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05-10-2019, 04:15 PM
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#1
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Central Connecticut
Posts: 37
Year: 1992
Coachwork: international
Chassis: Front engine
Engine: mechanical DT466
Rated Cap: 71+
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Painting the undercarriage to stop rust
Hey everyone,
We recently got our bus from Kentucky and there is some decent rust underneath. My plan is to pressure wash then grind the rest down. Once it is clean I plan on painting underneath with a rust converter or any other options. My question is: are there spots underneath the bus where I should NOT paint? I’m not mechanical so please let me know even if it seems obvious. Also if you have used any products that helped I would love to hear about them. Thanks
Ryan
Has anyone used the hot oil treatments as a final coat? I’m from CT and it’s salt city up here
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05-10-2019, 06:55 PM
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#2
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Ashtabula, Ohio
Posts: 1,494
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International
Engine: T444E 7.3L
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Best thing to do is remove as much as the loose rust as possible and then repair any metal that needs addressed. After that you can use a rust converter like frame saver, POR-15, etc. If you are wanting to stop the rust from coming back, you need to oil the undercarriage every year. A popular product is called Fluid Film. You can also use motor oil thinned with mineral spirits in a pump sprayer and liberally coat anything metal under the bus and avoid the exhaust, rubber suspension bushing, rubber brake lines, and any electrical modules or computers.
I have a bus with some rust, but it's not severe yet. I drove it in the salt last winter and before this coming winter, I need to do exactly what I posted above to keep it under control. Cars and trucks that live in the rust belt and are oiled yearly before they began to rot out come into my shop and are in great shape because of it.
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05-10-2019, 07:11 PM
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#3
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
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I'm trying to picture how you would get the underside of a bus clean enough for paint to stick to?
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05-10-2019, 08:58 PM
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#4
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,222
Year: 1999
Coachwork: BlueBird
Chassis: TC1000 HandyBus
Engine: 5.9L 24V-L6 Cummins ISB
Rated Cap: 26 foot
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Paint is one thing. I say it's OK (if you can get it to stick like Marc said).
Oil/oil-based stuff, well, it's nasty, but helps your vehicle.
Rubberized undercoating (very much like spray-on bed-liner for pickups) is another story. Avoid that stuff like the plague.
My sister had an old 1980s Toyota Tercel 4WD with that stuff for the snow in the N.Carolina Mnts when she was in collage. I went to install struts, put a jack under the frame rail, noting how nice the underbelly of the car was despite the salted roads, and then the jack crunched the frame as I tried to lift this very light car. The rubberized undercoating gets micro-punctured from rocks, etc, then starts to peel away from the metal but stays in one piece. Then water gets trapped between, and rusts out the metal faster.
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05-10-2019, 09:11 PM
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#5
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc
I'm trying to picture how you would get the underside of a bus clean enough for paint to stick to?
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I've done it. Lots of time and effort.
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05-10-2019, 09:28 PM
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#6
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Skoolie
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 216
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Saf-T-Liner MVP ER
Engine: CAT 3126
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Was it worth it?
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05-11-2019, 06:41 AM
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#7
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 253
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Rent a compressor with a sandblaster? Use very fine sand.
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07-20-2019, 12:22 PM
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#8
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Mini-Skoolie
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 24
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Ford
Chassis: E450 Super Duty
Engine: 7.3L Turbo Diesel
Rated Cap: Over 1 million bad ideas
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Exactly how much time and effort?
I'm trying to decide if it's worthwhile - I have a short-bus cutaway that has no metal sub-floor. The plywood above it is damaged enough that I'll probably replace it, so I'm assuming there'll be a stretch where the inside will be just a whole lot of open space.
I've got an angle grinder and flap disks/wire brush heads and that small HF media blasting cabinet which I could steal the gun from. I'm guessing it's messy AF - I've got a uptight HOA and can only push the RV storage unit owners so far
I wont really know how bad things are until I pull up the wood, it looks like it should get some kind of love from what I can see underneath...
__________________
https://flightofthealbatross.com/
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07-20-2019, 12:31 PM
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#9
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 1,349
Year: 1990
Coachwork: Thomas 4 window w/lift
Chassis: G30~Chevy cutaway
Engine: 5.7/350 Chevy Vortec
Rated Cap: Just me and my "stuff"?
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Unfortunately it looks rough.
If you don't have a place to do the tear down and renovation needed, put this one back on the market and find a better example with a metal floor and much less rust.
Anything can be fixed. You are the only one who can decide what is too much work, or not...
Good luck.
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07-20-2019, 03:46 PM
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#10
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Ashtabula, Ohio
Posts: 1,494
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International
Engine: T444E 7.3L
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Yearly undercarriage oiling like I posted above will stop that rust from getting much worse.
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