I have mentioned this car in the past regarding the typical rust problems that all of these cars suffered. Examples, around windshield, tee tops, gas cap, wheel wells, tail lights, hood front flange and hatch rear flange and don't forget the mirrors. I have discussed epoxy, POR 15 and also using West System or System Three epoxy. Now to update. I am using the West System and found out a lot on it from West. They use it on large steel ships to stop (not prevent) steel from rusting. Found several yards local to me that do the same. Of course they act like you are stupid for not knowing this but I explain I want to use it on a car at that moment. They tell me etching and even epoxy primers will not hold up as well as West or System Three. So, I did the test. I took a disintegrating front hood flange and repaired it. Brushed first with a foam brush and West. Then just primer, one coat. This was a year ago. Sat it in the East Carolina sunshine and rain. I then took a totally rusted out rear tail light panel and restored it with West. Knocked off blisters and loose rust first. Two coats on all of the steel. The steel turned black. This because it is now sealed in. Continued with filler which was easy to use and sand. Rebuilt the complete flange around the rear of both tail lights. Afterwards, primer. Now,the test from a year ago has no rust anywhere on the flange repair while the rest of the hood is still going away. I cut a piece away to see what was going on. The steel underside is still black like it was. The key here is UV protection. I mentioned in an earlier posting that I used this to repair a boat engine steel from. It has been stable for 12 years with no blisters or signs of rust. There is not UV in the engine room. So, even with one coat of primer on the z, the painted over steel is still rusting and the epoxy side is still like it was, no rust. No, I don't work for West but I did stay at a Holiday Express last year. I did this test to make sure that epoxy would work on thin sheet metal. The filler doesn't leave the metal like bondo which is what I wanted to make sure of. I have done 3 z cars and two Jaguars, so rust is my life....especially if you have a Jag. The rear of the z car which was a total rebuild with filler, well, no panel replacement I found, looks sharp. I want to pour this stuff, you can as thick as you want, into the flanges of the hatch and hood as well as the side body panels and door. This stuff will flow into the cracks and seal off the flanges from moisture and air. So, if you want to kill rust this method works. As a filler, you cannot scrape or remove it from the steel. Grind or sand is the only method. Will keep you posted. I wish I could post pics here but I would have to do a link.

I've done a fair amount of epoxy and fiberglass work over the years on boats, surfboards, etc. But not a lot on cars. And what I did do was awkward and in one case, did not hold up. That was repairing a holey driver's floorboard with epoxy and 'glass. I did take it down to bare metal, but the whole shebang started coming up after a year. Which I attributed to the differing expansion of steel vs.epoxy/glass laminates. Epoxy as 'filler' (in place of bondo) is hard to fair because it's so hard, and also tends to crack and/or separate after a few years.

Just my experience. Modern resins may be better nowadays. I think for a quick fix, epoxy is okay. For proper rust repair, I still think there's no substitute for panel replacemnt. For coating bare metal (such as inside quarter panels), epoxy might work okay, but it would be incredibly messy, time consuming and expensive, at least if you're sticking to the WEST products.

i like your story and will go and check this stuff out
my z doesn't have to much rust but the rust it does have is in hard to work on places
also i guess i must go back and read more of your posts - they sound interesting

a friend once said "you get rid of moisture or light or oxygen, just one of the 3 you basically stop decay"
sounds like West System does this

Hey, as mentioned, the test started onboard an old boat in the way of sealing off steel engine supports that were rust damaged. The problem with cars is always getting to the rust and getting replacement parts. I could get the quarter panels but what about the hatch or rear panel? I check with yards and what they have has the same problems as mine. What luv-n-da-zxt says about stopping the rust is true. The boat yard I spoke with mentioned that oxygen to the steel and moisture cannot get to the steel. The West System also flexes with the steel. I think what was interresting was the 90 foot steel yacht they were doing was costing the owner quite a chunk of change to coat it. They UV block it and paint with a Urethane. They warrant work for 10 years. So it will stay with the steel expansion and contraction. JR, what kind of epoxy did you use?

Hit the return key once in while. It is like por15 for writing.

---

82 zxt 5-spd, oil cooler!
96 240sxes
78/81 jeep j-20

Except that por15 blows.

I have seen posting on POR15 in the past but not heard of any problems. What is your expience with it been?