40 submerged in saltwater

[txhickdawg]

Wow - you guys are touchy. The mere mention of sending an FJ to the steel recycler gets astericks!!!!

 

[txhickdawg]

Here's a couple of pic attempts

 

[txhickdawg]

Wow! I'm considering a resto of a saltwater submerged 40 year old vehicle but can't post an actual picture of same. Haven't actualy worked on a ride since my 1962 LeSabre in 1983.

Hmmmm????.....

 

[malcb]

If your serious about restoring it I would take the comments about rust reoccuring seriously. Not sure what you can do to neutralize the salt, the link is a place near me, bit far from you and probably too expensive for both of us but I would love to do one of my pickups.

Paint, Rust and Underseal Removal for Classic Cars and Motorsport by Surface Processing Limited

 

[Texx]

I'd say the damage is done. It's inside every seam, and behind every seal. I see a recurring nightmare of corrosion coming your way. Unless you just have money to burn, I'd probably keep the key and throw away the rest. Honesty, corrosion inside the wiring? Everywhere there's a break or connector? Lots of misery coming your way.

 

[40's rock]

Well, DAWG, Welcome to mud! I too was taken in by the "its only a little rust" gremlin. While my 79 wasn't submerged in saltwater, it was a northern truck. They have a way of disintigrating in front of your eyes. Good luck with your free 40, I hope you have the courage to take on the challenge and the good sense to know when to punt!

 

[lowenbrau]

Rather than a cheater bar, just stick in fourth gear and rock it. You can watch the motor turn a tiny bit at a time. (pull the sparkplugs, 2Fs can be annoyingly easy to start)

As far as the salt water goes, just give it a rinse.

 

[Poser]

Ummm...

 

[txhickdawg]

I'll try the pictures again. Sorry - about the X X.;p

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

thd, that motor is pretty rusted on the outside. pull the valve cover and check the head and if its rusted i would get a new motor. and that guy i told you about that has a motor in pasadena would probly take your motor and cut off some money on the price. i dont know the guy just trying to help you out. probly would be alot easier than trying to get it running. i have seats (front and rear), seat brackets, roll bar if you need any of that

 

[txhickdawg]

Thanks for the info. I was really just trying to get the engine to spin so that I could flush it good not to try to get it to start now. Thanks for the offer of seats and rollbar (I hate that POS that is on there) but with all that needs to be reworked like new electrical, new fuel lines, new brake lines, yada yada yada and the fact that I will have to cut out and replace the rear bed pan and both rear quarters, I'm not even clos to ready for that stuff.

I pulled the valve cover this afternoon and was encouraged by what I found. The upper tip of the rocker arms are rusty but not much else. It looks like just the very top was exposed after submersion and everything else was covered in water and oil until I drained it a couple of days ago.

I'll continue to piddle with it as I weight the pros and cons of taking on the project. If I get it broken lose, I may put some fuel on it and see if I can get it to run just for grins.

Cheers,

 

[BDSeff1fitty]

yea i am down to bare frame at the moment and still deciding on what i am doing about my rig. if you decide you want a 350 in yours let me know i am hopefully selling all mine to put the 2f back in. good luck on getting it running.

 

[dirtfella]

I left and old AMC 360 out in a snow storm with no intake and plugs for weeks. It was full of water and rusted shut. I filled the cylinders with ATF waited a week put a large breaker bar on the crank pulley bolt and snapped the seal. Ran great for 2 years with about 15 lbs of oil pressure. Who knows this might work for you.

 

[txhickdawg]

Thanks - ATF?

I am waiting for a Factory service manual - does anyone know of the top of the head what size the crank pulley bolt is?

 

[malcb]

ATF - Automatic Transmission Fluid

Big - 46mm ? Cant measure untill Monday.

 

[saltrig]

Awesome. Another saltrig. Hose down with wd-40, change the fluid in the diffs. Replace battery and start-er up. Don't listen to the your-doomed-ers. Salt water isn't some evil potion. It's just more conductive than fresh water, therefore causes more rust quicker. You caught it in time, she'll be fine.

 

[flash02]

I have heard about Salt neutralizers, use the internet machine and see what you come up with. I love all the negative thoughts about this rig, if there is a will there is a way....DON'T give up. Once you find something to naturalizes the rust mix it up in a sprayer and spray the heck out the entire tub. Once that is done you can get a rust preventive that can be sprayed into all the hard to reach areas (like ther are a lot on a 40) most of this stuff is a very sticky and will adhere to anything. When I was into MG cars we used this stuff called Waxoyl, I think that Eastwoods has something similar to Waxoyl.
Waxoyl - US Distributor - RoversNorth.com. The Source For Corrosion and Rust Protection for your Automobile. Clean. Protect. Preserve.
Eastwood Company: Auto Tools, Body Repair, Classic Car Restoration, House of Kolor Paint, Powder Coating
Salt Neutralizer

Good Luck and stwy with it.

Corey

 

[txhickdawg]

Something about the wipers set at the top of the windshield frame makes me happy.

Thanks to all both optimist and pessimist. I'll let you all know how it works out. I treated the cylinders with my own secret penetrant earlier today so maybe over the weekend I can get it broken loose.

Cheers

 

[1979fj40]

Man that doesnt look bad at all.. If you want to see rust look at my thread. Id try to get it running myself, but thats just me. Ive pulled boat motors off sunk boats and got em running before in no time and still run one ive had for years.

 

[txhickdawg]

Man that doesnt look bad at all.. If you want to see rust look at my thread. Id try to get it running myself, but thats just me. Ive pulled boat motors off sunk boats and got em running before in no time and still run one ive had for years.

Yeah, I've got a couple of buddies that have salvaged stuff and gotten it running. It's funny how naysayers can effect your outlook. It just occured to me that all of my clients have been salvaging diesel engines that were submerged in salt water from hurricane and they are all back in service now. We just did all those and never gave it a second thought. It's funny that I didn't snap to that fact from my professional life until just now.

1979fj40 - your build is pretty encouraging. Your rust was WAY worse.

Might need to work on .......Heck, everyone should own a plasma cutter right?