Bodywork

Winter project this year is going to be bodywork. I plan on taking ALL winter to strip paint, get rid of bondo and prepare for painting in the spring. (that will be a question in the spring) Question is how long can I keep bare metal in a garage before it will rust or do I do one small part and rattle can primer? If I do that will I have to strip all the primer off before painting.

 

epoxy base primer, doesn't absorb humidity and you can apply filler over it.

 

There are solutions that you can spray on (with, say, a pump spray) that will inhibit rust for a while. If this sounds like what you need, you could do a little research and find some products. Ospho might be suitable, but it's not specifically for that purpose.

I expect you'll get some scale after a few days if you don't treat. If it were me, I'd let it scale over till I was ready to paint, then sand it out, treat the metal with Ospho, and shoot epoxy primer.

However, I think there's a period (like 100 hours?) when you can spray filler or top coat over epoxy primer, and then it gets to hard to bond to the next coat. Check with the paint supplier.

 

:iagree: When I get to the bodywork on mine, I'm not going to worry about surface rusting. I'm going to concentrate on welding, patching, hammering, etc. Once I get the metal worked as good as I can and I'm ready for any bondo, then I'll have it media blasted, do the filler work, and get it primed ASAP. I plan to squirt/spray Ospho into all the seams, hat channels, nooks and crannies before priming, to stop any rust action that may be going on where I can't the primer in.

 

I don't think you should worry too much about it. I stripped the hood and several areas on the tub about a year ago without coating them and they're not rusting yet.

 

Me need to do Body work too-

 

You should see tommyb's tub rotisserie over in Golden. It's a piece of art! There's an article here on how to build it.

 

Check the Dupli-Color, I have heard the make a spray can metal ecthing primer sealer. I would try to keep it primed also. Also remember that if its bare metal any place you touch will have the oil from your skin on it so wipe it down/clean with acetone before you prime it.

 

You should also mention that acetone is highly flammable, and the fumes are very dangerous in an enclosed space. Good stuff but use caution.

 

Yes I forgot to mention that,thanks for mentioning that, I was going to edit my post when I saw that you mentioned it. Its not a wise idea to paint either without adiqute ventilation and a mask or respirator filter. And if the paint not bad enough the bondo is not good for the lungs either.When I do the painting for my taxidermy work I have fan ventilation system going.

 

There is sealer primer that you can buy in rattle cans that will work too. Sealer primer doesn't absorb water like standard primer will. I bought mine at Autozone. I just sprayed as I went. Here in Missouri, I had surface rust forming within an hour during the summer if I didn't paint right away.

Jim

 

The question of humidity, temperature and rust is interesting.

The higher the temperature, the more water will be suspended in air as vapor. Any standing water will be more energetic and will be releasing more vapor into the air. The saturation point, or "dew point" where water falls out of the air as liquid is considered 100% relative humidity. The dew point is much lower (in an absolute sense, the actual amount of water in a block of air) at cold temperatures, so air that has a relative humidity of 70% at freezing temps would be only 7% humidity at 80 degrees. Cold air is neccessarily dry air.

Also, higher temperatures speed up the rates of chemical reactions, ie rusting. This is one reason why we freeze foods - to slow the chemical deterioration as well as to stop the growth of microbes. Put a piece of steel in your freezer and see how long it takes to rust (it won't).

So, summer in St. Louis is about the worst case you can imagine for rusting - hot and humid. If you live in the colder climes, and don't heat your garage (keeping warm, moist indoor air away from the Jeep) I think you'll have very little rusting.

 

I really wouldn't worry about it for the most part. My garage is uninsulated and unheated, my Lathe has been setting in there for the past 2 winters, my mill the last winter, the ways and head stock along with the dials and table are bare steel, not stainless. I cover it with a lite coat (very lite) of wd40 and have no rust yet on anything. Like Tim said just don't go out there and decide to heat the garage up all at once without coating the steel with something. WD40 would work well, you just will need to clean the surface with alchohol or something similar vefore any bondo, paint or whatever gets put to the steel later on.