Rust under the A-Pillar vinyl!

[scrapman]

Hey guys, I peeled the vinyl off of the A-Pillar yesterday and found a nasty surprise waiting. I hope the following explanation makes sense. The vinyl covering that wraps around the pillar and then around to the outside which is then covered by the heavy plastic piece that goes all the way around the door. It appears that rain water running down the channel seeped under the old weather seal and then wicked it's way under the vinyl covering and then under the tan colored build up material on the pillar resulting in rust on the pillar. I suspect that this could be a problem on a lot of cars with old weather seals on them so it may be worth taking a quick look for.

I am including some pics and have a couple of questions I hope someone can answer.

1 - What is the tan build up material on the A-Pillar?
2 - When restoring, how did others approach replacing this material once it was removed, or did you not replace it?
3 - Since several layers of metal come together on the A-Pillar, rust on the inside is a concern. Ideas on treating this are appreciated.

[BQS4]

If this is on the car from the top of the sign post, I'm not surprized. Being out in the weather all that time. I'd just wire brush it good, an coat it with POR-15. Then when reinstalling the interior, the A pillars are covered with the same vinyl as the headliner, but, these are just glued on.

[Dennis Texas]

It does not appear that nasty of an problem from the pictures like suggested already just clean it up and use some sort of rust sealer on the rest. The tan material use to be a foam type material to cushion the pillar somewhat. I just used some rubber sheets about 1/4 thick and glued to the post before putting the vinyl over it on one of my cars that that material had decomposed on it was all crumbly and stuff.

[scrapman]

Should have clarified, the car in question is my GT, not the birdhouse Manta. It was a hidden surprise. I have stripped off all the old material scraped the rust. Some Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator and it should be good until the interior is ready to go back in. Thanks, Rick

[73Manta72gt]

The A-pillar padding is cork