I am starting the body work on my 70 Barracuda. The panels are solid, but have a sizable amount of surface rust from sitting outside in the elements. I don't have access to media blasting and I am going to tackle this part of the body work myself. Is there a chemical rust remover that can be used and what grit sand paper should be use to remove the paint from the entire car. I will be doing a small area at a time and then spraying metal etching primer to those areas.

I have had similar conditions, I use 80 grit DA paper on surface rust. I DA it down until all traces of rust are gone, (it will be stubborn!) don't grind it off, it will wharp. Take it slow, move around, keep the heat down. Then use a good metal etch on it, and let it dry a day or two. I then use 180 grit DA, and prime. Whatever etch that is left is in the pits, (you will see dark converted spots) and most primers are compatible with them, and stick just fine. It is slow going, but you can do the area the size of a hood in about an hour. I did one this way, and left it outside again, it has not rusted yet.

Good info thanks, I am still curious to see if there is a liquid or jell out there that removes rust.

We used something called Safest Rust Remover and it worked incredibly well. You can get it at safestrustremover.com. It's non-toxic which is unbelievable because it works so well. Good luck.

And the Eastwood Co. has a few products for rust removal also...Others are evapo-rust and picklex 20...

I've had pretty good success with both Evaporust & Picklex20.

Only downside with Evaporust is keeping the rusted surface wet with the Evaporust solution. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but sometime soon I hope to see if you can use the Watersmart Gel crystal stuff (used in gardening/planting & crafts) to make an Evaporust gel for vertical surfaces.... would beat setting up a fish tank recirculation pump to keep the area flushed. Should keep the surface wet too. If I remember the bottle right 1oz of crystals is supposed to turn 1 gallon of water into gel; and Evaporust is just water & their rust chealating molecule. My only worry is if the Watersmart crystals may be hard to clean from the surface & cause paint probs. The only other idea I had for making a gel was to order in enough methyl-cellulose powder for prescription compounding through work but that stuff is big $ in any decent size amount.

On the flat surfaces you can make an enclosed pool of sorts out of modeling clay and pour the evaporust into it. So long as the metal is submerged it will work. I did this to a trunk extension and it worked pretty good.

I recently used a product by KBS called Rust Blast. You spray it on and keep the area wet for a period of time then wash it off. I used a power washer and it worked GREAT! It leaves a galvanized finish and etches the metal. You can prime over it once it air dries. Send me a PM with a good email and I'll send you some pics of what it looks like and how well it worked for me.

When I have a lot of surface rust to contend with, I use Phosphoric acid and scotch bright pads to clean it.A stainless wire brush on the heavier areas.