Chassis Rust/Maintenance

[M J H]

Okay now 2 months into ownership of 4.3 Griffith K reg. ie 9 plus yrs old (37K and mechanically/ body in good condition )and I,ve decided to take a proper look underneath. Everything is reasonably ok down the main structure , but the outriggers and tubes to the middle are showing their age, ie little evidence of the original coating, just a rather depressing coat of rust.

Question, the outriggers are snugly covered by the underside of the car, and at best access to only 50% of the tubes ie bottom half, can't see any way of giving them proper attention, any thoughts.?

[Griffer]

My 92 400 was the same,dig out any debris/stones trapped between outrigger and sill, paint what you can see and waxoyl the rest,thats really the best you can do. On mine it appeared that the top of the tubes seemed ok, underside had been blasted by road spray but the rust was superficial and could be wire brushed off.I use a mixture of black and clear waxoyl depending if the area is visible or not,and use silver Hamerite to touch in the paint.Very messy but worthwhile,pay particular attention to the front wishbones, some reckon the early cars arent so bad in this area but they still rust heavily if you dont watch it.
Cheers,
Griffer

[trefor]

Hmm, sounds familiar.

After blasting around the countryside yesterday I decided that I would start work on this today. My car is pretty clean underneath in spite of being used in all weathers (1995, 45k miles). However, the front wishbones were flaking a bit and the outriggers along the side of the car were like you describe - not much paint left and a bit of surface corrosion.

It took 2-3 hours to 'clean off' one side, then 20 minutes x 2 coats of smooth hammerite. I used a combination of degreaser and wire brush/sandpaper on the parts that needed work. Looks great now. I'll save the other side for next weekend.

Enjoy.

T/.

[sipow]

I striped down most of my chassis on my S3 buy using a battrey drill with wire brush attacthments of all different shapes and sizes, saved me so much time.
Then gave 3 coats of hammerite then waxoyled.
Done the Biz,Sorted

Simon

PS on the awkward parts used wire brushes,screwdrivers,chisels,whatever i could to get the loose paint off and if i couldnt get in there with hammerite i justed waxoyled,which is good enought.
Halfords do a kit with an extension probe for them hard to get places


>> Edited by sipow on Sunday 17th February 21:13

[M J H]

Thanks for comments, now spent a couple of days under the car (getting to know each other , my wife thinks I now have a preference for the TVR on top, clearly not the case, but mind you the TVR does not answer back, but make the wrong move and you get a face full of rust ! )
Back to the problem, very pleased with my first attempts , amazing with a little thought how access can be gained to the most difficult areas. Once stones removed from outriggers, then emery cloth can be forced to clean all round. I,ve applied 3 coats of Hammerite and I believe conventional wisdom suggests a 6 week waiting time before Waxoyl applied. Yes, I,ve also seen and now purchased the Halfords kit.
Whilst underneath found lots of very small areas on chassis needing attention, so used Kurust initally , pending proper attention when time allows,overall looks like an ongoing battle though.