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What's the right way to restore or preserve the stuff you can't see?

1K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  MARTINSR 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,
I've been disassembling my 1968 Coupe to do a nut and bolt restoration and as I go, I'm not sure what will be the best thing to do as far as the inner body panels that get covered. My car is a very clean southern car with next to no real rust but it does have a light surface rust in areas on the body panels the get covered such as under the dash and under the headliner. I'm not sure if I should leave them the way they are since they have been like this for many years or should I media blast the entire inside as best as possible and the spray with epoxy or coat with a "POR15" or "Rust Encapsulator" type product?

What would you do? Note - I'm not looking for easy or cheap, I am looking to make it as best that I can without massive overkill.

Thanks in advance for your opinions ~ Len B.

See pictures of my interior below:

Passenger side kick panel and bottom of cowl:


Bottom of driver's side cowl:


Firewall area behind brake pedal:


Passenger inner quart and sail panel:


Roof rail near map light:
 
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#2 ·
To me a nut and bolt restoration means someone went through every piece of the car and made it like new again. Your choice on how you want to handle it, but if you leave it as is, it is not a total restoration.

I'm sure others can pipe up about some of the other products. I have experience with POR 15. It is an excellent product when used as recommended. I used it on a truck frame about ten years ago. It has held up extremely well.

If you are getting into top coating it with a factory color, that is a whole different ballgame. Contact POR 15 for their recommendations.
 
#3 ·
Blast spots, sand all. Rust converter in spots if needed. Epoxy then paint if desired. Theres two Camaro threads in the build forum that show how I handle areas such as this, peek at them for visuals if you like. Wire brushes are also a valuable tool for getting started.
 
#4 ·
Here is my take on this: Media blasting can be terribly hard to be rid of all the media, it will fall into crevasses, come out when you least need it to, and is difficult, if not impossible, to get all of it out the first time. Surface rust, hit it with a wire brush, wire wheel, some fairly coarse sandpaper, and paint with a good epoxy primer. IF you live in a damp climate, you may want to seal it first with some POR15. epoxy primer, then paint it the factory color. Good luck with the project, use a lot of baggies and labels for parts, some pictures also will help.
 
#5 ·
Ok, my take.

I have built cars, be it restoring or hot rod where you could pull the interior out and show the car, what was hidden by carpet and such was though not as nice as the cut and buffed hood, it was pretty nice.

I have also done cars my my Gran Sport that is "restored" not to that point but to a realistic point. The car is "nice" (objective opinion) but miles from a "show car."



On a car like that, stuff that isn't seen will often remain, not rusted out failure like a floor board, no, that gets repaired. But mild surface rust up under the headliner? I am sorry, for the typical "nice" car that you see out at the shows there is no friggin way that stuff is repaired to perfection.

That mild surface rust only got there because the windows leaked because it's channel was rusted out and water got into the interior. But that has been fixed and it's even garaged now, it's not going to get any worse than that....ever. It's not going to rust through or anything like that.

That surface rust will be under there hidden away while you drive that car around with a smile on your face and you won't even remember it's there once it's covered.

Now, if you are making a hundred point show car, you wouldn't have asked the question, all that would have been done without a thought. So I have to assume this is a "nice" (objective opinion) and you just need not worry about it.

Along the floor boards, cleaning that up and seam sealing it and brushing some POR-15 over it, sure, that's all good. But to worry about that mild surface rust that is on about every single car older than 20 years out on the road, I honestly wouldn't think a thing of covering it up and having fun with that car.

Just another perspective, not saying anyone is wrong.

Brian
 
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