Thread: '38 Ford deck lid vs 37 Ford deck lid

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Randy - I'm with Mike on the POR15/Rust Bullet skepticism. I feel that it will slow down the rust process, but the very fact that rust is iron oxide (Fe2O3)says that the entrained oxygen and ANY free water molecules, will continue eating, tho at a slower rate - unless there is significant water droplets, then it goes fast.

Originally Posted by IC2

Randy - I'm with Mike on the POR15/Rust Bullet skepticism. I feel that it will slow down the rust process, but the very fact that rust is iron oxide (Fe2O3)says that the entrained oxygen and ANY free water molecules, will continue eating, tho at a slower rate - unless there is significant water droplets, then it goes fast.

Like I said, I agree with both of you in the skepticism, however, if I cut out & replaced every slightly rusty bit of metal on this lid, not only would I be working on it for a lifetime but I would also be replacing about half of it. It will never again be exposed to the kind of weather that a daily driver gets so I think I'll be good for many years on this. I'm certainly not promoting the product, I'm just letting you guys know what I did.

Randy - with pitting, you can often get back to white metal with just a media blast, grinding or maybe wire wheel cleaniing. You will still have pits, but they can be then epoxy primed and sealed for rust protection, then filled with plastic or even sprayable poly filler if only minor. You wont have to replace any metal except what what was crunchy rust and now a hole after blasting

Originally Posted by IC2

Randy - with pitting, you can often get back to white metal with just a media blast, grinding or maybe wire wheel cleaniing. You will still have pits, but they can be then epoxy primed and sealed for rust protection, then filled with plastic or even sprayable poly filler if only minor. You wont have to replace any metal except what what was crunchy rust and now a hole after blasting

Yep, Dave, I agree with all of that, too, but media blasting wasn't a viable option on this deck lid for far too many reasons to list here, but I did sand, grind & wire wheel every reachable surface before applying the Rust Bullet. I also did a complete washdown with SPI wax & grease remover first. In fact, the ONLY reason I used the Rust Bullet in this case is because it's brushable and I already had it. My intention was to coat only the inside of the skin and the backside of the support structure before I welded them back together. I didn't want to mask off the garage & mix up the epoxy just for that. It will get an overall epoxy coating on the entire lid anyway before the additional body work happens.
I cut out and replaced the crunchy corners of the lid and a section of the inner structure earlier in the thread.

I guess this will be an experiment to see how well the stuff works. That fact that it's coated with anything will be better than the factory did. These pieces were originally welded together with no coating and the inner parts were only protected by the insulation that was sorta glued in.
As always, thanks for your input! I promise we're on the same page even if it looks like I picked up a different book for a moment....