cash I’d do a frame off restoration but..... you know lol

So trying to do whatever I can now till I have that type of cash just laying around somewhere in my house.
That truck isn't worth doing a frame off resto because they start with rust free when they do those, but you can get that cleaned up to the point where it doesn't really matter because the rust will mostly be gone and then treated and it will only get better, not worse, the more you pick away at it when you reapply the coatings.

The spare tire winch is probably toast but the 100 Series one fits just fine with the same hole pattern and that one has the improved cable style.

I have one that started in worse condition than that and I was able to turn it into one of the cleanest and best running 80s in the midwest without totally removing the body.

Here is a quick vid I made of mine. Sorry to those that have seen this before but a series of pics is better than a billion words. :)

 
That truck isn't worth doing a frame off resto because they start with rust free when they do those, but you can get that cleaned up to the point where it doesn't really matter because the rust will mostly be gone and then treated. I have one that started in worse condition than that and I was able to turn it into one of the cleanest and best running 80s in the midwest without totally removing the body.
Do show a picture if you can. Would love to see it! :)

Maybe later on I’ll buy a nice clean one from down in Central America haha
 
I don't see that. Can you circle it?

Otherwise, that is nothing worth not buying a nice 80 over. Get a 25 gallon air compressor, a pneumatic needle scaler and a cheap air feed paint spray gun and coat it with woolwax or bar/chain oil.
I wonder if he is looking at the tranny support beam? Its ki mb da nasty where it connects to n.v the frame. But jack up the driveline and pull it off and you can get to it easy, along with the frame.
 
I wonder if he is looking at the tranny support beam? Its ki mb da nasty where it connects to n.v the frame. But jack up the driveline and pull it off and you can get to it easy, along with the frame.
I think that is right. I haven't gotten that far as removing supports yet for my acid dip, POR15 and then paint program, but that part does come off fairly easily once you get the bolts free. I would give that at least a year of soaking in the oil and then use heat and finesse to get the bolts out because snapping them off in the frame is a no go. They will eventually free up, but it can take time. It took me two years to finally get the fine thread bolts out of the trailer hitch assembly, but I did it. That was a pain because it's tight up there and getting the oil into the backside was a challenge. This should be easier since there are two easily accessible holes in the frame that can be used to goop oil onto the bolts from behind. In the mean time, just rattle all that scale off with the needle scaler and treat. When he gets it off, he can decide to refurb or just find a rust free one and replace it with that. I did my whole rear bumper assembly and frame to the rear axle, including the spare tire cross member(that thing sucked. The bolts are really small but I only snapped one out of six getting it off) and that all turned out really well and I just reinstalled many of my own refurbed parts. I did source good used stamped brackets for the rear bumper sides because mine were f-ed.
 
I don't see that. Can you circle it?

Otherwise, that is nothing worth not buying a nice 80 over. Get a 25 gallon air compressor, a pneumatic needle scaler and a cheap air feed paint spray gun and coat it with woolwax or bar/chain oil.

+1

I didn’t see a perf’d mount either.

As for rust, I’m a spoiled West Coast’er, so any red we walk.

**If** the rest of the 80 is exactly what you want, @Red Merle is pretty much the resident rust rehab guy.

I will say that simply wirewheeling loose scale rust & solidly degreasing gets you better tooth than going full sandblasting for POR-15. And I always brushed it in like I was caulking a house when we slathered on pump cases in a sulfuric acid process unit.

But slapping some good anti-sieze on alot of those suspension bolts & running them back in prior to slathering POR-15 may save some broken bolts later in your ownership.

We’ve seen alot of worse here, and if I lived in the Midwest I suppose I’d be cool with that judging by the pics. Price & mods would have to make sense though.
 
For the right price, I would buy that.
I mean..I already own it. Ha
It’s been my family car for about 10 years now, but my parents really never did anything to keep rust away. Now I’m trying to save it.
 
+1

I didn’t see a perf’d mount either.

As for rust, I’m a spoiled West Coast’er, so any red we walk.

**If** the rest of the 80 is exactly what you want, @Red Merle is pretty much the resident rust rehab guy.

I will say that simply wirewheeling loose scale rust & solidly degreasing gets you better tooth than going full sandblasting for POR-15. And I always brushed it in like I was caulking a house when we slathered on pump cases in a sulfuric acid process unit.

But slapping some good anti-sieze on alot of those suspension bolts & running them back in prior to slathering POR-15 may save some broken bolts later in your ownership.

We’ve seen alot of worse here, and if I lived in the Midwest I suppose I’d be cool with that judging by the pics. Price & mods would have to make sense though.
I agree. Sandblasting is a huge mess and God only knows what that is doing to our lungs, mask or not. I like the combo of a couple of cheap angle grinders, one with a wire wheel and another with a flap disk for certain spots but I also love the needle scaler to get into places that those can't reach. I use muratic acid to eat the rust from there and then I mix up a little baking soda and water to spritz on as a neutralizer and then rinse with water and use my leaf blower to speed dry and blow the water out of the pores and then I brush on the POR 15 and topcoat as needed. Once you do that, the rust is gone for as long as any of us will live. It's just chemically impossible for it to spread unless you missed a spot or didn't clean it properly and even then, it would still slow the process way, way down.

The goal is to have everything fail at once, just blown out. Keeping the frame and undercarriage in good enough shape to compete with the condition of the rest of truck is the goal, at least that is my goal.
 
I mean..I already own it. Ha
It’s been my family car for about 10 years now, but my parents really never did anything to keep rust away. Now I’m trying to save it.

Hell, then get at it.

The burgundy pic was posted after my post, and burgundy gets no love here - but if it’s already in the family then more power to you. I highly doubt even if you need to exchange some $$$ for the title, family isn’t going to try & hobble you for top dollar.
 
@Red Merle -

+1 to the needle scaler, big time.

That was what I used 99% of the time myself for pumpcases.

We brushed all paint and so between a scaler & brush/can paint we got excellent results on coating over rust with either POR-15 or that aerospace primer from Tnemec that has aluminum dust in it (only came in silver color). The aluminum primer & whatever color topcoat was amazing for acid resistance though once cured & accidentally sprayed with 175* sulfuric acid. $$$$ though.
 
@NLXTACY has some mental issues but you could dabble in the same lunacy and check out his site.. i bet he could hook you up with bolts that meet spec and don't rust as replacements in your project. OCD isn't for everyone but sometimes it benefits the rest of us.

Also your roof has rust you can't see yet, you should get on that quick.
 

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