I plan on using my 79 as a daily driver. I don't plan on doing a frame off restoration. What I am doing is just fixing anything that doesn't work and making it look pretty. The frame of the car looks pretty good. I was wondering what I could do to prevent any rust damage from occuring in the future. The car has sat for over 10years in my garage so no water has touched it. I live in Florida so when it rains I don't want to be afraid to drive it. Is there a type of paint that I could put on the frame, and how would I apply it? Thanks for all the advice.

 

Put your car up on ramps and pressure wash ever hole, crack and crevice with soapy water. Castrol Purple Degreaser, Simple Green or some other powerful degreaser helps. Taking your ramps to a car wash (late at night as not to draw too much unwanted attention from nosy attendants) is a great way of really cleaning out the dirt. Wear coveralls or a rain suit so you can really crawl under the car.
I'm not talking about a 15 minute job, I'm talking about flushing every hole in the frame until the water coming out is clean. Then let it dry out over night, use air to blow out the frame to make sure it's dry.
I'd never use that tar like rust proofing on my car. It was originally used on my car and I spent weeks scraping it off the frame, trailing arms and suspension.
The only thing I'd recommend to use as a rust preventer is POR-15, nothing else will hold up and prevent rust better (IMHO.)
I bought a cheap plastic pump up sprayer at WalMart, I poured a couple of quarts of POR-15 into it and started at the back of the frame spraying up inside the frame with the wand. I place cans under the holes up and down the frame to catch the run off. I wormed the wand up and down into the frame until I'd used up all the POR15. Then I collected the runoff POR15, poured through a strainer and sprayed again. I did the cross members and every other place I could reach.
I also painted the outside of the frame with POR15 and disposable brushes. The next day I painted over the POR15 with Krylon Semi-Flat black paint so it would look stock. Original POR15 is very glossy, I understand they sell a color that matches chassis paint now, but they didn't when I did the work.
The cheap pump up sprayer I threw away, since POR15 dries like concrete and is almost impossible to clean up unless you use a very strong solvent almost immediately. Also don't get POR15 on your skin, if it dries nothing will get it off except time (your skin has to wear off first.)
If there is any rust inside or outside your frame, the POR15 will stop it in its tracks, if it isn't rusty, rust won't start.

 

Nice write up Smokehouse with some good ideas. I will take advantage of later on.

 

Wow! :eek: Thanks for the advice. Sounds intense, but worth it to save the frame from rust. Have to do that when I have a at lot of time off.

 

That is a very informative post. Thanks!