🚀 go-pugleaf

>On another note - does anyone know why USED motor oil is supposed to
>be such a great rust inhibitor (apart from oil's ability to simply
>displace water)?  My '70 Volvo 145 is beginning to rust in crevices
>on the body (under floormats, in gas tank compartment, etc..) and
>short of welding new metal I want to at least slow the rust to a
>negligible pace (some of it is in very difficult to get to places - hence
>my desire for something I can simply spray at the rust).  Anyone have
>some good ideas?

First of all, let me verify that oil is indeed great.  After
living in Ottawa for 7 years, and now Waterloo, I make it a
habit to oil undercoat my car once or twice a year.

The `secret' is that the oil creeps into the crevices and over
the bare metal; once in place it prevents moisture & air
from oxidizing your metal.  There is nothing magical about
USED oil.  It is usually available and very cheap.  I
recently started using new oil that has an added 'tackifier' (sp?).
This is none other than chain-saw oil.  The fellow who
sprays my car only charges an extra $5 for this oil;  I use
it because it sticks better, makes less of a mess on the
driveway, and it looks nicer (it's transluscent red) than
the old used oil.

Regular tar undercoatings tend to make things worse after
7-10 years because they dry out.  Once in this state the tar
hangs off the body and presents many crevices for road salt
and moisture to lodge in.  Fortunately, a good oil spray
will usually put things back into shape.

You really should think about oil spraying BEFORE your car
sees its first winter!

				Kevin

P.S. My '70 Volvo 145s is still running after MUCH abuse by
     Canadian winters and municipal salt!
-- 
Kevin Szabo' watmath!watvlsi!ksbszabo (U of W VLSI Group, Waterloo, Ont, Canada)