So I inhereted another fellows Locost project, of which one item is a 90 percent complete book chasis. I stuck the thing under a tarp through last winter, and unfortunately it has a pretty good buildup of rust now. So my question is whether or not it makes sense to try and rejuvinate the thing, or whether it's ready for the scrapper. I have no doubt that POR-15 could stop the rust in its tracks, but how much has that film of rust already comprimised the chasis integrity? It's made of 1" x 1" 16 ga tubing. (2.5 cm x 1.58mm)
I would have thought that its just a bit of surface rust so not a big problem, give it a clean and check for lots of deep pitting also check all the
welds.
If it all looks OK then treat and paint.
It will look like new.
see the "electrolysis" thread, I should think it would be easy enough to put together a temporary tub large enough to immerse it in
A wire cup brush in an angle grinder is VERY good at removing rust well enough for POR-15 to take over. In fact, that paint actually requires a
rust-marked surface to stick properly.
If it's not too bad I'd wire-brush the lot, treat it with some form of rust killer (POR-15 Metal Ready is good, but you have to rinse it off
after 10 minutes), followed by a coat of paint. POR-15 is good, but expensive; Frost's chassis paint is supposed to be very good, and I'm
sure that you could get a cheaper alternative elsewhere.
beed blast and powder coat.
So you guys aren't too concerned with integrity. Great. I've found that POR-15 will handle a chasis like this without breaking a sweat. A few of the welds look like they should be redone, so I'll have to do some stripping, however. Thanks, guys!
Check for any welds that need re-doing and then just emery off the surface rust and paint.
quote:
Originally posted by kreb
So you guys aren't too concerned with integrity.
If you don't want to do it, a good powdercoater can probably sandblast it for you before he paints. It's just time to use the wire/drill combo though, not hard.
quote:
serious rust is going to be an issue.
quote:
Originally posted by kreb
When i can thrust an ice pick through the metal? I'll take a pic or two tommorow, but am not sure how much use that'll be.
As he says above - dep pocketed rust will reduce the thickness of the parent metal by quite a bit. On a land rover chassis its not uncommon for the
rust to come off on large flaky 'sheets'. Surface rust however should be powdery by nature when removing with the tool. You will soon see if
its too bad when you start - if the surface remains flat and thickness is not too adversely affected then you should be OK.
After that you just need to inspect the welds done by other person - but this is a seperate issue to surface rust.
I to had concerns with my chassis as this was bought as an unfinished project ,left out side in the elements to rust . I am not an expert on rust but
however i can give you some advise as i have to deal with corrosion in my job make an assessment then repair it .if your rust has turned to large
flakes then i am afraid that section will need to be replaced , heavey surface rust can blended . but if more than 10% is removed then you may have to
replace this section this is just a guideline before you lose your structural integrity . surface rust can be treated with a good rust inhibitor ,like
crud or many others .if like me you have a full chassis to sort out i recommend shot blasting and painting or powder coating .however i do have my
doubts on the later as this is hard to repair if the rust comes through again .
good luck hpoe this helps
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