[flotson]

Hi folks,

Back again with some more newbie car owner questions. I have really appreciated all the advice, thank you!

What I'm wondering about now are best practices for treating and preventing rust. The two areas I'm looking at in particular are the hatch hinge, and some rust in the engine bay, particularly around the hood latch.
What are folks' recommendations for treating the existing rust? And for preventing rust in the future?
Pics attached. Thank you!

 

[Spdbump]

I treated my hinges with Permatex 81773 rust treatment. It converts the rust to a black coating. I used a bunch of foam swabs. My car being black you can't see where I treated.

Bought everything I needed on Amazon. Used a 3 ounce bathroom cup to work out of.

 

[akiraproject24]

Some of that hardware (nuts/bolts) Id hit with penetrating oil and replace it with new hardware, otherwise some it could be salvaged with a wire wheel and some rust converter. Depends how crazy you want to get and budget for.

I ordered new hatch hinges (still waiting for them) and plan to take it to a body shop and have that area corrosion controlled and then painted. Again rust converter and some elbow grease would also work.

They make soft brass and other types of wire wheels that can be put in a drill chuck or dremel and can knock alot of that corrosion off prior to treating with a rust converter.

On another car of mine I had some minor rusted bolts I just removed them and sanded off the rust and painted the tops.

Basically you put in time and effort OR you can throw money at it.

 

[Spdbump]

I removed the loose rust but you need rust present to use the converter. Not much elbow grease was needed. Mine were not super rusty and have not rusted more since I treated them. Being a wet area I am pleasantly surprised.
I too want to have that area painted.

 

[AC/DCRZ]

I know from experience of several Zs I've owned and others I've worked on that the amount of corrosion on the parts you've shown will mean that the underside will be just as bad or even worse,
if you are serious about preventing rust and want your Z to last as long as possible you need to give it a proper full on all over protection, you need to strip it down, bumpers off, arch liners out
side skirts etc, and get into every area you can, just tackling the bits that are readily visible isn't enough, you will be fighting a battle you can never win.

There are multitudes of articles on the net describing good products and how to use them, personally I use Bilt Hamber but there are many different makes and types
to choose from.

It's one of the very first things I tackle when I get another for the family, stripped to bits and as much as possible gets coated, in places like Scotland where salt grit is used
on the roads it is absolutely essential. Our cars will be among the only ones left when all the others that weren't undersealed have rotted away.