Flooded shop, some rust on a lot of parts; what to do now?

[Kerry j]

I had a major disaster back on Sept. 11 of all days. A retention dam broke above our home and we we got flooded in a major way; here's a youtube video of the flood hitting our home:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpE-IgiUifM&noredirect=1

Our neighbor across the street took it from the roof of his home; our house it the tan brick home where the flood water is hitting the garage doors dead on. It did a lot of damage and we have a lot to clean up and repair, but here's what I would like to ask:

The flood put about 3' of slimy muddy water through my shop and made a mess of my 70 Stang and ruined a lot of the parts I had collected for the 64 Galaxie I'm rebuilding and messed up even more of them.

The question I have for you guys is this: I have a lot of parts like a sideoiler block, some gear sets for toploaders, third member pumpkins etc. I cleaned them up by washing off all the mud and crap, but they all have some surface rust on them. I have such a mess here that it's going to take years to get it all cleaned up and put back together again, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to stop the rust damage until I can get to everything and get it cleaned up properly? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, it put the Galaxie frame and drive train in about 2' of muddy water, so it could be in the toploader and 9" rear. I don't think there's anything in the 496" FE as it didn't get up to the exhaust or intake ports, just got a little above the pan rails of the engine.

[e philpott]

clean it as good as you can and pick up a case of Castle Thrust rust penetrant ...... Castle is the company , thrust is there rust product , spray all surfaces , it will take the surface rust off and keep it decent until you can get back to them and clean them right

[ScotiaFE]

Man that really sucks.
A major set back for sure.
As e said clean and spray a preservative oil. LPS brands are very effective.
Mil spec cert and tested.
A definite kick in the "you know"
All the best.

[jayb]

Man, that video is just unbelievable!  Sorry to see that, and I wish you all the best on the flood recovery.  There is an LPS product that is kind of like spray cosmoline; LPS 3, maybe?  That would be a good thing to spray on the parts you mentioned, to keep them from getting rusted any worse.

[drdano]

You might also try Gibbs Brand penetrant.  I've been a fan of it for a few years, worked well for me.  I used in on steel and aluminum both to remove the rust/crap but also protect it.  I've not tried it on anything subjected to what you went through.   

[Kerry j]

Thanks for all the reply and advise, it gives me some direction and ideas to try.

It could have been so much worse; no one was hurt and had it happened some other time or at night, people could easily have been killed. And, I did manage to get my 69 Bronco out, so it didn't get hurt. Mostly it's just a huge mess and big expenses; 5 garage doors, drywall, paint, floor coverings furniture etc. then there's the shop... I have one big welder that got wet; I washed it out as good as I can, but I haven't tried it yet to see if it's OK or not, the pile of parts is just endless; lots of new 64 Gal interior parts ruined and I'm sure some are just gone. Then there's the garage foundation; the back corner of the shop sunk 2 1/4". I dug up about 20-30' of the footings going both directions from the back corner; used three 20 ton jacks to jack the corner back up, then poured 4 yards of concrete grout under it and used a vibrator to hopefully get it under where it needed to be.

It's going to take a long time to get everything put back, but I'll git er done. Thanks all for the encouragement and condolences!