Low Rust Taco - brush or not? paint or not? Fluid Film or not?

This is really not a Gen 1 question but there is not a general discussion for rust issues.
There are countless threads on rust but after reading them for 3 days I feel none were a good fit.
This thread is a great list of links to products and issues.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-prevention-treatment-consolidation-thread.355928/

Years ago, when living in Wisconsin (LOTS OF SALT), I had a "toyota pickup" and a "t100" that looked like sunken battleships. I recently acquired an 04 taco with low miles and almost no rust, by colorado standards. It took over 5 years to find one. The attached photos are really the BAD spots. The BODY pannels are perfect, frame and components... not so much. It has been garaged it's whole life and will not have that luxury now because my garage is full of projects. I plan to use fluidfilm on it because it seems to be the fav of many on this forum. If anyone wants to direct me in a different direction i am all ears.

The big question is do i wire brush off the rust before spraying fuidfilm? it is really superficial and I feel like it would only destroy what little manufacture coating is on there.

This truck has no grease and feels like it had no silicone like treatments that would reduce ability to paint. Should I paint? I fear any paint like substances would just lead to pustules of ferric nastiness. But I will never be able to paint AFTER fluid film is used, right?
It is really arid here in CO, things dry fast. I fear painting over rust would increase moisture more than it would decrease oxygen availability. Maybe i am way off.

 

Welcome to TW, I don't have the answer to your specific question. I personally would take the time to wire wheel and paint the frame and then fluid film that. But we are going into winter and it will be pretty hard for you to find somewhere warm enough to paint. Good luck, and nice Taco!

 

There doesn't appear to be any factory coating on there that I can see. I would wire brush the rust spots to get any loose stuff off.
No need to get crazy on the wire brushing. Then spray just the rust areas with Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer. After that Buy a Quart of Rust-O
leum Paint and mix it with 3 or 4 parts Mineral Spirits. That will make a very watery mix that will seep into every crack and joint. Throw
that mixture in to a garden sprayer that has a long flexible wand. I just sprayed everything under the truck and stuck the wand into the
frame and sprayed that. Have a brush handy to catch drips. There will be a lot of them. Have a lot cardboard or paper under truck to catch excess paint or just do it outside on gravel.
I like this method, easy to touch up any spots you missed the following year. The best part is its pretty cheap to do. Its worked real well on my truck.

 

Thanks for the suggestions Sin and Seedytech7. I am rethinking my plans to match your advice. And I renamed the title to solicit more.

I am leaning towards this idea because it sounds fast enough for a late fall day, garden sprayers would be better in holes, and I think i am just going to miss the important parts if i brush on Chassis Saver. I have local sources for of rust reformer and the non spray bottles of rust reformer. It is water based per the tech sheet. So if i want to do the garden sprayer trick should i still use mineral spirits?

 

Is rustolium rust reformer better than Chassis Saver?

 

I really like chassis saver. I have used it on a utility trailer and my Samurai. Just don't get it on your skin, you will wear it for quite a while. I also like their Monsta Liner, very tough stuff.

 

Thanks, patrick70 and dnlink for chiming in.

So i suppose you recommend i not get it on the exterior body paint then too.... (hehehehe) Seriously i am worried about that and that was why i was just going to do fluid-film. that and the fact that it is winter. But if paint is for sure the best plan i will find tarps and heaters.

If i want to spray Chassis Saver i have to thin it, but i hear it is a rather unusual paint (something like it cures with moisture not evaporation or something), so what is the best thinner to use? (edit: I found this YouTube vid explaining Chassis Saver thinning for spray)

 

Thought I'd jump in here since this is something that we've been doing w/the chassis of a 2002...
Here's what we've done....

*Step One: Used wire brush (by hand, on drill, on grinder) to hit all the rust areas. We took just about everything off of this truck so we could easily reach the chassis.

*Step Two: Used Rustoleum Rust Disolver or Krud Kutter (they seem to be the same product) to dissolve and convert rust.

*Step Three: Used Eastwood Internal Frame Coating on all boxed in areas that were tough to get into with the wire brush... (The product states "converts, encapsulates and seals rust on internal frame surfaces - Phenolic Resin with Zinc additive eliminates future corrosion)

*Step Four: We're using a product called LPS Procyon Corrosion Inhibitor this winter, prior to painting the chassis in the spring, when we can get it on a rotisserie. It's used in the aircraft industry... (a bit pricey but resists corrosives & specifically *salt very well).... I believe they make a paint product as well that's permanent, but it was brown (from what I recall)...

**Have a friend who swears by this product "Heavy Duty Metal Protector" made by Amsoil....

 

Thanks JavaZombie

That LPS Prycyon stuff looks great but anything aviation is too expensive.

I heard MPHD is far better than the older MPMP. I found a comparison of numerous antirust sprays here, including those and fluidfilm.

Rustoleum Rust Disolver or Krud Kutter is just phosphoric acid, right? or so i assumed. The former advises it not touch paint and with paint and electronics and rubber everywhere i can't use it, but if you had a bare frame i would defiantly use phosphoric acid or some other rust remover.

 

Has anyone used this?

 

You definitly don't want to get Chassis saver ANY place you don't want it, VERY Permanente! I have never sprayed it only brushed it. It's is very thin right out of the can. The Monsta Liner is thick, I Know it has to be thinned if sprayed. http://www.magnetpaints.com/ here is their website.

 

There is a black paint or something, thin but there.

 

I just doubt i can paint Chassis Saver or anything with the short days and cold night. I doubt i could tape off the moving parts, wires cables, etc.

Does Fluidfilm make paint not stick if i fluid film now and paint in May?

Finally warm enough to wash it. I removed the original photos and put up better ones above.

 

good to know thanks

yeah, i know. i will do it right but with highs in the 40s and soon highs <34 painting is unlikely.

 

Yeah. i think this is the best plan, after reading this and other treads here and on other sites I will need a solid week in summer on jack stands to do a proper painting. I will wire brush and rattle can (and use Sin's garden sprayer in the frame). I will give her a shower any day above freezing this winter (rare). In the spring I will do a real prep and solid paint job with Chassis Saver or something comparable. THEN do FluidFilm every spring and fall.

 

Wire brush and Rattle can will be a waste of time. Spray can paint goes on way to thin to protect anything. It will be just as rusty next spring. You need to spray with rust converter then cover it up with something heavier.
There's nothing under your vehicle that you can't paint. Just spray everything that's rusty. If your going to use a garden sprayer a few good places to spray besides inside the frame are... Top of the fuel tank, you cant see what your doing when you spray but salt and moisture will sit up there and rust out the tank. Behind the cab at the bottom there is a plastic plug, pull those out and stick wand in there and give it a squirt. Open up the door and shoot it into the fender. These trucks like to rust right at the top of the wheel well. You can also do the same with the rear fender. Be ready to clean up any paint that comes squirting out!
Whatever you end up doing will help a lot. Your truck looks to be in good shape just like mine was when I got it. Just a lot of surface rust.
Its not a paint and forget thing, You'll want to crawl under there and every year and touch up any areas you find.
A good investment is a power sprayer. You don't want any mud or dirt full of salt and moisture to sit anywhere on you vehicle.

 

I am doing exactly what you said above, Sin:

I think rust reformer is not what it used to be. I first found rattlecans of it that clearly were paint (like) started the project, then found old liquid bottles of it that were clearly not a paint. Not sure what you advised but i gave the former a go on large sections of the frame. What line of rustolium PAINT do you recommend. Any? they have so many. I am still going to chassis saver it next year...just not likely this winter/fall.

I will use a thermal logger to see how warm i can keep the truck with my little heaters. That will determine if i can paint properly. But i will likely wait until spring.

I have a nice compressor and was looking for a pressurized can style sprayer so i can get in corners without the hopper. BUT i could not find one with long nozzels needed to get into frame holes. (locally and internet)

 

The spray rust reformer in a can should be gone over a day later with with regular rust-oleum in a can. Thats what I did. Just mixed it in the garden sprayer with mineral spirits. I believe I used around a half a quart paint with 2 quarts mineral spirits. Makes a very watery mix. It will go on very thinly and dry fast. It should seep into every thing. I'll post a couple of pics of my frame so you can see what it looks like. My truck has almost 20 Minnesota and Wisconsin winters. The frame did have a coating of thin black paint when I purchased the truck 4 years ago. Most of which was gone just like yours. I don't know if that's the way they came or if it was dealer installed or owner installed. It did manage to keep the frame in great shape.

 

NOTE: On all the other parts (everything other than the chassis), we did essentially the same as the chassis;remove the rust, convert....Thereafter we used Eastwoods product "Rust Encapsulater"... Over the top of that encapsulater we used Eastwood's "Chassis Black"....

On some of the pieces, such as the fuel tank guard, there are also 2 top coats of Rustoleum Professional Rubberized Undercoating...
I think the "key" is to remove, convert (for that which you can't necessarily see) and encapsulate for best measure... Eastwood states that you can use their Encapsulater over top of rust, but removing the rust and using the conversion and encapsulating measures prior to any other top dressing makes me feel better...

 

Sorry, what are mineral spirits and where would I purchase this product?
And so you mixed this with regular rust paint? Sorry, just not familiar with any of these products and a really dumbed down version would be great appreciated.

FYI: my frame appears to have the orginal black paint on the frame with virtually no rust anywhere. Not sure how it look so good. (will post pics). But anyways, yeah, I wanna keep it looking this way! cheers.
Mike