surface rust

[markthe45king]

Whilst i have been busy mending brakes and worrying about exhausts, i seem to have let lily down a bit appearance wise and i have some surface rust (driver side rear wing mainly and the inside of the frame where the rear door shuts, and the bumpers, where it looks like static water has stood) - am i right in thinking sanding it down , primer, respray?

anything else i'd need to do?

[chickenjohn]

You need to get rid of all the rust or it will come back. Use a wire brush on a drill or a wire brush on grinder to remove all the rust, then paint with 10% phosphoric acid solution and keep wire brushing till no rust remains. The rust goes black on contact with the phosphoric acid, and the phosphoric acid will help prevent rust recurring. Then etch prime, fill or stopper any pits , sand with 180 grit, prime (several coats), sand down with 400 then 600 grit, making sure to feather the edges of the repair, then several coats of top coat. This can call be done with aerosols, but I would wait till a dry 20C day to do this.

Don't forget to mask around the repair areas and then move back the masking, feather the primer line with 600 grit and paint top coat. You can then wet sand with 1200, 1500, 2000 to remove any orange peel. Provided the paint matches you'll have an invisible long lasting repair.

This can be done with paint cans from ESM etc or your local auto paint shop.

[alainmoran]

Bubbling around the top of the arches is usually a sign that the inner wing is no-longer attached to the bodyshell ... unless you count rust as an attachment!

Check the condition of your rear windscreen rubber & replace it if it's even slightly solidified ... it's a pig of a thing to put back in, I'd strongly recommend getting autoglass or someone like that to do it for you (buy the seal yourself though).

Once that's done, remove the rear wings and check out the scale of the damage, cut out and patch in sections & beware of the lead-filler used about 1/3 of the way up on the back edge (you can tell where it is by looking on the inside for the two panels joining together).

Once your inner wings are re-attached to the bodyshell, cut the bottom off the section below the rear doors & rebuild all of the panels from the inside out.

Good luck - I have to say that this is my most disliked job when rebuilding a minor - removing that lead generates lead dust, & welding anywhere near it generates lead fumes & welds that dont stick ... nasty!