Rust Converter

[52 Ragtop]

Sand/Grind off the rust, clean it, use "Metal Prep" (read the directions) use a good etch primer, then a good epoxy primer and paint. Just remember, primer is NOT a paint, and water WILL soak through it!

jim

[jnfweber]

Thanks to all for all the suggestions. As I wrote when I initiated this thread, my project was not going to be a professional restoration, but a job that was "good enough" for me to drive, show at various gatherings, and last long enough during my life expectancy [I am 75, and have owned Studebakers since I was 16] to provide some satisfaction of working on and preserving another Studebaker until someone crazier than me [we all have varying amounts of craziness] could inherit it after I am gone. I built an 8 car garage to store my preservations, and 6 of the cars are our favorite marque. I have done a bit of "touch up" on the engine, after removing the incorrect carburetor and replacing the accelerator pump and re-setting the floats, and it runs fine, and maybe better than before. That will have to be tested after a "test drive" which I will delay until mid-April. See another thread that I will post titled "Leaking carburetor bowl".

Anyway, I have the car scheduled to be painted beginning in mid-June, when I will return to California after spending the next three months back home in Montana, trying to maintain my diminishing [due to age] skills in downhill skiing. I have posted three photos of the "better looking" engine, after some cleaning, spraying with "rust converter', primer, and paint. I will leave the final preparation of the body cavity [engine bay] to the painter, who estimated it would take $10,000 to do the job right. I don't know if he has a CO2 blaster, but he can further prep the painted parts as he sees fit, including the interior painted surfaces, which in 1957 [at least in this President Classic model] are painted the same color as the body. Here are the photos:

[wittsend]

"...and last long enough during my life expectancy [I am 75, ...]" - "trying to maintain my diminishing [due to age] skills in downhill skiing."

Dude. I'm thinking you will live to be at least 100 if you can still ski at 75! On the other hand, skiing at 75... maybe not.

[swvalcon]

AS Sonnie would say just look out for those dam tree's

[Hallabutt]

Thirty five years ago I used a product called Corliss on a quick and dirty on my 1963 F150. The hood was covered with surface rust as was the otherwise undamaged bed. After sanding a bit on the hood I decided to use some of the Corliss which was touted as being the prep used for years on rusty bridges in Europe. I applied it rather heavily on the hood and bed with a sponge brush and followed up on the hood with some enamel primer, which I gave a quick scuff with 320 grit. I then painted the whole truck with Centary. That was well before Por 15 came out, which, by the way, you can't leave exposed to sunlight because it simply won't hold up. The truck has never been garaged or waxed, but what I used the Corliss on, so many years ago, has held up perfectly.

Eastwood, some years later, picked up the distribution of Corliss but the last time I looked it was gone from their catalog. Too bad, I guess that it fell pray to the advertising blitz of the Por 15. Having used both products, there is no doubt that the Corliss was far superior for all applications. The one advantage that Por 15 has, is that it doesn't have to be top coated, but what good is it if it can't be left to the elements?-Bill

[altair]

I purchased an air deflector with considerable surface rust on it and treated it with standard oven cleaner and agitated the surface with SOS pads and flushed with water two or three times and it removed the rust to bare metal. Oven cleaner contains Sodium Hydroxide, AKA Caustic Soda, AKA LYE. The oven cleaner is somewhat diluted however Lye is 98% Sodium Hydroxide, very effective on rust and is water soluble. These cleaners appear under all kinds of brand names just look at the contents.

[Corley]

Reading all this provides proof once again that there are many ways to skin a cat.

[jnfweber]

Get a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder that you will use with sanding discs having various grits from 24 grit up to 80,possibly 120. HF's discs and sandpapers arent the best but at their price {cheap} although you will probably use more as compared to major brands but the end result is cost saving to ya. Once using the different grits you will see which grits work best on whatever degree of rust you come up against. The 24 grit works well on severe rust like sometimes seen on the frame of a car.

No doubt that removing the fenders and sandblasting them and everything else is best, then priming, about 3 coats, filling snd sanding the resultant pits. Grinding with an angle grinder is probably next best, but without disassembling everything there are still spots you can't even reach by hand sanding and various smaller tools (Dremel). Oscillating tools are somewhat effective with 40 or 80 grit. A Rockwell Sonicrafter with 3" sanding head is what I used,plus the Dremel. I used the Kleen Strip "Rust Converter" on the bed of my '46 M5 "Coupe Express" about 20 years ago, after sanding/grinding as much as possible, then had it painted by Maaco, not the best paint shop in the world. I put a rubber bed liner originally made for a Dodge pickup, cut to size for the bed of my M5, on top of the pickup bed. Garaged over 20 years, when I remove the cover for cleaning, there is still no evidence of rust through or bubbling on the painted surfaces. Of course, they used "heavy metal" back in those days.[/QUOTE] I will do the best job I can, doing most of the work except the final paint job, myself. All my Studebakers are drivers as well as "garage queens".