POR-15, Undercoating, and Rust Questions

[Mateo]

Hello,

I'm new on this board and just have a few questions. I just got my 72' 240Z, 16, and currently stripping out the interior. Now the body of the Z is black but the interior paint shows its original color of *ick*lime green. When wire brushing the trunk area trying to get rid of the original color, I noticed in the spare tire well a large amout of rust and after wire brushing what do ya know? I could see the garage floor:stupid:

Now just cruising around I heard someone mention something about POR-15. After going to their site I have a few questions.

1.What do I use to repair the "cancer spots" where rust has formed but not eaten all the way through?

2.How do I repair the holes which are about the largest are about as big as one of your keys on the keyboard?

3.About how much do I need to do the rear all the way to the end of the deck?

4.Where is the cheapest place to get POR-15 products other than the site?

5.Does the application of POR-15 affected by the weather?(i.e. cold temperature, humidity, hot temperature, etc.)

Now for some misc questions:

5.In the tire well area is there any way of removing the bracket that holds the spare tire in place?

6.Is there a faster way of stripping the paint on the interior that doesn't involve sandblasting and won't hurt the good paintjob on the exterior?

7.After removing the undercoating(which I bet will just be a fuuuuuunnnnn time) what is a good undercoating for the car? A friend had an idea of doing RhinoLining, but Im a bit skeptical about that...Im more of a traditional undercoating guy that you buy in a can.

8.Is it hard to rewire a Z? Im thinking about stripping my interior totally bare down to nothing but metal, no nuts, bolts, and to do that Im going to have to remove all the wiring. Ive never done it before so Im a little scared to do it. Also afraid of removing the dash too.

9.I found an old factory option 73' 240Z A/C unit in a car not to far from me and was wondering what is the going price for all the componets, will it be compatible, how hard is the installation?

Thanks

Matt

[Mateo05]

oh and

10.When Im done with the stripping and POR-15, I no longer have the tar mat(because somehow it was stuck to the metal and had to be chisled off in chips) and jute material. What are some good insulation, sound dampener, and where to get it?

[beandip]

welcome to the world of the Zcar. I am just about finished POR ing my '73 240 . I will try and answer your questions 1. first of all , to apply POR , and this is a must , it is a three step process . If not followed , I found that it just peals off. First you need to do as you are doing . Remove the loose rust and all tar mat and dirt. Spray the metal to be painted with Mariene Clean , which is PORs product, to remove the grease and dirt wax and such and it chemicaly treats the metal. Rince with water .Secound you then apply the Metal Ready , also a POR product , which etches the metal and chemicaly treats the metal and rust. Rince with water again . Now this is VARY important all the area to be treated MUST be dry and free of moisture, then it is ready to paint. It is best if it is not damp or raining. The moisture in the air will cause the paint to set up too quickly , unlike regular paint. It dries to a vary hard finish that cannot be removed with strippers or thinner. So if it gets into threads it must be tapped out with a tap or cleaned with a die on a threaded bolt. The co. sells a matting material that can be applied to the wet paint that is like fiberglassing the pannel , for small holes . If the metal is structural and is rusted badly and weakend it must be replaced by welding in a new pannel. They also have a puddy made of the same materal as the plint that comes in a tube like tooth paste that can be applied to pitted areas and smoothed , to restore the finish. There is no cheep place to buy , if you need to ask that dont bother with the repair , $31.00 a qt for the paint and I think it was $17. a gal for the cleaner and $23.a gal for Metal ready.

[Bruce Palmer]

... and would direct you to the BBS at www.autobodystore.com. Go down to Len Stuart's answer under "roof rust" for a pictoral on a solution to your hole question. Not the whole question, the hole question. You might also go to Len's Zero Rust page too, for info on a product that is safer to use than POR (no isocyanates) is about half the price and basically is a whole lot more user friendly........

[Iman]

Mat, I just joined this site today myself and was wondering about this POR stuff myself. That's a very common Z rust area, often worsened by standing water from rear window leaking. At least that's not a visible or structurally important area.

So I take it that your gonna leave your car black and just cover up the lime and try to fix and prevent future rust. That would be my plan too, that green is nasty. Sounds like you work like me, with manual tools and spray paint. You should be able to scrape, grind, sand off your undercoating. Be sure to quickly repaint any exposed metal. I used to use a product that came in a spray version and a bottle version I believe called Restore that worked well in conjunction with rustoleum type paint to allow me to stop any rust. I prefer to leave just paint versus undercoating on these areas so I can monitor for future rust. Sometimes you just end up with a rust sandwich when undercoatings are used.

I hate using fiberglass patching sytems but this is probably your easiest semi fix for your thru and thru rust in that area. I'd still initially repair it the same way though, get your rust stopped for a few months before resanding and and fiberglass sandwiching.

[Mateo05]

First off, thanks for all the advice so far, I greatly appreciate it. So far I have all my POR-15 questions answered. I will be ordering my POR soon and knock my heart out on the interior.

mperdue,

I live near Tyler, TX which is a 2 hr drive East on I20 from Dallas.

Oh yeah some explaining for the two names. Seems that my first name was having some logging in problems, and I just kinda...made another one because I couldn't figure out what was wrong hahaha.

One more question, how long can I leave bare metal standing? Im doing this in my houses garage so its away from the elements or does this matter at all? Ok so I can't count and thats two questions but whateverROFL

[Iman]

Inside a garage you should be ok for a month or so I'd guess. Scratchy metal will rust quicker and humidity, etc will make a big difference. If it were me I'd spray I light spray of rustoleum primer on just to be safe, you'll probably wanna resand a little before pretreating anyways.

[Bambikiller240]

Rust begins immediately. Whether you can see it with your eye or not, it starts immediately. Moisture whether it is liquid as in water or moisture vapor in the air will accelerate rust.

If you spray primer on the car, you will have to remove it completely before you can treat the metal and use the POR15. A waste of effort IMHO. Primer does not protect metal from rust, it is porous and moisture can and will get to the metal.

I would wait to begin the stripping process until closer to the time when your weather will be warm enough to actually apply the POR15 properly. As soon as the metal is stripped, I'd be treating it with Marine-Clean and Metal-Ready. I'd then leave it as is until I was ready to apply the POR15.

One other thing to mention, If you do not follow the pre-treatment specified by POR and apply the POR15 product exactly as directed, you will be wasting your time and money. POR15 works great, but proper application is critical to the protection of the metal.

[Mateo05]

Well since I have already begun the stripping process how can I protect the metal from rust now until the spring?

[Bambikiller240]

I would suggest Marine Clean, then Metal Ready. Same steps you would use before applying POR. You may need to apply them again just prior to the POR15 application, but that would be far easier than removing a primer.

[Mateo05]

Thanks alot, how long will it protect it from rust? All the way till spring? If so, dang POR is going to have a lot of customers coming soon from my friends .

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Mateo05

Thanks alot, how long will it protect it from rust? All the way till spring? If so, dang POR is going to have a lot of customers coming soon from my friends .

Not really sure on that as it will depend on the humidity of your weather. I would suspect one application *should* do it until spring, but at that time I'd apply the pre-treatment products again just to be sure that the surfaces have not begun to rust even the slightest bit. After all the work and expenses involved, I wouldn't want to take any chances on a bad application of POR15.

just my $.02