Time to Remove the Rust

[Tim Jobson]

Well it has been a while since I worked on my 105, final house renovation projects had to be done before I was allowed to disappear into my own garage world.

As you can hopefully see from the pictures, she has had both outer sills removed.   I was please that the rust had not taken too much toll on the inner sills.   The front left sill was the worse area, I will need to make up some sections in probably 1.2mm to replace those bits of the inner sill.    There is also some light surface rust along the inner sill further down the box section.     I have tried to get at it with wire brushes, however access is too tight through those small oval openings. 

Does anyone have any good tips on how to clean up rust in the innner sill area and also what sort of oil/wax/bitumen ?? products are on the market for the DIY guy to spray down all those hard to get cavities to help protect them from any future moisture that may get in?

You can see the two new outer sills I purchased from Highwood sitting on her roof.    I am still trying to decide on a mig welder for this job, the short list is either a Cigweld 135 or 165 or a Lincoln 180C using an argon gas and either 0.6mm or 0.8mm wire, not sure which way to go.....any suggestions out there?

Will keep you updated as I go

Tim

[Mat Francis]

Can't offer much help on the choice of welder, but from our (dad and my) limited experience over the last year or so .8mm wire seems to be much easier for some reason. I have no idea why, but it doesn't seem to blow holes as much as the .6mm stuff did.

If someone who knows more about it thinks otherwise though i'd probably be listening to them. Just our trial and error experience for our situation. If in doubt, an extra roll of wire to fiddle around with probably won't break the bank 

[Tim Jobson]

Thanks matt, I forgot to include the picture of the worst bits!

Tim

[1750GTV]

Tim,

Glad to see you back at it. I hope the house reno went well and everyone has settled in.

I've no comment about the welder - I can weld about as well as I can sing in the shower and that's ugly.

BTW, the worst bits can't be too bad, after all, the weight of the car seems to be supported OK ....

Please post photos as you go. I'm always very jealous of people who can undertake panel work and I like to see the fruits of their labour. It's fascinating watching a car come back to life again.

Chris

[k76]

Good luck with your project Tim. I'm a bit ahead of you on my Alfetta, and faced the same issues. I'm no expert(very far from it!), so don't give too much weight to my answers.

Welder: I got a cheap 130amp off ebay, and it actually works just fine. I started off with .8 wire, but found .6 to be better. I feel it's better when welding upside down, the increased wire speed fights gravity better. It may be that I just got better too... Try both is my advice. For gas I use a Argon/Co2 mix, seems ok. Also make sure you get a auto darkening helmet, having two free hands and seeing what you're doing makes a big difference.

Wax: After googling about I decided on penetrol. I bought a cheap pump-up garden sprayer, and are using micro irrigation hose to extend it and really small spray nozzles. All from bunnings, as luck will have it everyting fits together nicely.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

An Alfa fan selling welders here, quick.... http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/australian-forum/145905-fs-3-cig-mig-welders-225-225-200-amps.html

No relation to seller etc...

[Tim Jobson]

Thanks guys,  I will try to get a mig that is single phase, 10amp plug, do not need anything bigger.

Great idea K76 on your cavity spray outfit, I wonder if there are any cheap aftermarket spray sets that members have used, or is it the case of make one yourself.

Tim

[Paul Gulliver]

Tim,

Extract from Beatle Bayley (aka Paul Bailey from Sale in Victoria) from Alfa Bulletin board. Make sure you rear his complete post on Alfetta cuts before you start

Beatle has chopped up , restored, rebuilt as many Alfetta's as anyone in Australia.


Link http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/car-restoration/14822-alfetta-sill-cut-2.html

Extract    : APPLICATION: You need specialised gear to get a good fogging so I simply rely on the more-is-better principal . Fogging is good because you get a lot of air to take small amounts of product to the surfaces. My method 'sprays' 100% product so you can get through a few litres on a car.

Before we start, I warn you now that this method is messy

1. park the vehicle under cover on disposable plastic tarps on a clean hard surface (the stuff won't come out of concrete and will kill grass),
2. pull as much cloth trim/carpeting as possible as it won't come out of carpet either,
3. use eye protection/gloves/oversuit,
4. have LOTS of rags at the ready,
5. plan to have the car out of action for a few days,
6. begin at the lower extremities and work up,
7. you will need lots of kero/white spirit/turps for cleanup,
8. DON'T get the stuff on window felts or speaker cones,
9. carefully bag up the brakes with plastic bags and tape,
10. ensure the car is perfectly DRY including inside all cavities (don't do the job soon after washing the vehicle).

I use a large hand-pressurised, solvent-compatible sprayer. It's a quality stainless steel jobbie with metal components. The plastic garden sprayers won't last and can't handle the pressures, heavier liquids or solvents. I've used the same kit on trailers, caravans, 4wds etc, and you can still use it to spray the garden weeds.

The unit has a 2m hose to the hand trigger, and to this I attach lengths of 5mm dia dripper irrigation tube (the black poly stuff from a hardware store). The more rigid straight sections make particularly good wands for longer straight chassis rails/sills. You can mix-n-match the poly to suit the task. The pressure tank sits independently by the car supplying product, and you only have the handpiece to carry around while you are doing the spraying.

To the poly tubing I fit the finest 360deg spray tips I can find. The finer they are, the less wasatge. Being plastic they won't scratch any metal and won't encourage corrosion if they fall off into a cavity. They are also cheap so just throw them out rather than clean them.

I quickly test that the tip is providing a good spray (they are easily blocked) then feed the tube/wand into a cavity to be treated. Press the trigger and slowly withdraw the wand while rotating it and working it to ensure a complete internal coverage. The lower seams will get a good soaking as the product runs down, but you need to work the wand so the product get into the upper seams (eg. under the lower windscreen flange seam).

Sometimes I fit spray tips offering different spray patterns. Depends on the task.

Don't be scared of applying product under the windscreen rubber either. The lanoline products don't seem to harm rubber and can actually assist in sealing the screen rubber after they dry to a wax.

Let the stuff run/soak/drip/dribble for a few days. Once it has gone off a bit, you can then begin the cleanup. I find kero is good and it won't hurt the paint, but it will strip any wax so make sure you finish with a good polish and waxing.

If possible, do the job in warmer months and have the car up on jack stands for better access. Keep an eye on all the drains and ensure they remain open to drain any excess product, and also ensure the dried product doesn't clog them either.

Don't allow the product to dry in the spray unit. Run kero/turps through the unit at the end of the day.
__________________
Beatle Bayly
Oztraya

[Paul Gulliver]

Bump

Note in the body of the article is is some links to 105 sill cuts , but his rust proofing ideas sound good.

[Tim Jobson]

Thanks Paul, great article, it will come in handy.

I am at the stage of begining to make up new pieces of metal ready to weld in, will need that welder soon.

Regards
Tim