Battery area rust, solutions
05-20-2012, 02:21 PM
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Battery area rust, solutions
Hi all, I'm pretty sure there is some corrosion under and around the battery pan in my '87. At some point I want to dig into it and repair because one should "never, ever, not even for a millisecond underestimate rust. It is ALWAYS worse than it looks!." - 500_19B
My questions is...in the meantime, before extensive repair work can commence (not sure when/if I can even do this work), what can be done to neutralize the rust? I've flushed the area with baking soda to hopefully remove any remaining battery acid. There is no visible rust on the exterior of the battery tray. Poking around under the tray reveals some ominous clues however. Does it make sense to try to flush something like Rust Mort through and under the tray?
What are the temporary solutions, if any?
My questions is...in the meantime, before extensive repair work can commence (not sure when/if I can even do this work), what can be done to neutralize the rust? I've flushed the area with baking soda to hopefully remove any remaining battery acid. There is no visible rust on the exterior of the battery tray. Poking around under the tray reveals some ominous clues however. Does it make sense to try to flush something like Rust Mort through and under the tray?
What are the temporary solutions, if any?
Last edited by kevinr1247; 05-20-2012 at 06:52 PM.
05-22-2012, 02:04 PM
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Hey, I've been quoted!!!
I am not the best guy to answer your question, because I did not try any short-term "temporary" measures.
However, what I can add is that the area where the most damage likely is will be the void between the pan and "fuel tank support". You can get pretty good access to this void from below as the factory included three drain holes.
If you jack up and support the car so that you have safe access to the underside, you will see the drains, most likely covered with soft, rubber plugs, situated just ahead of the opening through which the bottom of the fuel tank protrudes.
At this stage, I would guess that liberally spraying some sort of basitrol-type rust protectant into that void will be the best you can do. It will do a good job of halting further corrosion. Have copius cardboard on hand and just spray (with a plastic wand) into all three holes, in all directions until the stuff is running out. Follow this up with spraying from the threaded hole (and any other openings) from the top and I think you will have "stopped" the rust from progressing.
As far as the eventual repair: I am sure you can do the work if you put you mind to it, but the question is whether you really want to do it yourself. Some points to ponder:
1) Doing it yourself will not be a fast process. Are you OK with a long downtime?
2) You will save $$ by doing it yourself, but it still won't be cheap (esp. if you have to buy decent welding equipment). That said, welding equipment is always useful, or you can re-sell it...
3) What else do you want to do to the car? Of course, I got a little (!) carried away, but if you are going to take most of the front end of your car apart, you should take stock of what else you want to accomplish and consider if and how much of that you want to undertake on your own.
I am not the best guy to answer your question, because I did not try any short-term "temporary" measures.
However, what I can add is that the area where the most damage likely is will be the void between the pan and "fuel tank support". You can get pretty good access to this void from below as the factory included three drain holes.
If you jack up and support the car so that you have safe access to the underside, you will see the drains, most likely covered with soft, rubber plugs, situated just ahead of the opening through which the bottom of the fuel tank protrudes.
At this stage, I would guess that liberally spraying some sort of basitrol-type rust protectant into that void will be the best you can do. It will do a good job of halting further corrosion. Have copius cardboard on hand and just spray (with a plastic wand) into all three holes, in all directions until the stuff is running out. Follow this up with spraying from the threaded hole (and any other openings) from the top and I think you will have "stopped" the rust from progressing.
As far as the eventual repair: I am sure you can do the work if you put you mind to it, but the question is whether you really want to do it yourself. Some points to ponder:
1) Doing it yourself will not be a fast process. Are you OK with a long downtime?
2) You will save $$ by doing it yourself, but it still won't be cheap (esp. if you have to buy decent welding equipment). That said, welding equipment is always useful, or you can re-sell it...
3) What else do you want to do to the car? Of course, I got a little (!) carried away, but if you are going to take most of the front end of your car apart, you should take stock of what else you want to accomplish and consider if and how much of that you want to undertake on your own.
05-23-2012, 01:33 PM
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Thanks _19b for the encouragement. I want to halt the rust process for sure and I really want to do the work myself. You've laid out an excellent guide that I think I can follow. A temporary fix doesn't really sit well with me either. I'd like to go all the way with it and I'd like to do the work myself. I would have to but some welding equipment though but as you said, I could always resell it. In the meantime a temp fix might put my mind at ease a little bit.
Depending on what I find when I remove the battery pan of course, I imagine that the damage is not too extensive and therefore will not have to remove or cut out part of the suspension pan, as you did. Maybe I'm kidding myself. That looks complicated especially to my inexperienced eyes. I imagine there is rust, but hopefully I'll be able to treat it and then perhaps just replace the battery platform portion.
It is a little mind boggling that the designers did not see this as a potential problem area....leaking battery acid into and between panels.
Kevin
Depending on what I find when I remove the battery pan of course, I imagine that the damage is not too extensive and therefore will not have to remove or cut out part of the suspension pan, as you did. Maybe I'm kidding myself. That looks complicated especially to my inexperienced eyes. I imagine there is rust, but hopefully I'll be able to treat it and then perhaps just replace the battery platform portion.
It is a little mind boggling that the designers did not see this as a potential problem area....leaking battery acid into and between panels.
Kevin
