paint/bodywork help

[clutchdust]

hey all, this is a pic of the fender of my current project. this is by far the worst area of the body. given the rest of the car's condition and the need for mechanical restoration, i want to try to seal this off to prevent further rust damage. it was obviously a bad repair from a bad hit. the good news is that i don't have to deal with a lot of rain in my area, it's probably been like this for at least 10 years. i know that sealing it will not improve the cosmetics of the damage but i would like to stop it from progressing. anybody have any suggestions?

[240ZX]

The best way to deal with the old rust monster is to completely removing it. From the looks of your Z it has some serious rust issues.....what ever rust you see, there's bound to more that you can't see. Rust never sleeps!

[Arne]

If you do anything to seal it, you are just covering it up. The problem will continue to get worse. You should have that filler removed to see what is underneath it. It may not be all that bad, but either way the only way to deal with it is to have the filler removed and properly repair the damage underneath.

[LanceM]

The problem there is the rust you don't see for sure. That is bondo cracking and I'd bet that everywhere under it is rusted. The only way to stop it is to remove the filler and grind down to clean metal and start over.

[Jackhammer]

The way to keep the rust from progressing is to remove it and properly seal the metal. The body filler needs to come off and then you can see what you have to work with and progress accordingly.

The reality of it is ...there are no temporary fixes that will work.... short of storing it in a vacuum.

[Kiwi ZX+Zed]

I agree with all of the above mentioned.

Ive been painting cars for too long now,almost 20yrs,and you really do want to rip all that $^!# out and see whats underneath,you may be pleasantly surprised,as usually cracks like that happen cause there was lack of prep work,the bog lifts if the dust aint blowen away and the rust just pushes the bog away from the panel in most cases,i say most cause it could be a bad patch welded in,then you may have to cut the old repair out and reweld it to last another however long.You can treat rust till the cows come home,but itll always come back,1yr...10yrs......cut it out,its a cancer and should be treated as such for our Zeds

If you need any pics,just ask as i have a shipload from the present refresh im doing on my ZG-Fairlady Z

[shamus11]

If it were me I'd remove the bodymould, use a stripdisk on a hand drill or anglegrinder to take it back to bare shiny steel, treat the rust with a kill-rust style product. Etch prime with a spray pack and it will be sealed until you get around to repairing it. Easily done in an afternoon.

Should be good and sealed till you can repair it propperly.

[beandip]

I agree , if by spray pack you are saying to paint over the primer. Paint will seal the primer from moisture , all this will be removed when you paint the car vary quickly , so do top coat the primer , with paint. my 2 cints . Gary

[a7dz]

I have to say listen to these guys! Beandip took a primered parts car and turned it into screaming yellow very nice driver. Yes you may live in Nevada where it is dry but, they still have sprinklers, do you wash your car. Those things include water. Remember that primer even the primer sealers are still porous. Have to be to get the properties that make them primer. Even if you use a rattle can get a top coat on the primer. Other wise vision taping a sponge to the metal and leaving it there. Is that a bit drastic yes but, makes the point. Believe me I do know rust.