Scored a cheap beater...best method to halt rust progress?

My DD is an '06 Miata, which I picked up less than a year ago. I had originally planned to just get a rental car on snowy days here, since I have connections for Enterprise here at work. But the more I thought about it, the more I decide to try to find a cheap beater. Well, I just made a deal on a 1994 Geo Prizm. Has 180k miles from the original owner. Since the Prizm is a twin to the Corolla, it's got a ton of life left in it. Got it for $400. It ain't too pretty, but it runs well. He also has maintenance records for it, so it's been pretty well cared for.

The car needs new axles up front, which I'll post a different thread on later (i.e. how hard is it for a novice to do?). But it also has some rust starting on the right dog leg. The bottom of the dog leg is eaten through. It hasn't eaten through the floor or lock pillar yet. I want to stop it before it does. I'm a complete novice at home repairs, but I want to try to tackle this myself.

I'm not looking to make it pretty again or anything like that...it's just a winter beater car. What would you suggest to halt the progress of the rust cheaply and something a novice can do?

Klayfish wrote: I'm not looking to make it pretty again or anything like that...it's just a winter beater car. What would you suggest to halt the progress of the rust cheaply and something a novice can do?

Go get the sub $50/gal roll on truck bedliner from Walmart. Won't be pretty or as good as LineX or RhinoLiner but on a $400 beater should be good enough. Jack the car up, clean the underside (steam cleaner works good here or else a scotchbrite pad and some water...

The only way to prevent rust is to move South.

Given the situation, here's what I think I would do:

Get a wire wheel on a drill (or sandblaster) to clean the rust.
Spray some of the "rust converter" type paint (walmart and others sell it...I used it before. Brand name was quot;Mar-Hyde" or something like that).
You could also substitute the above for POR 15 or the like.
Spray a rattlecan top coat over that (to prevent further moisture seeping in there and speeding up the rust propagation).

Clem

Cutoff wheel.

Oil it every fall. Steel needs moisture and air to rust: oiled steel can't. The right oil will definitely stay there for a full winter. It's somewhat messy, and you'll curse it when under the car as you work, but it WORKS.

njansenv wrote: Oil it every fall. Steel needs moisture and air to rust: oiled steel can't. The right oil will definitely stay there for a full winter. It's somewhat messy, and you'll curse it when under the car as you work, but it WORKS.

Yep... 'waxoil' ...the salvation and bain of many a LBC owner...

njansenv wrote: Oil it every fall. Steel needs moisture and air to rust: oiled steel can't. The right oil will definitely stay there for a full winter. It's somewhat messy, and you'll curse it when under the car as you work, but it WORKS.

It wouldn't come off when being driven through rain and snow with salt all over the roads?

I do have a drill at home, I can get a wire wheel and some Walmart supplies.

I've heard of a homebrew rustproofing concoction of (IIRC) one part each boiled linseed oil, WD40, and paraffin. BLO is a hardening oil which is pretty durable, the paraffin should provide some crevice-filling volume, and the WD40 acts as a carrier. Probably best out of a sprayer of some sort.

Never tried it myself, but it seems perfect for this sort of experiment.

njansenv wrote: Oil it every fall. Steel needs moisture and air to rust: oiled steel can't. The right oil will definitely stay there for a full winter. It's somewhat messy, and you'll curse it when under the car as you work, but it WORKS.

My dad always talks about how my grandfather would save all the used motor oil from their vehicles and every fall would use old brooms to "paint" all the wagons at the farm with oil. Ugly as sin, but no rust.

Course, grandpa didn't have a problem "airin' up" leaky tires either. As long as he didn't have to air 'em up more than once a day, they held enough air for farm duty.

Oil works great. After the oil pan seal blew on my truck, the splattered parts (still had a few hundred miles to go) were always pristine, even in snowy salty winters.

Just throw the car away after a year or two.

tuna55 wrote: Oil works great. After the oil pan seal blew on my truck, the splattered parts (still had a few hundred miles to go) were always pristine, even in snowy salty winters.

I found a really nice 71' chevelle in the Philly region for just that reason. Granted it was a $400 four door, but it didn't have anywhere near the rust it should have.

Save your used oil and apply judiciously to underside with sand blasting gun once a year. Seriously, my Old Man used to do this with all of our vehicles when I was a kid. SW PA and no rust ever. Sure made for one hell of a mess though. I'm pretty sure if the EPA had ever gotten hold of Dad (R.I.P.) he would have been shot on sight.