TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:42 pm

My 1974 bus is totally clean under the second and third row seats, but there are plates that hold the bolts and there is rust IN (or under) that plate. Not bad, but I am looking for suggestions on the best way to get at that area and really de-rustify it, so I can paint the bed and feel good that the rust won't come right back through in that area.

Anyone done anything like that and got any ideas?

Floorboard after a lot of scrubbing and spraying bed out with hose:

Rust in bolt plates:

Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:49 pm

http://safestrustremover.com/overview.asp

Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:52 pm

56ovalbug wrote: http://safestrustremover.com/overview.asp

That looks like pretty good stuff, but per their instructions I don't know how I would immerse the floor of the bus in the solution for any duration of time. That would work great for just the bolts themselves though.

Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:24 pm

That ^, an air compressor, and one bag of play sand ;). Peace!

Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:59 am

A wire brush in a drill will do it as well, followed by primer and spray bomb.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:07 am

TheTominator wrote: A wire brush in a drill will do it as well, followed by primer and spray bomb.

I was thinking of this, but I need to find some kind of pipe cleaner type deal to go into the drill to really get down into the hole where the bolts go. I'm going to be dealing with this today so I'll let you know what I end up doing. :)

Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:10 am

PicklePickle wrote: My 1974 bus is totally clean under the second and third row seats, but there are plates that hold the bolts and there is rust IN (or under) that plate. Not bad, but I am looking for suggestions on the best way to get at that area and really de-rustify it, so I can paint the bed and feel good that the rust won't come right back through in that area.

Anyone done anything like that and got any ideas?

Rust in bolt plates:

Properly removing all of the rust from inside those hollow bolt plates, is going to be far from easy. I would be tempted to first remove them, using a spot-weld drill and/or angle grinder, as appropriate, then remove the rust from the floor and the plates, by a combination of mechanical and chemical means.

After treating with zinc-rich, weld-through primer, seam weld them back into position.

As you have probably noticed, rusting tends to start first, at the sharp corners and edges of plates and spot welds, where there is negligible paint-film thickness, so make sure that these are ground and radiused smooth, to minimise the likely recurrence of this premature rusting.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:35 am

Pipe cleaner? Round steel brushes on a stick can be bought in every fractional size.