Thread: Prepping bare chassis with surface rust

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My TCI chassis is starting to get surface rust in places and even though I'm not finished attaching brackets and tabs for things like exhaust, trans cooler, etc, I'll like to prep the chassis with something to prevent the surface rust from getting worse until I'm finished and ready for paint or powdercoating. What is recommended, Rust Bullet, POR 15, KBS ?

Mike

http://clubhotrod.com/forums/showthr...t=rust+removal

Those products you listed work fine, but will cause you more prep when you go to final finish and will need to be removed to do brackets and so forth. Whatever form of phosphoric acid used (plain, Rust Mort, Naval Jelly, and so on) is a good inert base for future work.

If you are going to powder coat the frame, don't worry about a little surface rust as whoever does the job will have to media blast prior to application. I had done mine in Centari before I decided on PC and they did a full clean off of that paint plus the etch primer. This is the result of the powder coating - I did a full chassis build up first though and only had one 'gotcha' when I decided to add a driveshaft loop - but bolted it's cross member in place (after I had it coated) with Gr8 bolts instead of welding. Now, if you decide on paint instead.......

We use a product called Picklex 20, not cheap but it works well, even here in humid Florida. About $ 100.00 a gallon but it goes real far. We use a scotchbrite pad and a spray bottle of the stuff, spray it on wet, scrub with the pad, and immediately wipe clean with a clean cloth. Don't let it dry on the steel. It leaves a protective film that is good for a while, and if you get more rust from fingerprints etc just repeat.

Don

Thanks to all for your tips, I appreciate the replies.

Mike

I use marhyde's rust converter in a spray can, for small short term stuff. It will sand right off, and spray on thin. Works great for short term stuff like this and is cheap. If your going to coat soon then like already mentioned, don't worry, they will media blast before powder coating, at least that's what our local guys do!