Bit of a lull in restoration today, threatening rain stopped play. So far I’ve got to the stage of treating the very little rust I’ve found on the NC’s rear end. It concerned me that I couldn’t see everything that was going on back there, bumper, exhaust back box and heat shield in the way. So me being me I had to strip it all away.
The areas needing treatment were around the outer edges of the boot floor and the lower edge of the boot rear wall under the car. The rear chassis legs were treated around 18 months ago but the exhaust hangers I’ve only just got around to treating. It’s all surface rust, not bad for a 13 year old car.
Be aware that the underside of the boot floor is hardly protected with paint let alone an underbody coating once the heat shield is removed. Maybe they thought about the heat generated from the back box, it’s going to get treated anyway.
The heat shield is riveted on BTW and I found that to be rusting too on the back side
Some pics…
How did you get the exhaust heat shield off Mick? And more to the point, how will you refix it in place?
The heat shield is fixed with 5 rivets. Drill out the centre of each rivet partially and I slipped a putty knife under the edge (they have a large diameter flat head) and whacked it with the hammer. They snap away easily, took all of 5 mins.
Considered using short domed head bolts/nuts or source new rivets of a similar size. I’ve got, I think a rivet gun somewhere hiding in the garage.
That’s a very thorough job there Mick well done for pulling it all down for the best access.
Barrie
It is worth painting the heatshield with the shiniest metallic-look XHT paint you can find, on both sides. The boot floor will be cooler and the underseal on it might last a bit longer.
More to come Barrie, having a lie down today after a 4 mile walk and cleaning up session today my bones ache.
Treated the rusty bits with Bilt Hamber, now just got to paint with epoxy mastic paint, horrible stinky stuff.
Wrestling with the reverse sensor wiring in the bumper didn’t help either. It meant I needed to remove the box of tricks it connects to which needed the boot lining removing. All extra work but hey we’ve got the extra time at home now, no driving for pleasure.
Stay safe Barrie, hope you are well.
Richardfx
I’ve got some heat resistant paint (brush on) in a bright silver. I bought it to freshen up the brake discs, you know how they rust.
Second coat applied of the 2 pack black epoxy mastic (horrible stuff) to the boot floor, not much paint on there originally, definitely no underseal. Thought I’d treat the outer edges of the body (under the bumper) although no rust problems there to sort. Just topped up the paint on the rear chassis legs which I treated around 18 months ago.
I’ll finish off with some old heat resistant black paint I’ve found in the garage, I used it around the inner wheel arches when I had the liners off last.
Just waiting for paint to dry now before reassembly.
A very neat job!
