Rust prevention

August 2009

This car spent the first 42 years of its life in Fresno, Ca.  This car is a true 'California car' as it has DSO #53, meaning Oakland. As you can see in the photos below the underside is rock solid. A great deal of American classic car currently living in Holland were imported from California for precisely this reason. I'm not touching that factory undercoating as it's still good (also this car gets driven only in spring and summer when the weather is nice). The wheel wells are good too as is the space behind the splash screens. They're dusty but not rusty. The doors had sand and pine tree needles in the lower corners. I got everything out and found no rust just cracked primer at the bottom. I sanded that down and used Brunox where I could get it. The trunk space only had surface rust on the bottom of the trunk. Used Brunox there too.

This week I treated the hollow spaces you can't see or get at. I used two products from Caprotech; RX5 and RX7. I bought an air gun that's intended to be used with rust prevention products (not with paint). It came with two nylon hoses about 2.5 feet long; one has a tip that sprays 360 degrees, the other one has a grip and nozzle that's at an 90 degrees angle. The product I used is from Caprotech; the RX5 is "It is a transparent product with a strong penetrating formula, penetrates through existing rust and bonds to the metal, completely isolating existing rust". It serves as a base for RX7, which intended use is in cavaties or hollow spaces; "RX7 has a strong penetrating formula so it reaches areas conventional coatings usually cannot reach. Neutralises existing rust and stops further rust development. Bonds extremely well to the treatment area and does not run at high temperatures (use RX7 only after treatment with RX5). Never dries completely and stays flexible to allow for movement, even at low temperatures." 

I treated the rocker panels, the space between the rear quarters and rear wheel wells, the space between the rear window and trunk lid. I was also able get the nylon hose with the 360 degrees tip in the space on either ends of the rear window.