Cleaning out the inside of the Body Support Ribs?

[armybuck041]

Hi guys,

Well, after giving it some thought, i've decided to totally gut my MUTT and fix some rust, sand blast, and then repaint.

I'm plugging away at it now that its stripped down laying belly up. I started by cutting out a rusty portion of the Body Support Rib that runs perpendicular to the Frame. The one thats at the back of the Front Wheel Well. Anyway, after cutting the rusty portion out I discovered a ton of dirt,debris,rust scales inside the Channel. I stuck a Bore Light into the other Under Coating holes and saw similar crap in all of the other Ribs. There is no way i'll sleep at night knowing that all of that junk is in there. Spraying the voids out with a pressure washer or compressed air is not going to get it all out. The old mud is practically concrete now. I know it sounds pretty invasive, but would Hole Sawing some 1" holes and getting in there with a Vacuum make sense? I figured I could just patch up the holes after its sand blasted, or possibly use rubber plugs and keep the holes for spraying in Rust Inhibitor later on down the road.

Thoughts?

Scotty

[sarmadq]

Scotty,

Dont sandblast the tub and/or the body panels, the sheet metal weakened by rust will pit further & then it'll be tons of bondo filling work. Instead use some other media, soda to be the best with a wider nozzel.

[mrdibbles]

The only way I can think of, to get inside those ribs, would be to completely chemical dip the body.

[Ralph Fuller]

I had a 40 Chevy coupe chemically dipped in a huge tank, and they told me to clean off all the mud/dirt so it wouldn't get their tank dirty. The car came out looking like new aluminum...note: the aluminum data plate dissolved. They drilled a hole in the top so the car would sink into the solution.

[Cobra5]

I wouldn't drill into the frame rails because you'll do more harm than good by weakening the rails.

[armybuck041]

I ended up steam cleaning the underside and support ribs. Managed to get 95% of the offensive crap out. Then I wire brushed everything, Primed and then hit it with some Premium (Non Sticky and Paintable) Undercoating:



Once this thing is back on its wheels, i'll have "Crown" spray the inside of the Ribs and Frame and put the Ziebart plugs back in.

Thanks for talking me out of drilling more holes.

Scotty