Hi all,

I’ve just started to tackle the rotten strut towers and arches on my MY00 Turbo 2000. Going at it one side at a time and trying to do it right, I have stripped out the back end interior, struts and bumper and the next job will be to give the whole wheel arch a good clean with a stiff brush then start grinding away the corrosion.

On the underside of the car, inside the wheel arch, once i am happy that i am working with clean, corrossion free steel, my plan was to cut back to a clean straight edge and then give the bare metal a few coats of weld through etch primer.

After the welding i was going to clean the welds off then give it a few more coats of etch primer, then a red oxide primer and then use a proper under-sealer and maybe a Shultz spray, after that i was going to spray a proper greas of some kind on the inner arch, inside the boot.

Unfortunately, I don't have a garage or workshop so I’m working outside and I'm a little paranoid about the exterior arch, as I won’t be able to prep the panel for paint immediately, so i was looking for a bit of advice regards the best process to follow immediately after the welding to give the best protection to the bare metal and weld joints??

When not worked on the car is kept under a cover but will obviouly be exposed to general atmospheric moisture.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

remember mig welding causes condensation so dry when cooled of before painting as it will come back to haunt you, i used loctite krust on all welded surfaces on both sides of weld then etch primer then primer and finally stone chip under the arches, been done 2 years and not come back

 

Thanks, I have already bought one of those gel type acid rust removers, so should i use that on the welds after grinding them flat and before using an etch primer?

 

yep both sides inside and out, unless you want it to rust out from the inside out, i could show you a picture of a perfect brown rusty rectangle on a transit chassie rusting back through white stonechip where it wasn't done properly but i can't find it in my laptop but it aint pretty

 

Thanks. Can I ask how you clean the Kurust Gel off the weld when its done its job?

Do you use thinners?

 

buy the liquid version comes in a grey bottle and looks like milk paint in on or use a old detergent spray bottle, wait for it to dry and just paint right over it

 

Only thing i never used was stonechip, as you could never tell what "grew" behind it.

krust/etch primer/prime/paint 4-5 coats/apply rustproofing.....inspect and apply more rustproofing overtime.

 

Well looks like you don,t need me anymore....jobs a good'un.