Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Best rust covering paint ?

While I've got my engine out I want to clean up some of the rusty brackets and crosshead ends etc.

I'm doing to give them a good wire brushing and was then going to use Hammerite paint.

But there might be something better at covering old metal because no matter how hard one works there will still be some contamination and some paints simply don't adhere well.

Any experience based thoughts please on how to finish "old metal" would be appreciated.

Thanks

I always use a rust inhibitor/remover first such as Kurust, also a Hammerite product. You can see the rust has gone then before you apply protective paint.

I'm told that full fat Coca-Cola as a pre-soak is good, but I've never tried it..

Yes that has phosphoric acid in it which will work wonders on your stomach rust

See if you can get the engine bay steam cleaned the a good brushable synthetic enamel should do the trick.

My local paint factors does a litre for 18 quid.

Hammerite is i) expensive ii) pin holes very easily

Arwyn

I have always had good results with "Rustoleum" paint.
I have found it to be better than Hammerite because it is not so brittle when it dries and is therefor less likely to chip or flake off.
It is also available in a wide range of colours.

To clear the rust I would go with Bilt-Hamber Deox-C for the brackets, and Deox Gel for the crosshead, then B-H Electrox for the primer and finish off with Eastwoods extreme chassis black. I would personally avoid Hammerite.

As Arwyn and Brian have suggested Hammerite is best avoided in terms of the hammered enamel finishes, the pin holing Arwyn mentioned is down to the chemicals used to create the Hammered effect which causes the paint to be very thin in places allowing corrosion easy access.... However I do use Hammerite PRODUCTS to resist rust and their "ordinary" enamel paints to protect metal. It is best to get rid of rust and down to the bare metal rather than try to "cure" it, though I appreciate that is not always possible.... Good luck with your choices.

AHHHH , Been in the paint trade since 1964 when paints had lead . one thing that gets us is 99% of public want an easy job with magic paint and its done in a flash . Well it won't work . The more you put into a job AND I MEAN MORE . The longer its going to last preparation preparation preparation is the main thing . You can pay through the nose and it make little difference .

I've never rated Hammerite..had much better results with old fashioned black iron gate paint from our local ironmongers. Frosts do one that might be worth checking out as its often recommended on the classic car forums.

My normal procedure is Jenolite or Fertan, Bondaprimer, then black enamel (even used Aldli black)

Malcolm

This is what the real Land Rover enthusiasts recommend and use. Worth a look at the website for rustproofing and paint.

http://www.buzzweld.co.uk/

Use it straightaway though. It has very poor shelf life, after 9 months mine were unusable.

Bob
As I have removed all my paint I have been using Fertan. I've been recommend it by a couple of people in the trade. Check out the Fertan site. Mention that you are in the Morgan club and you should get 10% off

Like any painting the most important thing is preparation. I Use a wire brush on a drill, angle grinder or Dremel depending upon location. I then use Jenolite if any signs of rust remain. I then use thinners to clean followed by an acid etch primer such as U pol or Halfrauds do their own.

I used different types of paint depending on location. Plasticote, Hammerite or most branded paints are good.In some areas I use stonechip paint which can be painted over.

Thanks for all the input.

Looks like my initial Hammerite thoughts have gone out of the window.

I've got a few days before I start so I'll do a bit more research on the suggestions and then get the elbow grease out for the cleaning and preparation.

Bob, a few years ago I used satin black engine paint to tidy up lots of exposed bits on the old MTW, I didn't want to go overboard with prep & remove patina

I've been surprised how well it's lasted considering how exposed some of the parts are, if this link works it was this

https://www.granvilleoil.com/prodInfo?pID=252

Unfortunately there are loads of 'one hit' products out there, all with the best of intentions I'm sure. But in my experience Jenolite always worked, but is now superseded by Fertan, a simple produce that does the job as long as you follow the instructions, ie, apply to a wet surface.
No connection with the producers, just a satisfied customer.

+ 1 for FERTAN.

A friend used it for a frame of Restauration for a BMW Dixie an a Ford A (1939 I think) convertible (15 years ago). He is still verry happy with the result

Another vote for Jenolite. I used it back in the '60's by the gallon and I think it is still good stuff. Hamerite is also very good after a good wire brushing, I have used it on the suspension parts of my Beetle to good effect.

The best rust converter is called Vactan, it is the original chemical formulated by ICI and it can be sprayed or brushed , it is water based and cheap as chips on EBay, it can be primed and painted

if the corrosion after scraping & wirebrushing isn’t severe it can be painted with a paint called Fortress from B&Q, no primer is required this paint is manufactured by Tor Paints' if you buy from them you’ll save about 30%, unfortunately I can’t remember Tor’s name for the paint , it goes on quite thick and produces a stove enamel type finish - read the tin carefully before using

Decided to start with a good scraping and wire brushing.

Then attacked some of the exposed rust with Kurust. I chose that because I had heard of it from the old days and my local motor factor had it in stock.

I have to say I'm very impressed. It's turned even quite badly pitted steel black and left what looks like a well keyed surface for subsequent painting.

One interesting side effect is that where the crosshead appears to be bronze welded (brazed?) where the cross tube goes through, the bronze has gone shiney. Just like if you put a penny in Coke (or I guess any other Cola)

I expected the acid fumes to be quite bad but It was OK even without a mask.

I also expected it to attack my nitrile gloves but not so.

So far so good but still a lot of work to do.

POR 15 gets some good reviews. I bought a Starter kit to do some brackets on my old 4/4 but sold it before I did them. I still have the kit and will try it over the winter if the paint is still ok. It needs using fairly soon after opening the tin apparently as it sets really hard. The kit has small tins so no major loss if it is gone off. It comes with prep solutions too.
I bought it here...... www.frost.co.uk.
Their Eastwood chassis paint is good too. Used it on the 4/4 rear axle.
Just remembered the Pepsi. Used it on the cast iron exhaust manifold. Soaked a Scotchpad in it and washed them down. It did take the colour back to a grey. Good old phosphoric acid!

Jack , what would you do when dealing with rust on a car from step 1 ?

Madmax.... when you asked "Jack , what would you do when dealing with rust on a car from step 1 ? I smiled, as in my mind paint is just about the LAST step in the restoration process....(-:

My thinking is a tad more basic in terms of the effectiveness of initial design and maintenance relative to attempts to restrict the ability of corrosion to take hold in the FIRST place..? In that regard I suspect the areas susceptible to rot and rust in TRAD Morgans may have been well documented over the years, which would seem to be the best place to pay attention to applying preventative and preservation methods..?

IvorMog
I'm a bit late to this but check out the Fertan website. If it's used for ships it be good for MOGS

Whatever coating you finish the job with will only be as good as the prep work. Even the rust cure paints need thorough prep for the chemicals to work and prevent more rust coming back.
My dad (a coachbuilder) used to say....” I wonder what the paint/ underseal is hiding?).

Given a coachbuilder of many years experience can be left thinking "I wonder what the paint/underseal is hiding ?" I guess trad Morgan buyers may be fortunate to have less of a challenge to find any structural issues compared to those which can be close to impossible to find on some modern and high cost "classics," all of which depends upon the strength built into their monocoque, and which may now be held together by a number of patchwork repairs all hidden under a mix of cataloy (bondo) underseal and paint..? I suspect some buyers of very costly machinery would be surprised as to the existence of filler being used to sweeten up the panels on their cars before they even left the factory that produced them... I suspect perhaps more than enough for the OCD inclined "collectors" to flip their lid....?