Hey All, haven't posted in a while, but had a couple ques. to throw out there.

2000 Disco is humming along well in the Texas Summer heat, but may be moving to cooler climates soon. Namely coastal Massachusetts. Should take over as the official beach mobile shortly.

Anyway #1: Anybody have a good cover for surface rust on the frame. Undercoat, paint, thought I remebered seeing some soupy black tar stuff in land rover world that they use in England to slow rust progression. It's just surface now, but introduced to beach sand and winter salt, and it could get worse quickly.

#2: Anyone know where to get a reasonably priced fog light for a disco II? Maybe a little less than the 150 atlantic british wants. I never use them, but my disco looks like she has a black eye with all the murky water floating around in one.

Thanks for the help all, hope the summer started well.

 

www.roverlandparts.com
The only thing you can do to prevent rust is remove the salt ASAP, if you are driving through salt water (a HUGE no no) then make sure you run it through the automatic carwash that same day and get the underbody wash to rinse everything with fresh water.

As far as road salt goes...when you live in the North East you just live with it. The engine will outlast the body, thats just the way it is, and if you dont like it then dont live here.

 

That rust won't hurt your truck, unless it spreads up to the floor or door jam area. To late to go in a remove it now.

 

I know 3M makes an underbody coating designed for cars, heard from some one on this forum (or maybe that nj jeep forum?) that it's pretty good. Only $6 a can too.

 

Yes, there are a number of under coating materials on the market, but if you can't get rid of the rust first, then applying a cover up is like putting a band aid on it, rust is still there and will continue to rust.

 

I live on the cape. do a search for rust converter.

use it on any rust you have. it will stop the rust and seal the area.

the converter is useless unless you apply it over rust. so if you dont have any rust make sure you wash the salt off as often as you can.

over the years of beach driving i have never had a frame or anything else for that matter rust through.

take a proactive role in keeping the undercarriage clean all year.

Just my 2c

 

if it is just surface rust, get some of the rust converter- comes in a spray now too. Then after a few days, spray the undercoating on. If you suspect it is more than just surface, don't coat it. Just use the converter spray.

That said, I have used the 3M undercoating and I am very pleased with it. I usually re-coat 1-2 times a year because driving through fields will take it back off...

 

Where on the cape? We need to make a Cape Cod Disco Club or something...I'm out here too...where were you when I had to do that timing chain gasket?

AS FOR RUST
There is a treatment that is very popular in the hotrodder arena called "POR-15", it's a multi-step deal.

-Clean the area to be prepped, knocking off the big rust globs.
-Hit it with metal prep (phosphoric acid) Phosphoric acid actually does something chemically to rust to make it inert.
-Apply the heavy duty POR-15 coating.

It stands up pretty darn well. I have a leaf spring that I turned into a body-slapper that I painted with this stuff and after many, many years it hasn't chipped or peeled or anything along those sorts.

HTH

edit-->also I'd be a little weary of using undercoating to try to curb rusting because it has a tendency of trapping moisture up against the metal.

 

great stuff!!, will be doing my whole chassis with it very soon. and rust IS treatable, dont ignore it, or it will end the trucks life VERY quickly!!!

 

@urban panzer-
You *might* be able to save yourself some money if you can find metal etch or floor etch from another source other than Por-15. As I mentioned, the stuff is just phosphoric acid which is very mild acid, so mild that it doesn't even irritate my skin at all.

This is the same active ingredient that is in Naval Jelly...it's a pink gel that contains phosphoric acid that can be used to remove/convert rust. Again, lots of hotrodders rely on this stuff. The trick is ensuring you get the metal fully clean after applying the phosphoric acid and letting it do its thing...and work in SMALL areas...don't think that you're going to hit the entire frame with acid-etch in one shot.