10 replies to this topic

[rodandtom]

Hi,

 

The edge at the bottom of the window has some rust as you can see in the pictures. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the scuttle so do you think its best to just cut this out and weld a new thin strip in?

 

Thoughts?

 

Rod

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[sonikk4]

I would have a look with a mirror inside the cavities at each end and also right underneath the scuttle. I say this as i have seen this before and there was a lot more rust underneath.

 

If it is clean underneath and at the end i would cut a section out and then weld in a new piece.

[rodandtom]

Cheers, Neil. It is clean underneath. So I shall start chopping out and replacing once I get a new Control board for my welder.

 

Rod

[Ethel]

You may get away with a good dose of rust converter. I had similar on a Mini that'd lived at the seaside for several years, water was trapped under the rubbers, but doesn't make it to the inside. Phosphoric rust converter fixed it for the rest of the life of the car, including a few years without paint.

[dklawson]

Removing rusty metal is always best but this is an area on the car that I would prefer not to weld on.  I would do as Ethel said and treat the rust with phosphoric acid and a lot of wire brushing.  Once that process has been completed, I would use body filler to level and smooth the surfaces followed by regular paint.  If you don't like the idea of polyester body filler for those pits under the rubber seal, you could use metal filled epoxy instead.  In the end it is obviously your choice.

[rodandtom]

sounds good. I was a bit worried about getting a good finish in this area. I'll give that a try.

 

Thanks,

 

Rod

[Ethel]

I suppose what you are doing about paint could be the decider, if you are spending big money on a respray soon you may prefer not to risk it. If it can stand long enough to prove the rust has been beaten, or touching in isn't a problem you may be happy to try the converter. Deliberately causing surface rust so it can be converted to phosphorous salts is a pucka finishing process for steel products.

[sonikk4]

The one thing to remember here is not what you see on the surface but what's underneath. Yes you could use one of the various treatments out there to make it look good on the surface but what's between the two layers??

Not dumping on people's doorsteps here but I have seen enough of this on the cars I have been working on lately and the rust has formed between the two layers. The Mini Special I am working on now is a perfect example. The scuttle looked fine on top but there were several areas of rust forming ( this was with the aid of a mirror in finding this) The decision was made to remove it and it was very rusty not only underneath the scuttle itself but along the flange itself.

This would have manifested itself in time and all of the hard work being done now would potentially have to be done again. ( Time being six months to a year)

Now you could leave it, treat it etc and it will look good for sometime but it could be eating into the top of the bulkhead flange causing more damage. Alarmist maybe but if you are going to all of the effort replacing panels etc then do you want to risk it??

[rodandtom]

perhaps some further investigation is required then to be sure its ok.

[sonikk4]

Cut out a small section say six inches and have a look.

[rodandtom]

Cut out a small section say six inches and have a look.

It's on my job list for tomorrow.

 

Rod