So I bought this Barracuda, a San Francisco city car that sat under a car cover soaking up coastal fog. I want to repair it section by section. First 'wart' I wanted to address was the quarter panel, and immediately started getting deep into it. It's numbers matching but not a collectable model so no great loss if things don't end up exactly as factory intended.

I didn't want to take the whole thing down to a shell and cut all the rusted panels off of it. I want to keep panels in place as long as possible as reference for other panels. Plus if I cut all rusted panels off, nothing would be left.

Questions I have are:

- What do you use to treat blasted metal? - I'm using SEM weld-thru primer
- Do you mess with rust inside inner structure beams, or between panels? - If so, really? You drill out all the spot welds and blast inside the beams?
- If you don't blast all surface rust off or in the seams, do you hope and pray, or do you send it out for dipping? Everywhere panels are spot-welded together, there's rust in the seams.
- What do people do to repair rotted/missing metal around the windows? Fab it? Buy used? I didn't see any reproduction metal for around the window.

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Pictures below are for your entertainment.



Pulled off the quarter, and blasted the inside structure with glass media. Saw the inner structure had rot, so added braces and removed part of the roof.



Removed rotted inner structure and am bending some metal (16ga, what was there seems thinner) to replace it, and will patch the vertical. More metal to replace around the window. Ordered a new roof panel.

Well first off let me say kudos to you for having the courage to step off into a project of what looks to be a sizeable undertaking I assume you don't do this for a living...neither do I but I can try to share some of my experiences in the rebuilding of my 68 GTX which required much of the same repairs as I seen in your pics. On my non-visible areas (internal structure) I removed as much of the damaged areas as I could cut out, if it couldn't be cut out I blasted to bare metal and used weld through primer then added reinforcement doublers then used POR-15 to seal it all. As I disassembled the GTX I found the same things you are seeing, rust everywhere as in it was a chain reaction type is disassembly...couldn't find a quitting place. In my case I ended up taking it apart until it was on caster wheels then started blasting, priming, and using POR-15 almost everywhere internally. I was lucky to find a donor Satellite for a lot of metal, may be a bit harder for you to find a Barracuda donor so looks like some fab is inevitable. In my case there was still lots of fab involved...it is what it is, took me 7 years and about a 2" folder full of receipts. Like I said, I'm not a professional so those guys may chime in and have more/better suggestions good luck!

I was thinking POR-15 and bought a tiny starter kit. Not cheap for what you get. Summit catalog has a bunch of rust converters and sealers but looks like for different applications.

I saw a thread where GYC sends their shells out to be dipped, after seeing rust in every seam I get that now. Blasting a shell will miss rust in seams and inside channels.

In my teens I did mechanical work at a '40s Cadillac business, and I have a '39 LaSalle that has nowhere near the rust of these things.

Thankfully Auto Metal Direct has made a lot of those parts available. If you could, I would really consider sending this one out for dipping. When one has so much hidden corrosion it is all but impossible to stop by any other means. I agree with the idea of doing one panel at a time, but as you can see removing one panel exposes more that need work. Chip away and you'll get it. PPG DP40 is a great epoxy primer that applied over clean metal will seal it forever. Good luck.

To do it right, it's got to be dipped...


The ultimate is dip, repair, E-coat...

The concern I've always had with dipping is that now we have clean bare metal everywhere. How do you prime the hidden locations that are now bare clean metal? Is there someone who duplicates the factory dipping primer?

My Cuda came from Pompano Beach Florida and suffered the same fate as you car, rusting from the top down I had mine dipped if you can afford it that's what I would recommend.

Try this

http://nastyz28.com/threads/need-to-paint-inside-rockers-frame-rails-subframe.168592/

What is the estimated cost to have a body dipped (stripped) & then E-coated? Who has tanks large enough to to Mopar bodies?

There is an operation in Ohio that can dip cars and another that will e-coat. You will have to build a jig to mount the car as it would have to go in sideways.

The operation in Oregon requires no jig but does not supply e-coating. A car and all it's parts is around $2500

After I saw the rust trapped inside spot-welded seams, dipping was the first thought.

Spraying inside hidden locations may get the surface rust, but it won't get inside the seams.

Once spot welds get compromised the shell starts to lose integrity. Far less crash-worthy was one of my first thoughts, seeing rot and rusted spot-weld seams.

So I have seen pictures of a car after a dipping process. This car it was Redi Strip I believe that did the dip. Company that does it probably doesn't matter as the process is very similar through out the industry. This car did not get E coated either which would cover everything up. My point is after dipping pictures I saw dipping did not remove rust the between seams or brackets. I expected ALL rust to be gone. The car in areas that were shown were no better than a blasted car. Yes I assume inside frame rails and other hidden open areas were clean as opposed to blasting. But between the seams and upper control arm brackets & firewall / door seam areas no better than blasting. Dipping process did not achieve the results I expected. I was very disappointed with results. Anybody else opened up spot welded seams on a car after dipping?

There is a shop in louisiana that does the dip and then takes them straight to an e-coat facility. My 71 charger wasn't this bad but I could take my finger and run it up in a frame rail and it was rough to the touch and always left an orange tint on my finger. Now the same area is as slick as a pop bottle.
I couldn't stand the thought of leaving all the hidden surface rust and then putting an expensive paint job over the car. I am very pleased and my body and paint guy was impressed. I keep it in a temperature controlled shop and hopefully I won't have rust peek out of a seam in a few years. I think I gave around $6500.

Personally I wouldn't have a car dipped for rust removal unless I could also get it dipped in e-coat or a similar coating. If not, you just exposed a tremendous amount of bare metal to possible moisture and rust - inside a/b/c pillars, inside the cowl box area, etc. I'm sure that would be a bigger issue in a humid climate than in Arizona, but you get my point.

I'd never spend the $ to get one dipped... read about too many problems afterwords too. Unless your going to totally pull apart a car at the spot welds, nothing will get it all. Restored cars aren't in the elements year round either. I'd be more worried about getting any junk out of the frame rails and lower body seams than worrying about surface rust that's hidden.

you can read a variety of opinions on any given subject, but a little common sense about the materials you are treating helps. IMO if it matters is dipping is the best way to achieve the goal of removing the rust,whether its between layers or inside frame rails. the key is to find the company that is auto related and informed chemical dipper. one that is Auto industry informed knows to look at seams that are compromised by rust and knows to separate the rusted panels enough to let the chemicals to their job this may sometimes add to additional cost and labor depending on severalty of the damage. you just have to find the right job shop. the very main reason to dip is to get all of the hidden rust without damaging the remaining metal that is not compromised.The the e-coat process can coat all surfaces hidden or not inside and out . the process is to remove all or as much of the comprised panels as possible and separate the seams then replace the panels that are visibly rusted then send to the dip and strip ask for a phosphate coating which can protect from surface rust for an extended amount of time so that you may examine for other damaged uncovered after dipping. repair as necessary send to e-coater and your ready for body work and paint.
soda blasting is corrosive as soda is crushed salt. that's just plain wrong in my book. sand is also corrosive and compromise's the finish of the metal and opens pours of metal . sand blasting is meant for heavy metals not sheet metal. ive used all methods available but dipping has the best results if done properly. soda or sand blasting does NOT get between the the panels. It depends if its about money or preservation , but quality wise the dipping and e-coating is the best option available and value for your buck .

what i have found is the least amount of rust is located behind the seams of even the most rusty cars.
the metal wedged together keeps out air and moisture
and you need both for rust to occur.
even dipping will not reach the inside of all the seams
it will just fill the voids where air gets in and
it will not get in between all of the metal.
nothing will get in there unless you separate the panels
and anyone telling you otherwise is a snake oil salesmen.


dipping is not much better then blasting at a much higher cost.

treat it with chemicals to kill the rust and seal it in with primer
and it will take a very long time before it rusts out if at all.

Opinions obviously differ but in MY opinion, the best way to address rust is to remove as much as possible and then seal the bare metal as best you can. Being a car that will see minimal use from this day forward, the chance of reappearance should be minimal but as much as exists should first be eliminated as best possible.

That said, dipping is the only way. You can talk to blasters and they'll promote their methods over dipping but the bottom line is that they just a) cannot access all the areas that dipping will and b) there is NO blast media which is fine enough to eliminate rust at the molecular level - which dipping does.

Proponents of blasting will also bring up the subject of "seams" but the reality is this: dipping is now a government regulated process as far as obtaining and disposing of the chemicals. You don't just buy an old swimming pool and a bottle of acid and start a business. Most dippers have been in the business for a good length of time - they know what they're doing, they know where the problems lie and how to address them AND most of all, their reputation is on the line. Chemicals seeping from seams is most likely an old wive's tale propagated by proponents of blasting.

Lastly, the prep by the owner of the dipped item is very important. Not difficult but important. Skip this and you deserve whatever you get!

Once rust is removed and the body prepped and painted, there are numerous products which can be used in most of the areas that were inaccessible to the painter. Even something as simple as a WD40 spray bomb will do wonders to prevent future rust.