how do you guys get rid of it! electrolysis might be difficult since i don't have a chassis sized tank!

how bad is it? Id just ensure it was sealed and put some oil inside, and leave it. Chassis tubes are thick enough to take a bit of rust IMHO.

hmm ok, will it no longer rust if i seal it?

It'll oxidise a bot, but as long as you keep it clean from road salts etc, it will last.

Rust inside tubes is the sort of unecessary thought that you can't prevent and will just lose sleep thinking about!

Plus, I've just noticed you're in LA, which has got to be considerably less damp than England on average!

[Edited on 23/4/07 by StevieB]

Every hole that I could I sprayed waxoyl down using the aerosol cans with the small tube.
Evertime I drilled a hole for a bolt or screw or rivet it got blasted.
Should have seen the mess the first few times out when the exhaust warmed the side rails up it dripped all over!!!

yes not very damp here at all. and isnt a locost supposed something to lose sleep over!

No thats just women!!!!!!!!

What about filling all the tubes with expanding foam?

Foam will hold water.

Waxoyl is the best way. Tedious, messy, but brilliant stuff, especially as it has rust inhibitors in it as well. Well worth the effort and mess. Cut it with 10% white spirit, as it helps it to flow better.

Warm it first as well. is put the tin in a bucket of hot water. DO NOT use a Naked Flame. Its well inflamable!.
(dont heat the aerosol cans too much as they are already pressurised)
Ask any Land Rover enthusiast

Dinitrol is also pretty good.

Are galvanised tubes available?

Probably but welding galvanised gives of some noxious gases and so not advised.
Maybe a better option is to have the chassis galvanised after construction.

Waxoil is good stuff, inject it into every steel cavity, have some old sheets available to place under your car and try to avoid driving it for a few days.

welding galv: grind the zinc layer off first at the points your going to weld it. Probably best to weld outside if doing this.(Apparently milk is cure for poisening yourself with the noxious fumes)

welding galv steel give off zinc fumes, very bad for you and anyway it weighs more so against what you want on a locost. the waxol idea is a good one and and as long as all your welds are good and there are no holes in the steel it wont rot for a long long time

What about fitting a couple of plugs at key locations and filling the frame up with CO2 before capping it off again? The CO2 would take the place of any oxygen in the chassis. I suppose getting this right would be tricky though.

What about one of those oxygen eating packets? Toss a couple of those in before welding caps on the end of the tubes. It'd protect the insides quite well.

(until the tubes developed a hole from the outside that is)

Speaking of all this, how would one determine if a frame did have a hole in it? I suppose you could tap a plumbing fitting in somewhere and pressurize it...

Sorry, you got the wheels turning.