Hello everyone,

I just removed my heater box for cleaning and repainting. When removing the battery, I noticed some rust corrosion under battery. A few holes all the way through. beside painting with an anti rust paint. How can i repait it?

I was thinking about cutting a piece of sheet metal, and bending it up along the sides and screw it into a side wall, then prime and paint the entire area? ANY SUGGESTIONS


ALSO- One more thing, when i encounter areas of alot of surface rust inside or underneath , is is sufficient to sand as best i can and then use one of those paints that are made to go over rust, then after that prime and paint my preferred color.

I want the engine compartment to look nice, but don't have the tools or knowhow, to lift engine out and fully restore the entire engine compartment.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated

PO on my car fixed it with a piece of cut sheet metal and it works. But they didn't try to take care of the rust underneath.

before


Under the sheet metal.


Clean up and paint


I don't have a good pic of it but I painted the sheet metal and put it back on. I'm just trying to "stop the bleeding" and I know I'm going to have to dig back into it later to fix it correctly. But it's stable and looks a lot better. Also I am not trying to do a full restore either. So that just depends on what you want personally. I just brushed it on since I'm not looking to make it all shiny or anything. Regular semigloss rust-oleum. A few different types of wire wheels on a cordless drill helps a lot.





I've got to pull the engine soon to replace the clutch, and I'll try to spend some time clean up the under side and painting for nothing other then rust issues.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-08-21 09:50 AM by Astrostrat89.

Weld or epoxy it in place. Screws will work loose and are a poor way to repairing body panels. There is plenty of information about rust paints in the library or by using the search features.

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Regards,
Robert Kirk

kirkbrit@yahoo.com
E-mail PLEASE for quote/questions/orders

Business phone 563 323 1017

http://kirks-auto.com/
Moss distributor/UK importer
Beat or match most retail/delivered quote

I wire wheeled and grinded almost all of the rust away.
Coated it with NAPA rust encapsolator spray and then fiberglassed it.
Painted it with satin black...So far no issues at all.

I cut out the worst rust cancer, and then treated the remaining metal with phosphoric acid (naval jelly) to neutralize the remaining rust. I then coated it with rust neutralizing primer. I fabricated a replacement panel from stainless steel, which I attached with steel (not aluminum) rivets. The whole area was then primed. The last pic shows the engine bay after priming and painting.

-Wayne

Looks good Jeffery and Wayne. Joe what you said will work just use steel pop-rivits, like Robert said the screws will work loose. I took the whole shelf top out of my 71 and cut and welded a shelf back in. On my 73 I just removed the damaged metal out (under the battery) and rivited a piece back in. Some purest will take the whole shelf and heater ducts out and weld all new back in. But after all, what does it do? Holds the battery.

Hi, Joe. I sent you a PM.
Charlie

depending on level of fix, you can replace the entire shelf with a replacement, moss or vb should have one, or at least they used to

I am with Kyle on this, while the above patches are very workable, and will be hardly noticeable once the car is all put back together, if you are doing body work anyway, it is very nice to simply replace the entire assembly. BMH manufactures them, and so they are available through all of the usual sources. I bought mine from a UK supplier for less than $75 and it made the whole area like new. The assembly includes the ducting underneath, new threaded areas for the clutch line clamps and heater box screws, and eliminates the bent up mess caused by many clumsy engine out jobs (DPO).

Just make sure that you get the right one for your year (the size of the heater hole, and whether there is a starter relay bracket or not (early version)).


Norm

2x Norm
If you can repair the battery box that would be a huge time savings in time, work, of coarse expense. In my case I had no alternative but to replace mine. If you have to replace the box, being able to get to the spot welds on the bottom will be back braking if you don’t have a rotisserie to provide accessibility to the area and the ability to rework the metal back into shape after the old box is cut out. Photo is after work was done prier to car being glass beaded.

After you have the battery shelf treated to your satisfaction. Get a marine battery box to set your batter in. It will make everything around your battery last much longer.

Another solution for any midget TC to Leyland, is a glass mat battery. I believe Norm opted for that and it's what I use in all my Midgets and Sprites.

---

Regards,
Robert Kirk

kirkbrit@yahoo.com
E-mail PLEASE for quote/questions/orders

Business phone 563 323 1017

http://kirks-auto.com/
Moss distributor/UK importer
Beat or match most retail/delivered quote

Yep, battery tray corrosion is so 20th century. Get a glass mat battery and laugh at sulphuric acid and its corrosive fumes!

Norm

I'm going to suggest using the bonding materials (along with Robert) that are commonly available from any body shop over screws or rivets. The fix is permanent and won't give. Also, do us a glass mat battery.

My body shop buddies, 3 brothers, invited me to sit in on a demo of the epoxy. The physically smoke when put together and can hold the hood scoop on a Pro Street dragster. By some measures, stronger than a weld. Pretty impressive. I stayed awake thru the entire class period and got a certificate to prove it....

---

Regards,
Robert Kirk

kirkbrit@yahoo.com
E-mail PLEASE for quote/questions/orders

Business phone 563 323 1017

http://kirks-auto.com/
Moss distributor/UK importer
Beat or match most retail/delivered quote