A Forensic Rust-Proofing of an 80 Series Land Cruiser (1 Viewer)

[kw90surf]

Note the black plastic plugs from the holes Rust Check drilled:

 

[kw90surf]

My intention with this is to run it for a bit this winter and re-evaluate in the spring. I'm hoping this coating will protect it well enough that it will withstand occasional winter use without deterioration. If it shows signs of deterioration after just one winter, I will probably cease using it in the winter. But, I'm pretty confident in this coating. The nice thing too is that I'll be able to pressure was the salt off the underside without compromising the coating. Any spots that looked dry in the photos, I guarantee I hit them again. I went full sicko with the spray can after the main application was done.




Did I mention that I hate rust?


If anyone else wants to share rust-proofing methods, experience, products, etc etc, please feel free to do so in this thread!

And for all you non-rust belters ("eww slimy oil" "why don't you just use paint?" "why don't you just wash it?")....

 

[kw90surf]

Cosmoline and fluid film/wool wax both have their advantages, so from what I’ve come to learn, I’d say the best bet is using both in the areas of their strengths. Short version IMO, fluid film creeps and gets everywhere, like you said, so it’s good in tight spots with seams/etc, inside frame & other cavities, while cosmoline creates a more durable and perhaps better-in-general rust proofing, so it can be used over the main surfaces, although it takes more prep cleaning to be done properly. I actually just fluid filmed my whole truck today, including inside the frame, but have not used cosmoline yet. I do use a similar CRC product & boeshield T9 for my outboard & kicker, both of which work fantastically.

Not quite as salt-gnarly here, but I’m in the equal but opposite corner from you, in southeast AK. Same deal with winter - it doesn’t stay below freezing and is always wet. I know they sometimes use road treatment here, but luckily it seems that they often just use simple gravel. Vehicles definitely rust, but not like what you see from the rust belt proper.

My last XJ was losing its floor pans, and had a rotten unibody frame above the rear axle. My 80 has zero issues, fortunately. I do the whole truck before winter, and then touch up the rear half in spring before boat season starts. I don’t dunk the truck when I launch, but it’s extra protection.

Project Farm also has a couple great videos comparing all these products

The only problem, like I ended up mentioning later in the thread, is that Fluid Film defeats Cosmoline by immediately turning it into homogeneous goo. I'm hoping that Rust Check and Cosmoline end up giving the best of both worlds, as you mention. How has your 80 held up out there, and for how long? Any pictures?

 

[SpenserAK]

I read that, and that’s good to know re: mixing them. Interesting

I only came into this truck a couple years ago, bought from a friend who’s a mechanic, and first thing I did before committing was crawl underneath to check it out. Not showroom perfect of course, but only a few spots of surface corrosion here & there, and nowhere serious. Clean frame, body, rockers, and all the bits. I started using FF on it that first year, knowing I wanted to start preservation before an issue arose (but damn, 25 years being that clean, not a bad start). Posted in the “what did you do with your 80 this weekend” thread today, but I cleaned the front underbelly yesterday (previous years of oil leak + dirt caked on) and was stoked to see it revealed more solid metal. That’s when I applied another FF treatment. I may be wrong, but another benny of FF is it can be applied without cleaning down to a perfectly fresh surface. Yeah, get the gunk off, but a bit of a thin dirt layer almost seems to help, by soaking it in and holding. At least, that’s how it’s seemed each time I go back for another coat.

No pictures, but I should have taken one of the crud I scraped off yesterday. Crawled from under the truck looking like a coal miner. I don’t care for perfect cleanliness whether underbelly or engine bay, so I guess just imagine a truck that’s allowed to get dirty, but is taken care of and has no rust.

Only rust on mine is under the running boards, and on the trailer hitch, but that doesn’t concern me.

Cali truck, moved to OR at some point, sold in 2012 when it came up here. I’ve read the 80 frame seems to do well, and the lift & slight oil leaks seem to have helped before it came to me. Maybe I’ll take a few pictures soon.

Anyway, I’m perfectly happy doing FF annually, or bi-annually. I have a big can of it, but no gun yet, so just using the spray cans & finding it just fine.

My paint & clearcoat are also fully intact, so either it left CA in time or was garaged, but that’s nice too. Certainly nowhere near enough sun here to worry about, hah.

 

[White Stripe]

Did you pull the windows? Window seal areas get ice melt soaked and it seeps into the seals where it's trapped. All my windows were removed including the windshield and coated on por15. The rear quarter glass aluminum frame is most affected if not treated and as far as I know no longer available from toyota.

 

[SNLC]

FYI, a Hotsy (hot water pressure washer) will clean a chassis just about as good as a dry ice cleaning. You can usually rent them or demo them, entry level Hotsy is $5k. What comes off the chassis though will end up on the ground.

Toyota uses Cosmoline imho on their new parts. Anyone who has changed the harmonic balancer has seen it.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Also, not very environmentally friendly bit in Latin America they use old power steering fluid. They put it in an old coke bottle, poke a hole in the lid, turn it upside down and blow it all over the chassis with compressed air.

I have seen Cruisers down there with completely rusted out bodies but they still have nice rust free frames/chassis. Rockers and quarters with holes the size of your hand and size inches away a nice clean rust free frame.

Cheers

 

[thelal]

impressive. some amount of work

 

[fjbj40]

Excellent job Keenan!

 

[CoastieNate]

DANG! you really do hate rust, and I cannot say as I blame you there. Nice job, and great wright up, I have never finished reading a multi page post before.

 

[Kernal]

Old thread and been discussed before but I'll jump in with this.

I've been using 3M Cavity Wax on the inner panels (hood, inside fender cavities, door cavities, cross-members, quarter panel cavities, rocker panels, tailgate and hatch. Just about anywhere that is not directly exposed to high speed rain water blasted at highway speed, but where water might get trapped. Important to keep drain holes/slits open of course.

3M sells a application kit with three different length wands to use when spraying the Cavity Wax deep inside a cavity or panel.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/collision-repair-us/featured-products/cavity-wax-plus/