[BigRay]

Hi guys,

Have had my little beast for nearly 18 months now and have done a lot of work on it since I bought it. Before I bought it, it was used on a vinyard and as a daily driver, it had a tough life. While doing all the work and while having the bumpers off I noticed that there is a decent amount of old dried mud in the chassis and in parts of the body. I'm not a fan of mud holes and water crossings so no more mud should build up. Should I clean it all out to stop it from collecting water and causing rust or just leave those areas dry to not cause a rust issue as it is likely not all the water will dry?. I live in Victoria so I get all sorts of weather if that makes any difference..

Thanks,
Ray

[BigRay]

Are Jimnys prone to bad rust? My chassis just has a dusting of surface rust.

[zukenutter]

I'm interested to read people's Jimny rust finds

[zukenutter]

I'd be trying to clean out the mud build ups from the chassis rails

[BigRay]

Yeah I'll give everything a good scrub then. The chassis and the metal behind the bumpers is covered in surface rust. The diffs are a tad rusty too, mainly on the welds.

[pezz]

Strip it back to clean metal and treat it with a good anti rust paint,

[Samurai81]

Mine sat in someone's backyard for three years before I picked it up. There was a lot of surface rust on all the body panel edges and I had to have parts of the chassis sandblasted and sealed before I could get it Complianced over here. Yesterday I took it to have a stone chip in the windscreen removed and they ended up pulling the whole screen. Rust under the screen had to be fixed overnight - had to walk home. I'm not surprised. Its pretty wet over here and nowhere is far from the sea. The Jim is only made of light weight foil. Standing idle for a long period (outside) surface rust got in under the algal and lichen growth (which I had to bleach off). Regular driving and washing will hold it at bay from now on. Whenever mud sticks there will be some moisture working away underneath it. You need to remove it all with water spray and then take it for a drive and dry all that wetness off before storing it up. The rust on the diffs will come off with use.

[BigRay]

That sounds very frustrating. Thanks for the input! I ended up giving everything a good scrub and have coated everything with fish oil which has hardened to a nice water-resistant film. Am very happy with it so far!