Post #12
Sorting out under the fuel tank is on my to-do list. In the meantime I've dealt with the surface rust and shot wax on it to slow it down until I get to it. I have managed to loosen the 2 bolts on the fuel tank brackets (one so much it fell out!!) but the nut on the long stud is proving much more troublesome, and obviously you can't use heat as the plastic fuel tank is an inch or two away. Someone else on here told me their stud snapped and they had to pull up the carpet inside, drill it out and put in a new one.
Deox C is a powder intended for mixing with water in a container and soaking bits in. If you are doing something big that can't be dipped, i.e. the entire bodyshell, you need Deox gel, which is the same sort of stuff but in a gel formulation which enables it to stay wet and stick to vertical and underside surfaces. You apply it thickly and cover it with cling film and leave it for 2 days, then clean off and repeat if necessary.
Before doing that it is best to get all the salt/dirt/oil off the surface so it is clean, using a water-based degreaser (Bilt Hamber Surfex HD). Then wire brush as much of the rust off as possible before applying the gel. Wash the gel off with water and wire brush/sand/abrade again. Flush with water. Keep doing this until the metal is clean.
I don't really rate rust converters as the rust seems to come through again. There is a thread somewhere on Detailing World where a bloke used Electrox on his calipers, and Hydrate 80 on his carriers, and after a winter or two the calipers were still perfect, but the carriers were deteriorating. Converters are OK for small bits of rust or to slow it until it can be more effectively dealt with, but not under paint as a large scale long term solution. It would be better to paint the cleaned bare metal with Electrox zinc primer. Overpaint the zinc primer with your choice of top coat (though it can be left uncoated).
The Hammerite stone chip paint seems OK, I've used it and had no probs. If anyone knows more I'd be interested to know. But there is no point using stone chip over bare/rusty metal, best to get a decent primer or zinc rich undercoat on there first. Red oxide these days is not as good as it was due to tighter regulations.
I'm using clear wax over the top too, as an additional layer of protection (in my case Dynax UC from Bilt Hambber).
________________________________________
Cherry Rallye SOLD
jamiek_uk2000
Posted 8th Feb 2013 at 21:22
. I've got plenty of Deox C coming, so that will be flying on there. 
