surface rust.... leave on for now?
 

I am new to the forums and just acquired a 1973.5 911 (CIS) Targa. The front fenders are off the car as well as the doors, hood, and rear lid. The previous owner planned to restore the car but never finished the job and let the car sit unassembled for 15 years.

Overall, the body is in good shape with a few rust-through areas on the door rocker panels and on the chassis where the passenger side front fender panel bolts on (just in front of the passenger door). No dents or collision damage anywhere.

Anyway, the front fenders are off the car and evidently the previous owner sanded the paint off the exterior side. There are is now a considerable layer of surface rust (no rust-through areas). Budget concerns won't allow me to paint the car this year. That will be next Summer's project. With that in mind (and knowing next to nothing about body/paint work), should I try and sand down the fenders to metal right now myself and prime them just to stop any more rusting action? Or can the paint shop I take it to next year take care of this then and no further rust be a concern?

I'm probably about as much an expert as you are, but I'd get rid of the rust and get a self etching primer on there to prevent it from getting worse.

If nothing else, keep it all dry and use Picklex20 on it.

Like john says and put on a coat of epoxy primer if possible. If kept inside, this would be best.

Here is a link you should find helpful:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/262049-metal-conditioning-epoxy-priming-101-a.html

Welcome to the board.



Tim K

send the panels out and get them blasted then spray an E-primer on some places that do blasting will also prime them too if you want . there is no primers made that hold out water . so in no way should you let them sit in any rain or even a damp shop for any amount of time . i would opt for an etching primer not an epoxy primer . an etch primer has a higher chromated base than and epoxy based primer . the down side is that you can't use a polyester based primer like feather fill over it . so if there are alot of pits you will have to skim coat it with a product like icing or metal-glaze . thay are very light weight body fillers meant to fill in pin holes in heavy weight body fillers .you might call it bondo . but bondo is a brand not a product that would be like calling every car a ford !

Why take a chance for things to get worse?

I would wire brush the rust off, hit it with a rust killer (Rust Mort, Naval jelly etc), then prime.