hi everyone, my 69 mustang has alot of rust bubbles forming and has rust forming on the trunk lid and on rear quarter panels etc etc... i bought the car in 03 and havent done much to the body as far as improvements.I dont have the money to take it down to a body shop and have them do the body work and then paint it so what i want to do here is use some paint stripper and remove the paint and then grind the rust out a section at a time. once ive removed all the rust spray a heavy coat of etching primer over it to cover the metal. I sanded one small area down to metal a few years ago when i removed one of the first rust spots and the car has 3-4 paint jobs on it.

so does this sound like a good plan? does anyone have any suggestions? im not a body mechanic so im not looking to make this car look cherry right now my main concern is to remove the rust.

will the etching primer seal the car from moister? can i still drive it once its been sprayed?
thanks for any help u guys can give me.

 

I would not touch it until I could afford to do it right. If you are going to do it you really need to strip it all to bare metal to get a good assesment on what need to be replaced. If you need a full quarter panel any work you do now will be a waste of time.

 

Cant say much about removing the rust, other than what the other guy above me said. But if you do go through with all the rust removal, DO NOT FORGET to keep it off, and to make sure it NEVER comes back, I would suggest going to ziebart and getting the rhino lining, or rust prevention package, its like a treatment thing they do professionally to make sure your under body is immune to rust, and also the rest of your car. Don't know much more about it, but if you are interested, I would suggest it as a very cheap way to have peace of mind after getting such a costly job (rust removal and repainting) done on your car.

 

Well to be honest that's kinda what I'm wanting to do.. I want to find out what and how much rust / work I need to do... My theory here is if I can salvage a quarter panel by fixing tr rust now instead of waiting for the money to fix the body and paint the car all in one sitting would be worth it.. My main concern is that once the metal is bare will the etching primer cover and seal it from the moister?

 

If you have alot of time, and no money, forget the paint stripper...it's a mess to deal with, especially if you get it behind panels and creases. For about $30 and a 6" DA sander you can buy a stack of 80 grit sandpaper and sand down the car in a weekend. I agree that you shouldn't take on this job unless you're prepared to deal with whatever you discover under those bubbles. You might get lucky and find surface rust, but you could also find entire panels that are rusted through. Of course on the other hand, go ahead and start sanding, it'll force you to finish the work.

 

My suggestion would be to do one section at a time. Start with a quarter, sand down to to bare metal then spray with a good quality epoxy primer. The epoxy primer will seal the metal until you can get around to doing your filler / body work.

 

The best thing to do is borrow a digital camera and post some pics so we can see what you are talking about. " A lot of rust bubbles" doesn't give me a lot to go on. With a picture I can most likely give you an assesment before you start digging into it.

 

I would go the sander route, not paint stripper, especially for a section at a time. You should have no problem sanding a section down, assessing what needs to be fixed, fixing it, which will require a welder, and then covering the repaired area with primer, like the epoxy type. Coat the underside of the repaired area too.

Research how to fix rusted areas on cars and use the best method for you. It just takes time. I did all the body work/metal work on mine (and it was A LOT) except for the nose area and I've never done body work before.

 

As has been mentioned, I would sand before using a chemical stripper but a chemical stripper will work. Cover your bare areas with epoxy and be sure to prep the area correctly for maximum adhesion.