Are there any known areas on a 308 that can be accessed and should be treated preemptively for rust? I recently took off my door panels to lubricate my window mechanisms, and while I was in there I removed any dirt and debris along the seam where the door skin attaches at the bottom, and carefully cleaned, treated with a rust killer, and painted with a good rustproofing paint. Are there other areas on a 308 that can be accessed and treated? Thanks, Jeff
I don't know what areas you can access on a 308, but I had some heavy duty rust proofing put on my Alfa Spider, when I bought it in '79, and it's one of the best investments I ever made. The stuff has the consistency of tar, and I was wiping excess off the brightwork, where wind had squeezed it out, for about a month after picking up the car. Pretty much the whole underside of the car is covered. It doesn't help the panels where the paint chipped off, but everything under the car is pretty well covered.
I would treat the sheet metal behind the rear wheels where the fender meets the glass lower valence. Should be accessible with inner fenders removed. The door skin weld seam is huge for rust prevention. i would spray the inside of the rear deck lid cavity. Specifically the part that covers the luggage compartment. There are only a few drain holes for access. The other place that comes to mind is the small panel down low behind the front wheels, but don't think you can get to the backside of it.
I'm that process right now with the inside of all four fenders. Considering there is some metal there that is still shiny and almost 38 years old, I'm lucky, but the other places with moderate surface rust can't be left any longer. I'm just scraping off the loose stuff, treating with POR15, sealing off gaps and other water-traps and then applying mulitple coats of undercoating. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes, agreed. I would have liked to say this yesterday, but was not finding my words in English, so now with your pics it's easier: on a 308/328, I would always have a look on (ahem, let's try to say it) on each of the four fenders, to the metal lip (or ledge) that is curved along the half-circle wheel passage towards the inside, at 90° from the fender sheet metal; this from the inside of the fender, so looking from the wheel arch. Even on 328s, which theoretically are somehow rust-protected, rust do grow here.
Thanks guys for the guidance. If I find a way to get in behind the front fender area just in front of the door, I'll let you know. Peter, that looks really good. Is black also the body color (thinking this is your 308 GT4 on your profile)? Should the inner wheel wells then be resprayed the external body color, or black for any color car? Jeff
Black is the exterior colour of my car (as in my profile page), but in respect to the wheel wells, it seems regardless of body colour of the cars I've seen, they were all black (I'm not sure if it's supposed to be glossy black, semi-matt black, or matt black though).
The inside of the doors at the bottom is a particularly critical place because the drain holes are above the lowest point. Water which runs down the windows will just sit in the seam between the outer skin and the door base. Very poor design but actually similar to most cars.
This is an area that I want to tackle as soon as the winter here is over. I'm going to discuss this with the local Ferrari mechanic and will post the results here. I've been wondering for a while how to prevent rust. My car sits in a non heated garage and I've read several views on heated vs non heated garages and which is best. Some say a non heated garage is better. An air conditioned garage would be best but alas that I don't have (nor electricity for a cocoon).
There's an overflow hose that runs through an aluminum plate up front near where the battery sits. What happened on my car is it somehow the hose bounced up out of the hole and rested on top of that plate and liquid just cascaded across that plate and on to the subframe. I thankfully noticed a bunch of slime and caught it in time but had I not noticed it, it would have certainly rusted the subframe over time. It may be worth taking a look to see if this could be or is an issue with your car.
For the doors, I was thinking of taking the interior trim off and just pouring some WD-40 into the door. I think it is thin enough to get into the seem. Any excess would just drain out. I've done it on another car that had rust starting and it seems to have stopped it. I left the windows down and the door interior off for 2 days and the smell went away pretty quick. Any thoughts?
That's basically what those "Ziebart" places do. They would either use existing holes in the doors and sills, or would drill holes and squirt qooey, sticky, oily stuff to keep bare sheetmetal from rusting.
Keep in mind that WD-40 is mostly for water displacement and light lubrication. It's not a long-term protectant. You'll want a real protective coating down in there eventually. RustOleum and other companies now make some good rust-inhibiting undercoatings, etc. that you could spray on frame and body areas. I've zapped some of the areas on the bottom of the car with it and will likely hit open areas again this Spring. There's also something like WaxOyl if you don't want the heavy black rubberized finish, for door interiors, etc. As others have said, first make sure that the drain holes in the doors remain open. That's the important thing.
I did that when I had my door opened up to clean out the window lifts. It did not look too bad in there but why not. For longer lasting protection you could use something heavier. One option, mix some oil with the WD-40. Or add some fishoil. I knew someone who used to use motor oil thinned with kerosene on his truck. He applied it with a garden sprayer. Messy but effective. Despite its age, the truck never showed any rust.
Do not do this under any circumstances, it is not the right product to use, neither is old motor oil or any other home made substance. First - Treat the bodywork and any rust with Dinitrol Rust converter, it turns the rust into a neutral oxide. Second - apply Dinitrol Underbody wax Third- apply cavity wax to all inaccessible places. Door panels, chassis tubes etc. It will seep into all the seams, folds and and IT WILL prevent further rust. Repeat every 2-3 years dependant on weather conditions. No i dont work for dinitrol either. It is a vastly superior product to all the other rubbish thats claims to do the same job. Rust prevention | Rust treatment | Rust proofing from Dinitrol UK supplier Cheers Tony
+1 Reading this thread though I am getting the impression that rust is not such a serious issue in the USA as here in the UK climate. I dont think anyone here would consider using anything other than Waxoyl or Dinitrol and I have certainly never heard of anyone using motor oil or WD40. Its probably the number one subject of discussion in classic car forums and magazines here and Dinitrol is usually voted the best. Ferrari themselves used Dinitrol 4942 on the cars when new, although unfortunately they only sprayed it onto the underside and not into the closed sections such as doors etc. There were vouchers supplied with new cars which were used for periodic re-applications.
