I never knew what was under 40 years of crud. I think the first application was a Ziebart rustproofing done a long time ago, which is probably what saved the truck as there was nearly no rust when I bought it for $4500 about 6 years ago.
When I got the truck I sprayed tons of oil, wd40, lubricants, fluid film, you name it, I soaked everything. Then I recently installed both front brake calipers and discovered nearly 1/4 inch thick of pure solidified gunk. Sure it was protecting the metal, but why? Since we finished an almost frame-off restoration, the truck has not even seen water, let alone winter salt. So recently I went through 5 cans of engine degreaser in the entire engine bay and undercarriage and steam pressured washed it all off. But I had no idea about the rear wheel wells. I discovered the pure factory metal sea-mist green paint.
Now that it’s all clean, is there something I can put on there that’s non petroleum based? Maybe a light coat of truck bed liner spray? Or should I leave it be? How about a very light mist of wd40 just to protect the metal?
Here are the before and after photos.
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