Rust prevention - Pillars (1 Viewer)

[Erwin]

I have a 1994 80 which I have treated underbody with Fluid Film the 12 years I have owned it. And I have very little rust despite salty winter roads.
Also internal rocker panel I treat every 3 years. It is easily accessible trough 3 big holes.
But what about inside door pillars?
It is not possible to access these from below the car. From what I believe is done by previous owner there are 3 10 mm holes drilled at the bottom of the pillars, but I cant get the 6 mm tube of the sprayer up into the pillar from there.

So question is, is it any idea to spray anything up here, and how to do it?
I am especially concerned about the A pillar as I have had a water leak from the window. I assume the water has followed the pillar down and into the rocker panels and floor.

But is the pillar a closed box design? It seems like it is closed a bit up from the floor, but then continues as an open profile?

 

[Malleus]

I would be very concerned about spraying anything into the A pillar, since both the sunroof drain tubing and roof wiring harness are in there. The interior is open, but the sheetmetal isn't arranged in a straight path from bottom to top. There's a lip of some sort about 30-cm up from the access in the kickpanel. Anything fed into the A pillar has to come in from the top.

 

[Hornd]

Can we See the Rust you are Concerned about? Never Seen a Pillar Rust.

On 60's I saw one guy Sprayed them with 1/2 Acetone & 1/2 ATF. It's thin so it Really Creeps.

 

[Erwin]

No rust there now I hope. Cant see that without taking out the dash. It is to prevent rust in case of water intrusion.
And I'm lucky to not have any sun roof.

 

[Kernal]

You can remove the interior panels then replace with some sort of tape or paint protection type plastic sheeting (so it doesn't get over everything) then spray 3m Cavity Wax into the pillars, door, quarter panel cavities, and any other boxed area.

But as others have said, haven't seen rust in upper areas of the pillars. Rarely I've seen (photos of) 80 series with rust in maybe the lower third of the pillars.

3M makes a kit for the Cavity Wax consisting of three narrow flexible wands (about 10", 24", 36") that can be pushed into cavities and blind spaces, then spray as you pull back, repeat 2-3 passes.

Watch the video in the link below: the wax comes out in a large fog, practice first so you don't spray it all over your interior.

The wands are narrow enough to insert via most screw and bolt holes found in the doors, hatch, liftgate. or remove the plastic and rubber floor plugs to spray in the quarter panels, replace the plugs. You can also remove the squarish plastic covers found in the rear boxed area under tailgate/bumper, etc., replace covers of course.

When I do a large cavity that I can get to (doors, rear quarter panels) I like to remove the door cards and cargo area panels and clean those areas out first as they can collect quite a bit of dirt over the years. Advantage is if you find any early rust you can remove, prime, paint that before spraying the wax.

Another area that is prone to rust is the very rear of the rocker panel which is actually part of the quarter panel before the two sections are attached to each other. To protect that area I go in from the interior of the cargo area and spray forward and down in front of the wheel well hump. Again you need to build a curtain with plastic, trash bags, tape to protect the rest of the interior from overspray.

There is also a small plastic hole plug at the very rear underside of the rocker panel; I pull that off by carefully grabbing the middle of the plug (so as not to damage the paint) using needle nose pliers. That will crush the center of the plug so you may want to buy new plugs to replace the old one. You can spray into that hole using a wand but can't get very far in as there are intersecting panels in that section. That's why I come down from above inside and in front of the wheel well hump working from the cargo area.

What I've found is that the tail lamps (actually the "covers" or buckets they sit in) were not all that well sealed to the body at the factory so over the years a small amount of water can find it's way into the quarter panel cavities and that water will carry road salt/chemicals with it, so you may want to reseal the tail lamp covers (buckets) while you're in there.

I remove the old butyl rubber on the buckets and replace it with 3M Window Weld round ribbon sealer which is a butyl rubber rope that can be used to reseal the buckets (IIRC the 1/4" diameter worked best).

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

For resealing tail lamp buckets ( or door vapor barriers):

Amazon product ASIN B000CQ4ANU

 

[Hornd]

Mine is drilled with 1/2 Holes and plugs that are removable for Spraying. Pull all plugs with a small straight screwdriver. Spray and replace Plugs. I will show the locations if I remember.