Zero Rust Restoration

[3ontree]

For this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I will be taking on a project to restore the bed of my 1972 c10 long bed pickup. I will describe the procedure i use, as well as the materials i use (for the more important materials, i will include links to the brand website). All of this will be completed with pics! This should be a good project and i will give you all updates of how the product is holding up after the project is finished.

Materials:

1. Orbital sander with Diablo 100 and 220 grit Sanding Disks

2. Drill with AvantiPro- Quick-Strip Disk and 3'' Cut-Off Blade Mandrel, Vermont Ameriva- Grinding Point, and Diablo- Metal Cut-Off grinding wheel

3. 1 lb 12 oz Bondo Body Filler
http://bondo.com/featured/bondo-body-filler-260.html

4. 1 Qt Ospho
http://www.ospho.com/

5. 1 Qt Marine Clean
http://www.por15.com/MARINE-CLEAN/productinfo/MCG/

6. 12 oz Prep Step Powder
http://raybuck.com/i-66993-12-oz-prep-step-powder.html

7. 1 Qt Black Zero Rust
http://raybuck.com/i-66984-zero-rust...art-black.html

8. 1 can Crystal Coat


Here are some pics of the truck now

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[3ontree]

[3ontree]

The links above for the pics did not work, i am now redoing them

[3ontree]

[3ontree]

[3ontree]

[Xeen]

I have a tip for cleaning and resurfacing metal.
Polycarbide disks are outstanding at removing any and all contaminates from metal on contact, it will not remove metal and most of the time you don't even need to apply pressure just the weight of the grinder is enough, only on heavy scale rust do you need to apply any pressure.
Go down to Harborfreight and buy five of the 4.5" polycarbide disks and use them on a side angle grinder, it should be enough to strip the entire bed, you will have $25 in it.
Here is a link http://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-h...eel-94017.html

[3ontree]

I was thinking about using a grinder, but i just didnt have the money to buy one. But, they definitely look like they would do a lot better than my dinky drill and a wire wheel

[Xeen]

Harborfreights Heavy Duty 4.5" angle grinder is good quality it will run forever and not overheat and it just happens to be on sale for $18.99 with the coupon online just print it out and go down there, it's probably in their newspaper coupon also.

[mcbassin]

Looks like a cool project and you have good plan. I have been all through the rust repair. I completely restored a cab. It's huge undertaking even if you have a bunch of tools. I'm gonna follow along....

[3ontree]

Thanks Xeen, i will look into it. But i unfortunately just coated the bed in zero rust . It's about time i post an update. I did prep step, puddy, and a single coat of zero rust today... all in 90 degree heat and high humidity . The ospho was sitting on the truck overnight and it left a salt film over the whole bed. After getting a closer look i also saw that it loosened up the paint. I sanded down these areas and power washed the bed to get this film and dust off. Then I prep stepped the whole thing. It went on easy with a sponge, but i didnt really notice a difference. This lack of a difference is most likely because i already used the marine clean and ospho. The reason i still included the prep step in this process is to get the metal and paint to the right pH. Since there is not a visual indicator for prep step working, i cannot tell you if it worked properly. Anyways, the next thing i did was puddy!!!! This was my favorite process, even though i am new to puddy. For the large rust holes, i put scuffed up aluminum flashing under the bed. This gave the puddy something to go onto instead of going through the bed. This bondo stuff hardened fast and was hard to sand!! But it got rock hard and recommend it. Now for the zero rust, the most important product of this experiment. Make sure you put this stuff on with a roller as it will leave bursh marks. Since zero rust is 54% solids, it feels like you are trying to paint with tar. WARNING: The zero rust website claimed that 1 Qt would be able to do more than two coats over the whole bed. IT WILL NOT, i barely got one coat on the bed with some small spots missed. This stuff is stuck when when it gets on, i have some on my skin, it will probably take a month to get off. Unfortunately i wont be able to give an update in a while, i need to get the funds for another Qt of zero rust. I will upload some pics later!

[3ontree]

Time for some pics of the post power wash, post puddy, and post prep step! Sorry i forgot to take some pics before the power wash and prep step. But there was really no difference after the prep step. The power wash just got a small salt white film off of some parts.

[3ontree]

Now for some pics of the bed with one coat of zero rust!!

[3ontree]

Just remember that this isn't finished yet. I need to put one more coat on and i need to put on the top coat (crystal coat).

[3ontree]

After a day of letting this stuff dry, im seeing those inconsistencies in color in the pics (like the gray and black) are there to stay . It would go away with a second coat i am sure. The reason those marks appeared was from me putting too much pressure on the roller trying to spread out my quart of zero rust as far as possible. If you got a long bed, just buy three quarts of zero rust. This way you can keep a consistent pressure on the roller and the hole bed will be dark black .

[litew8]

I used Zero Rust on my frame and some parts. I like