My HJ62 has finally started to rust - doh!

[NeverClean]

Hi everyone,
I knew this was coming but it's still disapointing to finally see pinhole rust on the panels through the paint. I just spent a week at the beach and the salt has done its job corroding the panels through the aging paint work.

I plan on getting the cruiser professionally painted in the next 12 - 18 months, but just can't afford it at the moment ($3-5k price tag here in Oz) and I just rebuilt the gearbox.

My current plan is to give it a light sand with ~1500 grit sand paper and give it a polyurethane clear coat to protect the panels for the interim period until it gets repainted. My questions are:
1. has anyone done this who can give me some tips about a good paint to use and any other tips;
2. is it difficult to get the polyurethane to look good in all positions on the panels (for example on the lower areas of the doors as opposed to the roof); and
3. is there a better option than my proposed plan?

Further info:

• the cruiser is white (except for brown rust stains now) and has no structural rust that needs attention and there is plenty of Tectyl 506 inside all of the panels to protect the other side, so this is purely a preventative exercise to protect the outside of the panels;
• I have a compressor, basic but effective water seperator, and the means to put up a spray booth to do the job - I am happy to buy another spray gun if there is a model that works well;
• I have done a reasonable amount of spray painting but not to automotive refinish quality.

Any info would be appreciated.

 

[NeverClean]

Seriously, no-one has ever had to stop their landcruiser panels from rusting before?

I have read through a number of the other threads but I couldn't find any that dealt with spraying a clear top coat over existing paintwork (where there wasn't a clear coat originally).

If anyone has done this with good results please let me know what process and clear coat you used.

 

[toomanytoyzz]

Seriously, no-one has ever had to stop their landcruiser panels from rusting before?

I have read through a number of the other threads but I couldn't find any that dealt with spraying a clear top coat over existing paintwork (where there wasn't a clear coat originally).

If anyone has done this with good results please let me know what process and clear coat you used.

If you have rust bubbles or pitting which you can see spraying urethane clear over top will not do much good to protect it from rusting further. Once you see the rust it's usually always worse once you fire up the sander/die grinder and bring it to bare metal. They tend to rust from the inside out almost like a worm coring through an apple. When it pokes out it's a tiny little hole until you cut it open and see the real damage.

The proper way to fix it is to sand it to bare metal, repair/cut out the rust, and weld in good metal shoot it with epoxy primer and topcoat it with some sort of enamel to protect it from UV rays until you get it completely painted.

 

[NeverClean]

Thanks for the response Toomanytoyzz.

Just to clarify, the panels are still pretty good and there are no bubbles or pitting. What seems to have happened is that the paint has become porous and allowed the salt to corrode the panel through the paint - from a distance the panel looks like it has a red stain on it, but close up you can see the pinhole rust spots.

I want to stop this from becoming bubbles and pitting until I get the chance to do a proper re coat, thus my question.

Thanks.

 

[toomanytoyzz]

Thanks for the response Toomanytoyzz.

Just to clarify, the panels are still pretty good and there are no bubbles or pitting. What seems to have happened is that the paint has become porous and allowed the salt to corrode the panel through the paint - from a distance the panel looks like it has a red stain on it, but close up you can see the pinhole rust spots.

I want to stop this from becoming bubbles and pitting until I get the chance to do a proper re coat, thus my question.

Thanks.

If it's just surface rust from older paint and sun damage than you'll be in much better shape. My advice would be to get a sander of some sort (dual action sander would be my first choice), and a couple of sheets of 180 grit sandpaper. Clean the panel(s) off good and start sanding until you see bare metal around all the tiny little areas you are concerned about. Once you get to that point you are pretty much done with the "bodywork" part. Tape up said area(s), clean with grease and wax remover and lay down some epoxy primer. Though this will look like hell, it will help you from the rust from advancing causing rot which will require welding, body filler, sanding, priming, sanding, priming, sanding......you can see where I'm going with this I'm sure.

Here's a few pics of my current punishment. The rust on this truck has rust.

 

[RioSilver]

Rub kerosene on the whole thing. Just don't lite a match while applying!