The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop What to do after having a body dipped for rust removal?

I'm going to have my panel body dipped in what is supposed to be a non-destructive process. I'm told after the dip the body will be sprayed to prevent flash rust. I don't know how long that will last and I don't know what to do to treat the metal before I apply a good epoxy primer, probably eastwoods. I need to know a step by step approach to getting the body cavities rust proofed as they are unpaintable hidden area and if I can do the weld repairs after spraying with the epoxy. Any help appreciated.

As if it were possible... get in touch with an Eastwood PAINT rep and follow their procedure cause not a lot of epoxies want to share the metal with dip from my reading.

I'd be more inclined towards Ospho (and neutralize) the hidden area's and sand blast the rest. Then dip in epoxy... or brush/pour it. I'd feel safer later on.

ask the place what the after-spray is, if it's phosphoric acid [should be], ask them to be liberal with it, including spraying inside the rear body cavity thru the little covers in the sidewalls - be a good idea to drill some holes in those panels on the inside below the floor level so the cavities there drain well, they can be plugged later - phosphoric acid treatment will last a long time if kept totally dry, Florida humidity may defeat it

if the whole thing is well treated with phosphoric acid [Ospho as CASO says], epoxy will work, the trick is to make sure all the pinch welds are flushed out well so no stripper chem bleeds out under the primer - but you shouldn't count on doing your welding after epoxy unless you're also prepared to strip the epoxy off the area to be worked

Bill

Where are you having this done? I've been told very few are around anymore.

If its to be a factory stock deal, don't drill extra holes less your planning to weld them up after wards. Eastwood has a spray deal that has flex wands for the tip, I was thinking about using it to apply epoxy in the hard to get to panels. Also was thinking about doing the phosphoric thing before the epoxy too.
The place that does the job should know how to make sure theres no chem left in the pinchwelds etc. I think heating those areas would help.

The place is here in south central Florida. http://www.autorestorationdepot.com/contact.html

Auto Klassic Metal Clean, LLC or a google search on autorestorationdepot.com
They have a package price for all the basic sheet metal and also individual parts

Thanks all for the tips. I need to talk to the supplier/dipper and see what else they can tell me about the process. I sure don't want rust to bubble out after going to all this work.

... just as info for us guys it'd be nice to know what a package price would run for basic stuff. That way I can think about it or just plain forget it in the budgets.

Go to the link above and look for "prices" on the left side. It's their price list.

Thanks Craig. I must have been half a sleep

Check the data sheet for your epoxy primer. Some of them have adhesion problems if used over phos acid.

As I understand it the proper way to neutralize the ospho (phosporic acid) is to wash it off while it is still wet/active.
To me that means I may apply it and let it dry three or four times if I'm picky... I mean lazy
and when I'm ready I re-apply it and let it set a few minutes to reactivate the residue and the pores of the metal and then wash it off with plenty of water and a red scotch pad. good to go.