Rusty Tail Gate

1456 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by TOYMAN321, Dec 4, 2003

ZZT231

Discussion Starter · Nov 27, 2003

Hey All,

I just saw the corners of my Tailgate after a wash and there is a rust patch bubbling on the right hand side of the bottom of the window seal :shock: ... but to no suprise, it's common... What should I do? Should I just cut it out and bog it?, weld a new plate or is there a way to fibreglass the whole bottom seal or something to that extreme to prevent rust from forming in the tailgate?

Cheers...

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pdupler

· #2 · Nov 27, 2003

I just removed the glass on an 84 to prepare for paint. While there was no rust apparent beyond the gasket when I started, there was some rust underneath the gasket. The reason rust gets started in there is that water gets under the seal and finds its way in between the inner and outer metal plates that form the hatch where the metal is not protected. The panels are just sandwiched together around the window and tack welded every few inches. If the metal is entirely gone under the seal in spots where its rusted, you'll need to cut and weld in new patches of good metal. I wouldn't do fiberglass here because I'd be afraid it would crack while putting the glass back in. However, you need to prevent the rust from coming back in other spots as its all in between the sandwiched plates along the entire bottom of the glass. I treated this 84's hatch with liberal doses of Ospho (phosporic acid) injected between the sandwich plates with a syringe to kill the rust. Next, I ran a bead of JB Weld epoxy all along the sandwich edge to seal it so water can never get in between them again. Lastly, when I put the glass back in after painting, I'll make sure its sealed well with some caulking in addition to the gasket. Next time the glass has to come out, the gasket will have to be cut, but it damn sure won't have any more rust.

Phil D.

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ZZT231

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 27, 2003

THanks for the tip... I'll pass the idea to my panel beater!

Cheers.

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TOYMAN321

· #4 · Dec 3, 2003

I had the same problem, when I pulled the gate apart the rust had spread across the entire panal. Wrather than doing the body work I picked up a new gate at a yard for $75 (i think) and had it painted to match my car... of course you if you found one the right color you wouldnt even have to do that. When getting a gate from a yard though you need to inspect it VERY carefully, rust likes to hide on those gates!

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ZZT231

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 4, 2003

I wish I could, but since it is Australia, tailgates are hard to come by... :shock:

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TOYMAN321

· #6 · Dec 4, 2003

Well... I had researched this before I discovered how bad my rust was... and this is what I was planning on doing.

I was going to cut out all the rust spots and weld in plating, gring them down and then coat the area with a rust inhibitor Por-15 is what I have heard works well. Then paint... etc etc you know the routine, there are some very detailed writeups about this whole process.

The window seals on our cars is a weak spot, when reinstalling the window use silicone sealant to prevent the problem from happening again as the original seals are just vaccume seals which tend to go over time.

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