Journal: Finn John's Journal

So I spent much of yesterday taking surface rust off with a powered steel brush and coating it with Rustoleum Rust Reformer, a product that nobody but me seems to have had much success with. I would not use it if the body weren't really pretty much toast, but since it is, why spend extra money on it?

Next step is a bit of fiberglas work, followed by primer and paint. I've decided to paint it in the colors of the Irish flag, with equal parts green, white and orange paint. Kind of an Eireannach Shaguar sort of effect. Go hiontach! Anyway, I'll pick up the paint and primer for it this afternoon.

I also have a lot of work to do underneath it. I figure I'll drive it up on ramps, crawl under there with the grinder and take the crusty rust off the floor pans, at a minimum, and blast it with cold-process galvanizing paint. It can be ugly, that's fine. I'll also hit all the control arms, etc., with the same stuff while I'm down there, hoping to check any corrosion that is still in progress thanks to the highway department of whatever state this car started out in. It's practically ruined from road salt.

Right now, it's completely black -- the Rust Reformer color -- and looks a lot more sorted out than it did when I picked it up! But I still have the fenders to do. The right fender is really bad. The bulkhed behind the tire that's supposed to stop crud from getting in was bent backward, forming a checkvalve of sorts -- like a lobster trap for dirt. It's really bad. But, it's only a fender. Fiberglas ho!

The worst corrosion is under the back windows. These obviously leak. If you want a pair of chrome window openers for the price of shipping, PM me. I'm siliconeing these babies shut permanently on this car to try to keep the moisture out.

--Finnzo