Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Rust - again.

This centuries old painting was destroyed
by a well intentioned amateur attempt to restore it. 

The best of intentions can lead to tragic results without the required resources and skill. Just like the tragic tale of this painting from a Spanish church that made international news.

Mitigation versus management, and why you need to accept the need for both.

A car guy's attitude towards rust can tell you a lot about them, and yourself. It's not always a complimentary revelation, in either direction. 

I am a preservationist. By preference. 

Oily rag.

I would love to have an Aston Martin with this level of patina.

This is a reference to certain enthusiasts that make every effort to maintain and preserve the original cosmetic appearance of their car. The body and metal components are merely rubbed with an oily rag to prevent further corrosion. The interior upholstery are stabilized by inserting a layer of support fabric under the worn areas and restitching. The idea is to preserve the vehicle, not to improve it, unless it is absolutely necessary. This was the common practice back in the 1950's before the practice of total restoration became popular.

For some people, auto restoration seems to be a way to completely control at least one aspect of their lives and render it perfect. At least it seems that way to this observer. You can detect a certain zealotry in their forum posts

On the other hand, some people seem to embrace shoddy workmanship and hidden bodges. 

Of course there is a happy medium.

There was a thread on the HAMB where commentors were asked to display the worst things that they have found under the paint of an old car that they have bought. 

What, That doesn't qualify as a skim coat? 

That repair doesn't look that bad.

It only gets worse the deeper you dig.

That rusted out hole was covered up by old license plates
 that were screwed then bondo ed over.

There were stories of inches of bondo and supporting material found under shiny new paint. The supporting material used varied from metal screen, to galvanized flashing, to riveted sheet metal from traffic signs, to wads of newspaper! There might be up to three inches of bondo used to complete curves in the body. 

Of course, over time, the bondo cracked and broke off, taking a huge chunk of the car body with it. Along with the new owners enthusiasm for their purchase!

Cars are merely machines built to be used. They are manufactured, sold, and used for their intended purpose over a long lifespan with a succession of different owners. Until their utility erodes and they are eventually scrapped. 

Manufacturers only engineer a reasonable service life into their products. Obsolescence and decay is a fact of life. Sometimes the product is still viable functionally, but it is no longer "supported" by it's maker. How many computers, tablets, and cell phones have you scrapped in the last 15 years? Did you mourn their passing? 

POR products are the real deal
and will give satisfactory results.

I've mentioned this product before,
it was highly recommended by some people on the H.A.M.B.

The availability of rust encapsulating paint and epoxies have allowed hobbyists to make cosmetic rust repairs that might not be metal replacement correct, are certainly much better than bondo and newspaper. 

There are "no welding" patch panel repair kits that come with flange ing pliers, flush rivets and construction adhesive. I used this system to repair a panel on one of my old Zs.

 

This kit was available from Eastwood products.
Did you know that aluminium cars are largely constructed with adhesive and rivets?

Bondo will absorb water and the moisture will result in the repaired area rusting further. POR paint adheres to the rusty metal and prevents further interaction between moisture, air and steel. Effectively ending the process. 

Repairs to floorboards or trunk floors that can be described as pinholes and small holes  can be effectively repaired and the areas strengthened by application of steel mesh or fiberglass matte. In reality, most people would be surprised by how thin the sheet metal of the floor was originally. 

On previous projects I've used POR products to repair the lower edge of a front fender as well as the rear wheel arch lip of A Datsun Z. Both repairs were visually satisfactory and they should last for many years. Is there anything wrong with that? Especially if the products are used as the manufacturer intended? 

I once discussed some rust repair on another Z with one of my swap meet customers. The top of the tail light panel where the hatchback striker rests is a common place for surface rust. I recommended that for minor rust, an epoxy repair could be done by the owner. He was adamant that the panel would have to be cut out and a new one welded in. He wanted it to be all steel. When I asked him why he responded that he wanted the repair, "to last forever!" I told him that the owner wasn't going to last forever!

Does it occur to him that modern cars front and rear panels are now constructed of plastic castings and bumper covers?

No one wants to be known as a rip off artist. That is a result from actual misrepresentation and the intention to cheat the buyer. However, why not document  any repairs? It's now it's quite easy to do with digital cameras and home printers. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I plan to document any epoxy repairs so that a new owner can locate them after the car is painted and replace them with metal if they wish. If the epoxies are used in non structural locations in minimum amounts there shouldn't be a problem.

I think that I'm going to put together a photo book on any repairs done to the car. It's never been my intention to misrepresent any work that I've done. I'm not going to try to pass the car off as a rotisserie restoration. Instead it is just going to be what we used to call a "fixed up" old car.