Embrace Or Replace: The Rust Bucket (1 Viewer)

[ch4d4]

With the usual rust-through issues:

• quarter panel(s)
• rear bed
• door bottoms
• hood leading edge
• floor pans

The question in my mind is.... Is it worth it? Although many of these issues will not be addressed by a full replacement tub, it seems, given that I do not have an area to perform body-work or am particularly skilled in that arena (I'm good with the mechanical stuff) replacing panels in the current tub would end up being cost-prohibitive compared to a pre-assembled replacement. Mechanically the rig is sound and has had a full engine rebuild, clutch. brakes, brake lines, etc etc. Frame seems very solid.

Any thought in this matter?

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[Varty Yo]

Those are pretty minor steel repairs needed. Looks like a good solid rig you have there. Factor in the cost and time to swap a tub you will be money ahead to pay a quality shop to do the steel work for you.

 

[Jdc1]

It's hard to tell from pics on my phone, but with the exception of the bib and door bottoms, I'm not seeing anything that would make a tub or replacement panels necessary. Maybe some patches here and there. How's the main beam and rear sill look from underneath?

In my opinion, unless you've got a year, a great metal shop and $10k plus laying around, clean up the easy stuff and drive it. The doors and bib can be fixed with Real Steel patches for probably a few hours labor.

 

[White Stripe]

Doing bare minimum I think u might get away with a patch panel near the tire carrier and a rear sill and lower quarter panel corner patch panels. What do the front floors look like? If those pics are the worst of it, then I would fix the bad stuff in your pics. Then I would remove the tub and treat any rust forming. I've used eastwood rust converter. It's very thin, and u can soak spot weld sections with it and with the help of gravity it will run down into the spot weld seams. Then paint over. U can also shoot it into the inner rockers and b pillar from the hard top pole hole and it will seep into those rust prone areas. Those later model tubs are very rust prone. Another option I considered myself is fixing major rust, then have the tub hot dipped galvanized. First it's acid dipped which removes all paint and rust, then rinsed, then hot dipped for galvanizing. Pretty inexpensive. Some people raise concern over warping. But Porsche bodies are galvanized. And I would like to think a 40 body is more robust than a Porsche. Cool cruisers makes 3/4 tubs which are built with rust protection in mind as is the teseven steel complete tubs. Teseven sells complete stainless tubs for around 5500k. Which isnt too bad at all and u would never have to worry about rust, and I can't see a quality stainless steel tub diminishing the value of a cruiser too much.

 

[ch4d4]

I guess I wrestle with patching one area on a panel knowing that there's hundreds of small areas of surface rust happening and who knows what in the seams. Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a museum piece, but I would like it to stop the rapid decline. Here are a few images of the corner rear bed/ rear sill from below. Plus rear bed near gas tank.

 

[Jdc1]

Im seeing surface rust but not alot of rot.

 

[ch4d4]

Doing bare minimum I think u might get away with a patch panel near the tire carrier and a rear sill and lower quarter panel corner patch panels. What do the front floors look like? If those pics are the worst of it, then I would fix the bad stuff in your pics. Then I would remove the tub and treat any rust forming. I've used eastwood rust converter. It's very thin, and u can soak spot weld sections with it and with the help of gravity it will run down into the spot weld seams. Then paint over. U can also shoot it into the inner rockers and b pillar from the hard top pole hole and it will seep into those rust prone areas. Those later model tubs are very rust prone. Another option I considered myself is fixing major rust, then have the tub hot dipped galvanized. First it's acid dipped which removes all paint and rust, then rinsed, then hot dipped for galvanizing. Pretty inexpensive. Some people raise concern over warping. But Porsche bodies are galvanized. And I would like to think a 40 body is more robust than a Porsche.

This is what the floor pans look like: (I slathered the bad areas with POR15 8 years ago.) there are a few holes that aren't shown that I covered with gorilla tape to keep the water from coming up while driving. I would love to find someone in the Hllton Head SC area who could sandblast the whole tub. I don't mind patching it all up, but thought all of those patches would begin to add up quick.

 

[White Stripe]

I guess I wrestle with patching one area on a panel knowing that there's hundreds of small areas of surface rust happening and who knows what in the seams. Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a museum piece, but I would like it to stop the rapid decline. Here are a few images of the corner rear bed/ rear sill from below. Plus rear bed near gas tank.View attachment 1408002View attachment 1408003 View attachment 1408004

I edited my above post FYI. I agree seams are a major concern. U could remove tub, and take it all apart drilling out the spot welds, clean up the pieces individually, treat and reassemble as another option.

 

[White Stripe]

Sandblasting won't get in the seams where rust is just beginning. It's also fairly expensive these days.

 

[Varty Yo]

Its called "Patina" and its all the rage now. Polish it up and drive as is.

 

[ch4d4]

I suppose the only way to really tell is to blast it... and that requires a tub-off situation. Ya know, I don't mind driving it all rusty (though it kills me to know it's slowing falling apart) especially because where I live, most of the cars at the school drop-off line are lest than 2 years old and cost 80k+. Just wish I owned an industrial space to rip this thing apart!

 

[White Stripe]

I suppose the only way to really tell is to blast it... and that requires a tub-off situation. Ya know, I don't mind driving it all rusty (though it kills me to know it's slowing falling apart) especially because where I live, most of the cars at the school drop-off line are lest than 2 years old and cost 80k+. Just wish I owned an industrial space to rip this thing apart!

That's why I ordered a aqualu tub. I am tired of chasing rust. But mines not all stock like yours. To retain the most value, fix the original tub carefully. Those additional pics show u have a lot of rust developing. If u don't have the space to repair it, then I would look into a replacement tub and sell your tub to someone who has the time and space. At least from what the pics show, your rig has a while b4 it really falls apart. So u got time to make a decision. Your frame looks like it needs sandblasted as well.

 

[ryanwk628]

That tub looks like it has a lot of good years left in it, certainly more than mine and swapping on a new one will be a process in itself if you dont have space.

 

[Varty Yo]

I suppose the only way to really tell is to blast it... and that requires a tub-off situation. Ya know, I don't mind driving it all rusty (though it kills me to know it's slowing falling apart) especially because where I live, most of the cars at the school drop-off line are lest than 2 years old and cost 80k+. Just wish I owned an industrial space to rip this thing apart!

Sure they cost 80k but they wont get noticed like a 40 will pulling up rusty or not! Kids will think its badass and those snobby soccer moms will just be like ewe.... lol. Nothing lasts forever! Fix it piece by piece over time. My 42 was restored 10+ years ago by the PO and its need to be gone over again. Oh well drive it, live it, love it!

Save up from not having a 80k car to pay off and in a few years go full resto for 40k++++ lol

 

[Tin basher]

I wish any of mine where that good
The rust in the seams is a tough one I don't think even the galvanizing would help
Many times you don't get as much back from the acid dip as you would think

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

That rust looks pretty minor, but living in Hilton Head you are exposing your 40 to salt non-stop. You need to protect all the bare metal you can before the rust gets serious.

 

[thebigredrocker]

You have a very nice Cruiser. Congrats.

I assume you recently bought this rig to drive and not necessarily to feed a deep desire for it to undergo a full tilt restoration. I also assume you don't want to pay thousands to have a body shop address the multiple rust areas.

I would approach this with the mindset of trying to stop most of the rust and making it look flawless to to people standing 20' away.

There is a company that will mix OEM paint in a rattle can. apstowerpaint.com. I used their 2 part epoxy (2K Spray Max) on my bezel and it is super high quality. It's spendy stuff but still cheaper than hiring an autobody shop. APS also has an acrylic enamel paint I am about to test out on my seat frames. It's about $20. I wanted OEM color and don't really want to mess with my paint gun for my seat frame project. I'm thinking you could start with a can and see how it looks on your windsheild hinge and go from there. Clearly it won't exactly match any weathered paint. If you like it, you could buy more and paint your hood.

To avoid grinding rust off in an effort to get to bare metal, you could use rust dissolver. I've used Permatex's Gel dissolver and it works pretty good.

This was a 5 minute soak and 3 minutes scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush. A second application would remove more rust.

This rust was deeper so I did two rounds of rust dissolver.

On the frame and underside I would use POR-15 rust encaplisator. This job will be a b**ch. Drive it up on some ramps, pressure wash, spray on degreaser, wire brush remaining crud, pressure wash, spray on acid etch, pressure wash, let dry, then brush on Por-15 rust encapsiliator.

Just food for thought.

 

[ch4d4]

I got this rig 9 years ago, had the engine rebuilt and have been driving it since. It's my daily driver (only vehicle). So, I'll take it bit by bit

 

[Bripars40]

Really it's a total loss and you should send it over to me haha looks like a really solid rig for a '79. I can put my hand through some of my rust areas so I'd say you're good for a long time even if you didn't touch the rust.

 

[tweek99]

Looks pretty solid. When road gravel starts pelting you and your passengers on a regular basis then you have a problem that needs addressing.