blunce

Where blasting is not an option and tooling is rather restricted due to the small boxy areas, what would be the best approach to treating this?

(oh, and on the green arrow, is that insulation looking material OEM? It looks like household insulation in there, not sure if someone added that at some point or if it's OEM.)

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MDchanic

I'd say don't touch it.

They didn't paint or treat the metal in any way in those locations, and they always have surface rust.

As long as you are going to be treating your car like the average antique car and keep it garaged and generally out of the weather, those areas will probably last hundreds of years.

If you were totally obsessive, you could strip the body down completely and sandblast them, but you're not planning to do that.
You could wire brush them, treat them with a MetalPrep sort of a solution (phosphoric acid), which would "convert" the rust, and then paint them with POR, but it's probably not worth it.

As for the fiberglass, no, it's not original.
In the cowl plenum there, it would do nothing but act as a sponge, holding on to water and accelerating rust-through.
I'd get rid of it and flush aout the plenum and the connected rocker passages really well.

- Eric

ls98

use a spray type under coat,like rust check.

lemoldsnut

I would spray on rust mort as much as you can then por15 to seal it as much as possible. This is a very common area of rust like this. If you look in the trunk of even the nicest car many have this kind if you look from the trunk floor up to the quarters. You can't get to everything. Most of us will fix these cars up like we are going to expose them to the worst conditions and then we will take the best care of them they have ever had. In most cases if you let it go it will be fine.

78ChevOlds

In the inside panels of my cutlass I used this from Eastwood:

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-heavy-dut...t-13-5-oz.html

jfb

por 15 after 80 gritting wiring brushing etc. I because of experience would not let anything possibly spread or remove it all and then treat and paint or undercoat it. I believe in the ultimate care for our babys and ensure for as little hassles as possible and what else would you have but time to spend on this winter.

dancutlass

I'd use owatrol oil!
http://www.owatrol.com/index.php?lan...rustol-owatrol

redoldsman

POR15 and you are done.

blunce

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm trying to at least knock down whatever I can with sanding and hand wire brushing, in addition to power tooling where possible. Think I've decided to go with POR-15 in the end. Was planning to use Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator, but many recent reviews gave it bad marks citing formula changes from the older stuff making it pretty much worthless.

Run to Rund

Anything is better than nothing. . .I'd grab the nearest spray can of semi flat black or red oxide primer. Brush off loose rust first where you can. As others noted, so long as the car is well kept, a simple spray painting should keep it alive as long as you need.

Octania

Mar-Hyde or similar "rust converting" sprays work great
Sprays on clear to light purple
dried to a black [converted rust] color.
Can be painted over then, or leave as is for sheltered sites like this

Spray gets into places a brush can't, and POR seems like overkill for this

I thought the wad of fiberglass in the lower side panel was a factory item, for sound deadening and heat/ cool purposes. I'd leave it in, especially if it looks like a die-cut piece MADE for the cavity. Clean out the mouse dookey.

blunce

They were both really pretty nasty and didn't match one another. Though one of them did seem to be a little too neatly cut to be a DIY job. I still have them, so maybe I'll clean them up. Not sure, but they definitely needed to come out one way or another.

jfb

hey 1 last comment here por 15 can be thinned and sprayed just follow there instructions or use encapsulator from eastwood for tough to get too areas and brush the por 15 for thicker coverage also use chemical gloves this stuff it loves your hands no matter what through some gloves and definitely takes it,s time leaving you.

darinstreaks

+1 Por 15

coppercutlass

clean it up and undercoat the so out of it. My frame and underbody s literally undercoated over bare metal NO! primers. I have driven it in the rain manytimes it has been 6 years and not one spec of rust. I undercoated the floor on the interior it had some surface rust I just wire brushed it and bombed it wit undercoating it was ceaper than por 15 and has held up very well. It sucks they dnt sell ashphalt undercoating anymore thats what i used and it holds up way better than the rubberized suff.

ent72olds

At first I thought the insulation wasn't original, until I found the exact stuff in my car this past weekend.....yes it is original!

blunce

Yeah, too late, already pulled mine out. One side was different from the other, but both were really pretty nasty.

One thing that's perplexing me, is that I found out that the cowl area where the wiper mechanism is housed, is directly connected to the this area behind the kick panels. So I'm assuming there's some kind of drain in the bottom of there since rainwater has a direct route to the area behind the kick panels.

blunce

Oh, btw, I ended up treated the areas I wasn't able to physically clean with a product called Coroseal. It's an acrylic rust converter that acts as a primer. Kinda funny stuff, has to be just the right film thickness or you have problems. Not crazy about the stuff, but I had it laying around, so I used it. After that I applies a good heavy coat of an industrial grade alkyd marine enamel. Should keep it sealed up real good for a long time. I'll post some pics later when I take them.

78ChevOlds

The product I was recommending from Eastwood is specifically for internal panels and gets into the seams better than the other external products. I used it in my trunk drop offs and sprayed enough to drip through the drain hole. After it dries it hardens but is wax like so it will supposedly self heal if scratched as in the trunk panels.

NDERISE

Yes this insulation is original had some in my 70 w-30 inside the l f cowling as u look through the cowling a pillar