hello everyone,

Well - I've ended up with a nice year 2000 SD ebay special - no options at all! No sunroofs! But we REALLY like the truck and how "unfrilled" it is. Very happy.

I'm sure I'll be posting regularly as I get to know the vehicle better and have questions. Just ordered one of the CD shop manuals - can't seem to live without the shop manual (security blanket).

OK here's my first question:

The frame rails underneath are consistenly rusted - not deeply - along weld joints, cracks, and intersections. I'd like to eliminate this before it becomes a problem - what is recommended to remove the rust? Do these new "rust-eating" paints come recommended? Sandblast (joking!) reprime, and re-undercoat?

I'm reluctant just to spray undercoating over the brown patches already there.

Thanks in advance!

"the new guy"

 

I tried removing it and using normal rust paint last year, and this year it was back. There are some products you can use that will stop it though. POR-15 is the most popular one. I went with Rust Bullet, two coats in silver (high alu content) and two in gloss black and it should stay rust free for about 20 years. I'm also using it everywhere else I can get to that is not cosmetic, under carpeting etc. It's not a 'paint' it cures differently and leaves a non-porous finish that won't let oxygen through so it won't bubble up. It can be put on over rust but I used a nylon brush on a drill to remove the surface rust. Nylon wheels work better than the metal ones for this, they remove much more.

I wish Landrover had galvanized things, it would have saved all of us a lot of hassle. I hate rust too.

 

Also make a point of power scrubbing your truck after running the beachs or trails to stop the salt build up.
Mike

 

For those of us who live in places where half the year the roads are basically wet salt washing frequently can only do so much. I know, I've tried. The Landrover is the worst vehicle I've ever owned for steel corrosion resistance/design so getting everything properly sealed is probably the only real long-term solution. It's a bitch though.

 

ajh - Thanks so much for that recommendation! I'm convinced after viewing the Rust Bullet Propaganda that Rust Bullet beats POR-15.

Question is: which flavor of rust bullet? "automotive" - this is the "high alu" you mentioned? Followed by two coats of "black shell"? Even in the under-carpet areas?

I'm with ya on the belt-and-suspenders approach to this but I would be tempted to follow everything with rubberized undercoating which means five or six coats!

Too much?

Also thanks for the tip about nylon wheels - didn't know that.

Thanks for your advice and help.

 

Under the vehicle on the steel parts I'm using two (or more) coats of the Automotive, and one or two of the black shell (enough to get a decent finish), under the carpet I've been using one thickly applied coat of automotive and just adding more if I miss some of the underlying metal, but I'm also putting down B-Quiet Ultimate Butyl based damper mat right on top of that which in of itself is waterproof and non-porous so I'm doing the surface mostly as a prep stage myself.

On the rubberized undercoating, what I was thinking was using epoxy bedliner in the high-traffic areas, like inside the wheel wells etc... some kind of rubberized undercoating on the bottom of the body would help stop noise transmission from the road as well. It's all a matter of how much extra weight you want to carry.

The LR approach of running body bolts and screws through to the elements is starting to get annoying. I had one of the backing nuts on the rear seat mounts break off the body panel today, luckily you can at least get to them from below if needed.

Oh avoid getting rust bullet in screw threads if you can, you might want to put something on them.. grease or similar so it won't stick if you do. It cures fairly hard and I'm sure I'm going to have to somehow remove it to get some of the bolts back out eventually.

 

ha! you know I've had this car in my possession for what - two days - and I already share your annoyance with the "bolt through the body" thing.

one of the rituals with a new used vehicle for me always seems to be the battery - so true to form the battery on this truck needed a jumper and then died the next morning - anyway in replacing the battery the Cosmic Joker whispered in my ear "why not remove the battery box and really clean it up in there: why take ten minutes when you can spend three hours??"

well a couple of those through-the-body bolts connecting plastic to sheet metal I just about broke off in trying to back out - even after soaking in penetrant. so after opening up my Rusty Bolt Thread Restoration Workshop they eventually went back in with generous coatings of optimoly on the threads.

so I hear ya!

 

My solution has been to replace every screw with a robertson head stainless one, unfortunately metric machine screws are not available in roberston in a stainless so I'll have to do those with phillips or something else. Haven't had any corrosion since though

 

I forgot to ask re Rust Bullet what quantity you are finding is appropriate for a complete job "down under" - to get started and take care of the underbody I'm thinking a quart should do - perhaps a quart of each. What's your experience been?

Why square-drive over torx or phillips? Who knew? I always associated square-drive screws with carpentry. Maybe it's a Canadian thing? Love your idea of and all-stainless approach. DeLorean had the right idea!

 

I got a quart to start, I wouldn't go larger because it cures when exposed to humidity so you need to work with reasonably small amounts at a time. One of each should more than do it. I transfered it into a series of smaller jars (it dissolves plastics) to keep it from premature curing.

Finding metric stainless in torx is hard too, Robertson has proven to be the most reliable and hardest to strip head configuration and it's reasonably easy to clean crud out of. The only thing preventing widespread adoption was patent related, but that's probably expired now. Phillips are just too easy to strip when they get clogged up.

I almost bought a DMC12 at one point but the dealer increased the price 10K when I went in to make my offer. It's actually mostly fibreglass.