nyone who has ever had a sheet metal panel media blasted and failed to immediately cover said panel with some sort of protective coating knows what the expected result can be: surface rust. It might take a week, might take a month, but Mother Nature knows no bounds and she certainly doesn’t care that you’d like to retain that bare-metal beauty in her natural element for as long as possible (or at least as long as it takes to make all the necessary sheet metal repairs!). That was the state we found ourselves after we had our ’64 C10 cab blasted and proceeded to begin the repairs that we’ve covered thus far. For the first few months, the sheet metal was bare and clean, making repairs a fairly straightforward task. But over time, moisture and humidity began to seep in and soon enough, instead of a rose-colored glasses view of our project, our cab began to take on a rosy-colored hue, and it didn’t fill us full of optimism!

Optimism did in fact prevail, however, after speaking with the guys at KBS Coatings and relaying our project’s current woes. Not wanting to have to reblast the entire cab, we called looking for a chemical solution that we could apply at home to solve our surface rust issue before we press on with the usual body and paint process. Turns out, KBS Coatings has a three-part process that cleans, converts, and seals rusty surfaces for good. Known collectively as the Stop Rust Kit, it consists of KBS Klean, KBS RustBlast, and KBS RustSeal. Available in quart form for smaller projects or gallon form for large ones, the Stop Rust Kit is the perfect method to solve surface rust and effectively kill it in its tracks.

While we covered the components of the KBS Stop Rust Kit in a previous story, what we didn’t cover are the methods of application and best practices to be followed for each step. The first step will be to wash the entire firewall area with KBS Klean, a concentrated, waterbased, biodegradable cleaner that will prep the surface to be nice and clean. Next, KBS RustBlast, a powerful rust remover, zinc phosphate pre-primer, and metal etch will be applied to the surface as well. RustBlast effectively dissolves rust, corrosion, metal oxides, and tarnish from most metal surfaces, leaving behind a prefect foundation for the next step, KBS RustSeal. Impervious to road salts and a variety of chemicals, RustSeal is a high-performance, single-part, ready-to-use, rust preventative ceramic-like coating that is resistant to scratch or chipping and will not crack or peel.

When it’s all said and done, we’ll be using the KBS Stop Rust three-part system to effectively protect the majority of our C10 cab’s sheet metal, while some sections, such as the firewall and dash, will then be finished in a more traditional paint and body manner with KBS filler primer, body filler, and topcoated with KBS Maxx. Inside the cab, RustSeal will provide the final finish before insulation and interior is installed, while underneath the cab, the process will be repeated followed by an application of KBS Coatings’ Rubberized Undercoating.

With 60-plus years of neglect and abuse, it’s apparent the need to address many areas of our C10’s cab to get it up to modern standards. And with rust being one of the biggest culprits of damage on many an old truck, we can rest assured that, once addressed with the proper techniques and products thanks to KBS Coatings, we can kill that cancer, once and for all.

1. Surface rust is a real nightmare when a bare-metal project sits unprotected. Before we can even think about shooting a finish on this surface, we need to address the issue at hand.

3. After a few minutes of orbital sanding, a fair amount of surface rust has already been removed and the surface of the firewall is one step closer to being prepped for a final finish.

5. To do so, a section of similarly sized sheet metal is rough cut to cover the hole and held in place with a pair of magnets.

6-7. From the inside of the cab, we can carefully scribe the shape of the hole onto the sheet metal patch.

8-9. The same magnets are then mounted on the inside of the cab to hold the trimmed patch in place.

12. The first step in the KBS Stop Rust process is to scrub the entire surface using KBS Klean degreaser, diluted approximately 10:1 with hot water.

13-14. Applied via sprayer, a liberal amount of the KBS Klean dilution is applied to the entire surface and scrubbed with a scouring pad to ensure every nook and cranny of the sheet metal is penetrated.

15. The surface is then fully rinsed…

16-17. …and thoroughly dried.

19. Applied with a spray bottle, the entire surface of the firewall is treated and kept saturated for a duration of about 15 minutes, due to the fairly light state of rust we’re tackling. For heavier rust, additional soakage time can aid in removal/treatment.

21. KBS RustSeal is a single-component, ceramic-like coating that prevents rust and seals metal surfaces, effectively blocking moisture and oxygen intrusion. Before applied, the contents are stirred, ensuring any settled pigments or matting agents are fully mixed.

23. Applying KBS RustSeal can be achieved by a number of methods, including spraying, rolling, or brushing. Since we’ll be top coating and further bodyworking the firewall, we’re not concerned with a perfect finish with this step, so we opted to brush the finish to ensure full coverage without dealing with overspray and venting issues. RustSeal is not intended for use as a topcoat where the surface might be exposed to repeated UV, so we’ll be covering it in KBS MAXX at a future date.