Just had my chassis steel delivered and it has been left out in the rain all morning.

As it may be sometime before I get to welding the chassis, what can I use quickly to prevent in from rusting. Someone mentioned WD40 in a previous thread, but someone else said it was a pain to get off. Any there any other suggestions from anyone?

Thanks,

RPS

[Edited on 11/12/03 by RPS]

What about the weld thru zinc primer that halfords have.
Get the brand and buy it elsewhere

Get it indoors, dried thoroughly and make sure that the air in the garage isn't too humid. My garage can approach 80% humidity if I've not been in it for a while but if I put my little 2kWatt fan blower on for an hour or two the humidity drops to 30-40% at which point rust won't form hardly at all on dry steel.

As for longer term rust prevention, the steel may already have a protective oil on it but if not then a wipe down with an oil-soaked rag would protect it better than WD40. Just wipe it on and wipe it back off. I used light machine oil for this as it is a bit thicker than WD40 and doesn't stink so much when you get it on your hands... The oil should cover the steel completely but should not be dripping off it. It should be virtually dry to the touch too.

As for cleaning it off before painting, I would hope that you will be degreasing thoroughly anyway with cellulose thinners or something and keying the metal with either sandpaper or a bead blaster.

Cheers,
Craig.

Hi,
I got the weld through primer from Halfords but I didn't have much joy with it. You can weld through it but it contaminates the weld and doesn't look very nice. I'd stick with the general advice that a weld site should be as clean and free from contaminants as possible.

Also, while I'd recommend painting an actual chassis as soon as possible, I wouldn't paint the chassis steel yet as you will just get it in a mess while handling it and will have to clean the weld sites each time. Also, uncovered primer tends to absorb moisture which could ultimately be self-defeating and you would most likely have to rub the chassis back to bare steel before painting it for real later due to oil/dirt/water contamination of the primer. Easier to degrease the oil protection that rub off all the old primer in my opinion.

Cheers,
Craig.

personally, i just dry it with my oily gloves, which seems to do the trick. I never use a heater in the garage but it is fairly well built and dry. Tubes lent up in the corner seem to survive fine, stuff laid down by the door doesnt. I reckon that by the time you have finished there is bound to be some surface rust sort out, so drying and oiling it is, IMO, sufficient.

likewise, whilst weld thru primer is undoubtedly clever stuff, i wouldnt want to have it mixed into structural welds. i always had the impression it was just to help putting brackets on later.

anyway, good luck...

You may find it's already got a horrible sticky black oily coating on it - the original storage protection.

David

Thanks for that, have'nt seen it yet, the wife rang to say that a damn great lorry appeared and dumped it in the yard (in spite of my request for them to confirm delivery!

I think I will have to get my sons out with me in the shed tonight with a hairdryer and an oily rag! I may look at the special primer later on.

Thanks for the help.

RPS,

As David says, it's probably got the original oil on it, so don't wear anything too smart to move it!

Wipe a finger over it, if it comes up black, you should be ok.

ATB

Simon