Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Richard H]

Hi everyone,

Not really sure if I'm worrying about nothing, but here goes.

When I first got my Austin Cambridge the whole roof, and the sunroof, looked like this:



A couple of days ago I removed the sunroof and stripped it back to bare metal, however I was disappointed to find the surface is covered in tiny rust pits. I assume the whole roof is the same! My question is, can I just skim these over with a fine surface filler or will it come bubbling through again at some point?

Sunroof:



Close up of the 'pock marking'



The metal appears solid in the sunroof apart from one small area, and although I haven't removed the headlining yet I think the roof is solid as well, just pitted on the outside.
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Richard Hughes

[COMMAD]

Had same problem with a Minx years back, treated with rust convertor and a light skim of filler, repainted and had no more problems. Sold car after 6 years, still looking good.

[Richard H]

That's great, thanks
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Richard Hughes

[ukdave2002]

Had exactly he same challenge with my MGA, it was pitted all over



After stripping I treated the whole body to some phosphoric acid (1 litre is enough for the exterior panels) you can get it from any vehicle paint shop or its on ebay, its the 40% stuff that you need. Pic below is stripped shell, phosphoric acid was applied an hour or so before priming.


I then used Upol Top Stop Gold to fill the pits, followed by high build primer (use an expoy primer if you are not planning to put the gloss coats on within a week)




There is a bit more detail on my MGA Thread

Dave