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Looking for some opinions here on how I should proceed with this car.
Today I worked up the courage to take off my side skirts to take a real look at the rust problem I seem to have inherited. This is what 14 years of daily neglect in Maine looks like.
I knew the arches were rusty but this nightmare was hiding under the side skirts and only appeared after I had been driving the car though the winter. This is how it all appears after a thorough cleaning with a wire brush, a screwdriver, and a shop vac. All metal still attached is capable of being cleaned up to be "good" if I can get at the back.
Driver side... Frame rail is untouched and sturdy, thank god. Jack point is solid with no flexing.
Passenger side... Not nearly as bad, but no room to get in behind the panels to sand off the rust either.
Option A: I could try and sell the car, but I'd be out several thousand dollars after all the work I put into it... I don't see this as a good option, the financial mistake has already been made by buying a rusty car.
Option B: Body shop... I was quoted $1700 for both sides (and this is before they saw the holes pictured) which is prohibitively expensive for me. I can afford it, but definitely not how I want to be spending my money if there's another way I can fix this.
Option C: DIY. My plan of attack is to sand down to as much bare metal as possible front and back of panel, and cut the panel so the holes are at right angles. Then, I'm going to cover it in rust reformer, use the metal brake at work to make a functional (but not pretty) corner out of 20 ga steel, and pay somebody who knows what they're doing to weld it in place. More rust reformer will go on top of that, and when the side skirts go back on nobody will be the wiser. This involves a lot of work, but not as much as the overtime I'd have to put in to make up for the $1700 body shop charge, and I can be sure of the quality of the work.
On the passenger side, I can't get to the back of the panels to clean the rust off so I don't know how I can deal with this short of cutting out a lot of good metal and doing the same thing I'm thinking of for the driver side.
Anybody have any relevant experiences, other than the obvious "should have gotten a pre-purchase inspection, bought a southern car, etc etc etc" I know, I've made mistakes - now I have to live with the consequences...
Last edited by cswlightning; 05-28-2018 at 01:55 PM.
Another option that's a little more ghetto but actually works fairly well is to simply patch the hole with fiberglass, it's quite a bit more forgiving than metal since you can sand/reform as needed until you get a contour that's acceptable. The G has a rigid enough body that it shouldn't crack.
The most important thing for the area that you can't get to is to completely seal the surface of the rusted area. If no oxygen can penetrate the surface then it can't oxidize any further. I like the truck bed coating option since you can drench a sponge/rag/brush and get your fingers up into areas that are not possible to sand.
Make sure to not leave any holes where water/snow/mud/road debris can become trapped if you do go with the 20g sheet metal option.
Huh, I hadn't considered a repair of this nature could be done with fiberglass but that's definitely what I'm going to do now - tomorrow after work. I hear the fiberglass/bondo materials attract water to the metal and cause more rusting in the future - is there anything I can put on the metal to prevent this other than several coats of rust converter primer?
I found a bunch more holes here and there inside the rear wheel well but nothing that can't be fixed with some mesh and bondo.
I'll update this thread with pictures of my progress. Grinding out the rust scale and chipping out the holes actually felt really good - like I was saving this car which had been left for dead by its previous owners. Once this is fixed it's time to move onto the wheel arches... I imagine those will be a piece of cake in comparison, but they'll need proper painting so that's last.
I use truck bed liner all the time under vehicles, it would probably work great for you as well and really helps blend new body work together with the factory applied undercoating on most vehicles. Sheet metal would he a BETTER option however so if you have the tools to make the right profile then I would go that route. Welding it together is the best option but you can also overlap and pop rivet then bed liner the whole thing, it's quite a bit quicker then welding/grinding.
Telco, I'm a 21 year old college student. It's great that you've worked hard all your life, have some skills, and can comfortably afford the latest and nicest things but I would rather avoid going up to my neck in auto related debt when I already have years of college to pay off already. Yeah, I could be driving a 3 year old Sentra or something like that for the same amount of money I'm dropping on the G and it would be more reliable but.... that's no fun.
I believe they wanted to replace both quarter panels - but again they didn't see the holes that were hiding in the rockers, just the rust around the arches and the previous owner's hack n pack failed Bondo repair so that $1700 quote is probably half the actual price.
Thick aluminum tape with some seriously hardcore adhesive. I'm going to fill the entire frame rails with Eastwood internal coating/cavity wax, use a crapton of this stuff wrapped around the hole, seal the edges by smoothing epoxy over the seams, and cover in metal reinforced Bondo + undercoating... It's not going to look stock but it will be quick, easy and seal the hole as well as anything else.
Last edited by cswlightning; 05-29-2018 at 10:48 AM.
Yeah backer tape like that will work good, paint prep is kind of a pita though. Get a couple different types of aluminum primer and see which adheres the best. Remember you can always spend the money later to have it professionally fixed when/if you ever want to but in the meantime you just need to stop it from further rusting. I've seen the photos of your vehicle from the underside and if you ever do decide on a clean G you would be better off picking up a clean/straight chassis and swapping all your stuff over. Rust protecting the underside of yours right now will basically just be to make sure the vehicle is still sellable in the future.
Couldn't find Eastwood or 3M internal frame coatings anywhere locally so the G's on the road again for a week running without side skirts with this beautiful temp repair.
Current state of the rust hole, need to get internal frame coating with a long sprayer to get into some of these small crevices
Gorilla tape and rubber undercoating to keep out crap and stay legal until I get more supplies
Everything I touch underneath gets a sand and rust converter coating. It's dirty right now but there's no rust in the front end anymore. I did this a couple months ago when I did the suspension in the front
Front and rear cameras, tire pressure for all four tires can display on screen,folding side view mir
Originally Posted by cswlightning
Telco, I'm a 21 year old college student..
A fourteen year old rusted G is not the right vehicle for you
Originally Posted by cswlightning
I already have years of college to pay off already. Yeah, I could be driving a 3 year old Sentra or something like that for the same amount of money I'm dropping on the G and it would be more reliable but....
But a smarter choice!
Pay off the college first.
Originally Posted by cswlightning
that's no fun.
That fun that you crave is going to cost you more in the end than you realize. Especially as interest rates rise.
I hope you have all the proper insurance and no matter how much money you sink into it if it is ever totaled in an accident even it is not your fault you will never recover that money.
Well with 125k miles and a fresh suspension the G should last me as my daily for years to come, rain snow or shine. Not planning on putting anymore money or work into it for several years now that all fluids are changed, clutch is newish, suspension is tight, engine is compression tested and solid. Only thing left to do is stop the progress of the cancer so it doesn't rot out before the engine wears out. I got the G for $1500 more than I sold my old Corolla for, and the G had 60k less miles.
I just finished doing the same thing on my 03 coupe. I wish I had taken before pics bc yours looks almost exactly like mine did. Selling the car was the first thing I thought about but I decided to go ahead and fix it myself, similar to the way you did but I used fiberglass screen, mat and resin, and regular short strand fiberglass to patch/fill in the holes. It took me basically 2 days to do both sides. I used Wire brushes, a grinder, da, dremel, scotch brite, light sand blasting, pile of sand paper and then rustoleum rust dissolver on top of every thing once I got all the rust out I could reach. Rust got into the visible part of the rear quarter on the passenger side so I decided I’m goin to fix every ding and scratch on the body and just repaint the whole car. I used to do paint and do body work full time but I never worked on rust like this bc it would normally get completely cut out and new metal welded in. Most would argue that’s the only right way to do it but I never did any welding, don’t own a welder and wanted to fix it my self so that’s what I did. I was really thoroughl But time will tell if I did a good enough job or not. Yours looks like you were thorough too, hopefully it took care of it. Rust can be a real pita to get rid of tho we’ll see
I'm a big fan of fiberglass for repairs like this, the amount of cutting, fabrication, and welding required to "do-it-right" is VERY substantial. Sure if you're restoring a rare classic with a high dollar potential then you will go this route but for a daily driver that you just need to stop rusting the polymer /fiber and resin option is usually the right call.
I'm a big fan of fiberglass for repairs like this, the amount of cutting, fabrication, and welding required to "do-it-right" is VERY substantial. Sure if you're restoring a rare classic with a high dollar potential then you will go this route but for a daily driver that you just need to stop rusting the polymer /fiber and resin option is usually the right call.
05-28-2018, 01:45 PM
Rust repair opinions....
