A buddy of mine was telling me how he rustproofs his beater vehicles. First he takes the vehicle to a car wash and hoses down the underside as best he can to get loose dirt off. Takes the vehicle home and puts it up on the ramps. Then hoses it down with a cheapo paint spray gun using a mixture of Diesel fuel or fuel oil, a little bit of tar mixed into the diesel and drain oil, keeping it just thin enuf so it will spray. When hes done spraying and while everything is still wet he takes a fast drive down a dusty dirt road and voila, rust proofing good for a year or so. A little messy but cheap and fairly effective.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), April 22, 2000

Answers

And if the rust has gotten away from you and your vehicle fills up with exhaust fumes, get some cans of sprayable expanding insulating foam like Great Stuff. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 23, 2000.

Gerbil: I love Great Stuff! I used to have an old truck that would sprout wings once you hit about 45mph. The front fenders would go into the horizontal mode. I never did accomplish lift-off though. To fix it I got a can of great stuff, applied the great stuff between the inner fender and the outer, braced it up securely till the great stuff set up and it worked great as a fender glue.

And speaking of great stuff, if you get this stuff on your hands it WILL NOT wash off but it will eventually wear off. One day I was working with Great Stuff in my shop on a beater and I got some on the floor and accidentally stepped on it. That nite when I took my boots off I noticed this "patch" glued to my sole. On closer inspection I discovered it was great stuff with sand and grit imbedded in it. It just so happened these were my favorite work boots and the soles were getting thin so I experimented. I laid down a sole sized dollup of great stuff, stepped into some sand and repeated the process several times, building the soles up. Worked wonderful. Got another three years of service out of the boots just by renewing the great stuff when things got thin again.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), April 23, 2000.

New boot soles? Something to keep in mind. My husband wanted to add his favorite rust-proofing method, just don't fix the leaky oil pan. His old beater has a "like new" bottom, although admittedly covered with oil. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 23, 2000.

He also wants to add that it took him 7 cans to seal up one car. 1. He should have loosened the oil pan. 2. I've got to show him how to use the computer. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 23, 2000.