Rear end restore

[BoostedEvIL]

Hey guys,
The previous owner of my car thought it would be a good idea to spray paint over the considerable amount of rust on my rear end and the rest of the frame. It looks like crap. So I got a cheap angle grinder and stripper wheel to start clean it up. I'm already 1/4 done with the rear.
Question
1. Is it a bad idea to strip the paint/rust with a grinder. If not would a wire wheel attachment be faster?
2. What paint should I use when done? I want something that will go on easy,(since I will be laying on my back) last awhile and of course protect from future rust.

Any other tips or cheap products for eating away at frame rust are also appreciated.

And Body is still on frame.:biggrin:

 

[turbojay]

Subscribed.

 

[urhstry]

Probably be just as easy to take the rear out, sandblast it, paint it with POR-15 or powdercoat it, grease all the joints, change the oil, and put it back in. Wire wheel on the frame would be my choice. Once you do all this, you'll never have to do much to it again. You then have the option of boxing in your lower control arms. Good luck!

 

[turbofish38]

I'm a firm believer in chemical metal stripping. Tear down your rear to a bare housing and have it dipped. I did this to an equally crusty rear axle out of my old 72 Skylark DD. There are some pics of it in this thread. Click on the GNTTYPE.org link to see my pics. http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/brakes-suspensions-tires-wheels/292647-10-bolt-8-5-a.html . Somewhere I have a pic of it before I painted it just to show how clean it was. Lets put it this way. I started out with something that had so much rust scale on it I knew that it would look like it was painted with Krinkle Black paint if I took the wire wheel to it. When it came out of the tank there was very little evidence that it was 25 year old part(at the time). It was so clean that you could see burn marks where the seam on the axle tubes had been welded. I've also had suspension parts and fuel tanks dipped and it's just amazing how these look new after the process. Oh and it doesn't eat away any plastic or rubber so you can leave the bushings in it instead of replacing them.

 

[BoostedEvIL]

Thanks guys,
How much work am I looking at removing the rear end. Remove sway bar, brake lines, and control arms? Is that it?
It would be a lot easier to clean and paint off the car.

 

[Yankee John]

I put the correct rear axle back in my car this spring- I bought the car with a 7.5" axle out of a Monty SS

I changed out the rear control arms with UMI tubular stuff at the same time. Before I did the changeover, I had the axle sandblasted for $75. A friend then painted the axle with some leftover black catalyzed enamel for nothing .

My point is- Definately have it sandblasted. Especially if your going to take it out of the car for other work.

JMO- Your mileage may vary

John

 

[rmar]

I am biased, rip it out blast it,pretreat, powder coat....

Grind frame POR-15

 

[BoostedEvIL]

I am biased, rip it out blast it,pretreat, powder coat....

Grind frame POR-15

What do you mean pretreat?

 

[urhstry]

Taking the rear out is not a problem at all and isn't very time consuming. Crawl underneath there and check it out.