'55 Chevy Truck - Need Advice for Grill Surface Rust

I pulled the bumper, grill and under-apron off my old truck today as I'm trying to get her in summer shape as my weekend driver. Hood latch panel has been off awhile. Was gonna just install it til I saw all the surface rust.


Backside of chrome bumper (driver condition) is rusty, back of grill & apron too. First I was thinking of using my cheap old Sears siphon sandblaster, Naval jelly, or Ospho to remove this. BUT, I have a qt. of KBS (like POR-15) and I've read here to use it right over this level of rust? Opinions appeciated. Maybe wire brush it, then use the KBS?


Underside of Apron:

 

Throw it back together and don't worry about it. It will last forever as a fair weather driver.

 

Soak it in vinegar for a few days, take it out, rinse it, let it dry and paint it!

 

Nah, that ain't happening. Pings the hell outta my OCD just thinking about throwing it back together all rusty.

Straight white vinegar? Good to know. Vinegar has to be cheaper than a lot of Ospho!

 

Yep or you can do the molasses mix, use the search function and look up both to see results and usage! There's several threads on here about both! Keep us posted on the results!!


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Looks delicious by the way..

 

EvopORust works great. Local tractor supply has it. Piece must be soaked. May be fancy vinegar. I don't know, but it works great.

 

Took the day off to play with my truck! It's SO nice out today - 80 degrees forecasted.

Headed over to Home Cheapo for naval jelly, Ospho, & maybe some of that Rustoleum converter stuff. I'll do a mini comparo.

 

So here's what I started with on the backside of the bumper. Fairly nasty rust & some chrome bubbling off. That's Home Depot's Ospho. $14.95/gal.



I followed directions, diluted it 3:1 & sprayed it on. I kept it wet every 20-30 minutes - I wasn't seeing anything. I used a brush to put it on full strength on one side - again nothing much happening. After hours, a puddle had accumulated and that's the only place it did much. After 8 hours (yes, I know its supposed to stay on 24 hrs). But it would have dried unless I spent $100 worth to fill a kiddie pool with it! Plus, I'm an impatient person. So I washed it off, dried it & used a 3M wheel to clean off the rust that remained. It looked liked this:


You can kinda see an oval puddle in the middle of the photo with almost no rust. But otherwise the rust remains, though it is reduced.

Then I sprayed Rustoleum Reformer on it and I'm fairly pleased with that. Close up, it looks solid and relatively smooth:

 

Man, I musta pissed sombody off. Not a single look - oh well. Here's today's results:

Here's the backside of the grill after Rust Reformer dried 24 hrs and I sprayed it with Hammered Black. I'll spray the front with Rustoleum Chrome. If it looks cheesy I'll respray it off white. We'll see.


Here's the Apron, shot in Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer and immediately after in Sage. Color isn't all that accurate. It's a little more mint than I'd like. Jury is out on the color.

 

lookin good there bro....keep up the good work...

 

Sweet!! Looks good! Just paint it white... Don't do that cheapie can o'chrome!!!


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Too late.

Ok, so here is the grille after chrome paint. It's kinda....meh....
It has a couple small runs so I'm going to have to sand/repaint tomorrow.
Jury is out on whether I like it enough to leave it.

I suppose for a weekend driver it looks ok.

 

i just read your thread, great job keep it up. to tell you the truth i thought i was gonna hate the faux-chrome, but something about it .. meh its just intresting looking i guess

paint it white

 

I always hated the phony chrome then someone showed me their results with Rustoleum "Brite" Aluminum. It looks pretty darn good. Not real chrome but not phony like this.

I used this because I had some so I bought another can thinking, "Ah how different could it be?"

I'm gonna go exchange that new can for the Brite Aluminum and try again. If it still looks...meh....I'll downshift into a slight off white. Then I'll use the same off white on the band around the windows. Oughta contrast with the Sage green I'm using for awhile.

 

so did ya paint it? whats it look like?

 

Today I finally painted the backside of the front bumper with the Rustoleum Hammered in silver. It covers SO well and gets hard as hell. I'm honestly impressed with this paint. Compared to the Before picture above its a night and day difference:

 

Also, I just didn't like the mint look of the Rusto Sage color. It's a complete misnomer. In gloss it really looks great but in the satin its an entirely different color, not at all like the gloss.

Not sure how clear this photo will show it but I stopped mid re-paint to show the new color I chose, Rustoleum Oregano in satin vs. the other side in "Sage." I like it a lot. Almost an army type green.

 

Nice but wouldnt it b easier to sandblast?

 

That looks way better than I expected!!!!


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Looks way better than what you started with. Great Job!

 

Yeah,.....IF I had a sandblaster!

But honestly, the bumper isn't THAT good to be worth the cost of having someone do it. It's driver-condition chrome. Fine for now, someday when I get the truck where I want it mechanically AND cosmetically I'll have the bumper re-chromed. So DIY methods were indicated.

 

Thanks Bob! Almost ANYthing woul look better than what I started with but I'm trying to do a somewhat respectable job on a beer budget. Plus, it kinda pleases me to know I "did it myself"

 

Man it looks good to me. The do it yourself part is worth quite a bit. My 2 cents worth!

 

looks good, did you use that other chrome can you wanted to use?

 

Nah, didn't find it. BUT, I got a couple small runs in my job so I'm gonna give it a light re-sand and re-shoot it with either the Brite Aluminum, or the Duplicolor if I can find that.

 

Okay, so here is the AFTER shot of (mostly) everything reinstalled.


The front bumper & hood latch panel (whatever its called) go back on tomorrow and hopefully I'll paint that ugly hood.

I stopped in at The Truck Shop in Orange, CA today for new signals/lenses & headlight-to-fender gaskets. Of course I ended up buying a bunch of smaller stuff too. More on that to come.

 

lookes really good I had the same problem with my 63 unibody. Repainted the grill por 15 the back side of the bumper to seal it. It turned out awsome. keep up the good work also makes you feel good to see when you do your own work on your truck...

 

Thanks for the kind words.

One of the best things about owning old stuff is being able to say, "Yeah, I did that".

 

The grille looks very nice.

And be careful with mixing brands of paint, as in shooting one over the other. Try it on the back of the bumper or whatever in case there is a bad reaction between the 2.

Bob