At the meeting last Wednesday (5/13), during the tech presentation about the 240Z restoration, the presenter (I forgot his name!) mentioned that us owners of newer Zs don't have to worry about rust/rot just yet. Well, I have sorta worried about rust rearing its ugly head on my Z since the first year I've owned it, as I intend on keeping it indefinitely. I know what rust can do to a car...my '94 BMW 318is and '67 Buick Special have gotten it.

I have heard mixed reviews about rust prevention (e.g. applying more of the rubbery factory-like undercoating, or other spray-on after market treatments), so I steered clear, for fear of clogging drain holes, trapping moisture where it may cause even more damage, etc. I have just adhered to keeping her clean, touching up any (very little) surface rust I may notice underneath her with POR-15, and winterizing her before the first snow. I actually own a Car Bag for storage.

I guess I'm just asking if with any car, should I just drive it and enjoy it, and deal with restoration as an inevitable reality? - winterizing it if it is a fair-weather car, and just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best for my daily driver/winter beater? I guess it just pains me to see that my daily driver is starting to show its age due to rust, and I'm just wondering what I did wrong (and if it is even worth to try to prevent rust on a car driven through salt and snow every winter, already rusted, or not). Also, am I'm doing okay with taking steps to saving the Z from the same fate?

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2004 Super Black 350Z Base - 6MT

I've seen your car when we met at The Garage for our April meeting. I wouldn't actually describe it as 'rusting', but rather as having a nice rich 'patina'. I didn't get under the car but from what I saw, you're in no immediate danger. You already took care of the one tail light you felt was in need of attention.

HOWEVER, just as Dave Russell said during our May meeting, we will ALL have to face this issue eventually. So there's no "too early" point at which to begin worrying about it.

My 240 was made in Apr/70. The guy I bought it from had it undersprayed the week he bought it. Back then they used something akin to a thin layer of road tar to undercoat cars, and it was very popular. I forget the name of the stuff or the process, but it was a household name at the time and even kids knew the stuff from the constant TV advertiZements about it.

Today my car is still in one piece and the undercarriage is mostly intact, simply because this guy spent $60 back in the day to have it sprayed. I have seen countless other 240Zs from the same era (or later!) which have rusted thru both floorboards and all around the doors because nobody took the time to defeat the insidious Tinworms.

Today there are far-better sprays available than there were in 1970 and guys are even experimenting with new approaches. One of them is the use of pickup truck bed spray liner (which my car has received just this month), such as RhinoLiner. Probably anything which insulates the 0.27" of sheet metal ("metal") from the elements and doesn't wash off should do the trick. Vaseline would probably work if you didn't mind replacing it every time it washed away:lol:

The only caveat is that you have to be very certain you are spraying undercoating onto a CLEAN surface. A rotating wire brush on a drill must be used to scrub off all surface rust before spraying. Individual components (axle, diff, etc) could be blasted clean and completely dried ~ otherwise you are trapping those little Rust Worms under there and they will go right on chewing your Z car into little bits where you can't even see them.

Dave also mentioned that the sheet metal on the ZX carz was slightly heavier than on the original Series-1 carz. Combined with the 10 or 15 fewer years of exposure to Weather Worms, that should give you a definite advantage over the member who decides to restore an early 240Z.

If you intend to keep that beautiful Z for your lifetime, no amount of preventive medicine is too much or too soon. I would think NOW would be the time to begin arranging a thorough cleaning and complete undercoating of your lifetime investment.

Your Z is only going to appreciate in value as time marches on. But if it's a rustbucket in 5 years, only the driveline and tires will be worth anything.

Frank

Frank, I think you might be confusing me with someone else? I didn't have my Z out at the April meeting, and I didn't have a tail light problem either.

Thanks for the response, though. I'm really leaning towards just keeping it clean, and then winterizing it when the roads get bad. I feel like I might be doing more harm than good if I were to spray the underside of my '04 with any rust prevention (I hope the new metal is as high quality as they say). I don't even spraying it would even get to half the spots where rust could form. I understand doing it on a restoration because you can coat the vehicle's underside in its entirety, but I'm just not sure on a modern car.

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2004 Super Black 350Z Base - 6MT