rust help

[intern8tion9l]

ok, i must admit my problem. undeneath the fancy international body cladding hides a massive amount of rust. when i took the plastic off, 20 years of dirt and debris fell out, leaving behind holes and bubbling of all kinds. i know i can get new rocker panels, but everything is rusted. like i can stick my arm up inside the quarter panels on both sides...

 

any bodywork guys have some input? the floors and everything inside that lower body seam is solid, just a lot of rust from there out. sucky....

[GOT2B GM]

find southern International coupe......swap your powertrain / parts into it.

 

Been there , done that with my old white Z34, TRUST ME, not worth the money to fix it. You can buy a solid southern car for what it'll cost to weld in new panels.

[93cutty]

The question is do you want it done perfect or do you want to just fix the rust. You could always go to your local heating/cooling business and buy a sheet of steel, cut the rust off your car and then pop rivet the new steel on. I have special clamps that put a groove on the steel so that it fits flush. You then drill holes and use a punch to make the holes flush. Then put pop rivets in and apply a light layer of bondo. This sounds redneck but my dad did this on his 65 olds 22 years ago and you still cant tell where it is. Best part is you dont have to put alot of bodywork smoothing it out since your body cladding will hide it and you could do it for around 40 bucks and an afternoon.

[slick]

Junkyard it

[intern8tion9l]

The question is do you want it done perfect or do you want to just fix the rust. You could always go to your local heating/cooling business and buy a sheet of steel, cut the rust off your car and then pop rivet the new steel on. I have special clamps that put a groove on the steel so that it fits flush. You then drill holes and use a punch to make the holes flush. Then put pop rivets in and apply a light layer of bondo. This sounds redneck but my dad did this on his 65 olds 22 years ago and you still cant tell where it is. Best part is you dont have to put alot of bodywork smoothing it out since your body cladding will hide it and you could do it for around 40 bucks and an afternoon.

 

i'd be more willing to do this than to junk it or swap everything into a different car. i just want a better solution than the pound of bondo thats plugging the holes now. i just don't have any body working skills

[intern8tion9l]

[carkhz316]

Just ball up some newspaper and cover it with a screen and spackle filler in there, lol:bondo::bondo:

 

 

 

It all really depends on what your resources and abilities are. My 92 was that and thensome, but I had the time and guidance of tech school to cut it out and weld in new metal. (made patch panels homemade. You CAN'T get new sheetmetal for these things. Used cutoff parts or make it homemade out of ~22guage are your only choices here) Then did the proper bodywork and all came out well.

Edited August 13, 2010 by carkhz316

[Twenty]

There is a company that carries some panels, VPI (Vintage Parts). Your local dealership should be able to look them up. They are expensive though, my door was $700.

 

It's up to you to choose if you want to repair this car or find a new shell though.

[intern8tion9l]

if i could hook up with someone that is decent with metal and welding i'd sure go that route. as stated, it doesn't have to be pretty because it's under plastic. i just don't want it to be a gallon of bondo

 

i guess i'm like twenty; this was my first car and i'd really like to keep it togther and going well for sentimental values. if i had to though i think i'd swap everything over and make one bad ass '91 vert

[Luminator9c3]

i guess i'm like twenty

I think you should focus on getting to the bottom of this issue before you worry about anything automotive-related.

[intern8tion9l]

haha, i may have been drinking. i retract, and am almost convinced this car is done for

[ss427]

If you want to save the car I would get some rust remover and apply it to as much of the inside of the quarters as possible until all rust is gone, than put a good coating on to seal it all up. Also check your wheelwells for holes as they are prone to getting thin over time. I'd find a cutlass with some nice quarters and cut the pieces out that you need from that. You could either have them welded in or rivet them which is a lot easier and faster. It depends how far the rust has spread. I see the edges of what is still there in the picture but the metal is likely very thin for an inch or so in all the way around the hole. If it has spread beyond the edge of the plastic panel than more effort will be required to hide the seam.

[intern8tion9l]

i wouldn't really have to hide the seam, the plastic will do that. i just would want the car to be fairly solid again, as i know the rockers and such are a main point for strength.

 

i was giving up, but i just drove the car again for the first time in a few weeks and now i like it again. haha

[J]

good luck finding rockers, took me over 2 years to source them, but they are cheap. $40 each and doors can be found at a southern JY and then painted to match, saving those panels would be almost impossible. Get new metal on the car.

[intern8tion9l]

there is no rust on the doors at all. just the rockers and quarters

[jimmyfloyd]

got any more pictures of the rusted areas, maybe from a little further back so we can see what you are looking at? Also, on the inside of that hole, how far does the rust go over, cause you might have to remove it back that far to find good metal.

[GnatGoSplat]

Ouch, looks like the inner panels are really rusty too. That's getting awful close to structural areas. How are areas like the frame rails and trailing rod mounts holding up? If they're really rust too, you might need to retire the car for safety's sake.

 

I know you'd rather fix the car, but if you need a good body, I believe my 88 Cutlass Int'l is rust free and would be a good body to start from, though it needs head gaskets so it's non-running. I'd let it go for scrap value, but you'd need to tow it.

[intern8tion9l]

i'm afraid these are the only pics i snapped before covering everything with a shitload of bondo and undercoating just to close the holes and stop more crap from getting in

 

 

 

 

 

the rockers are like paper thin and i don't know what it looks like behind them. are the frame rails located just behind the body skin?

Edited September 1, 2010 by intern8tion9l

[intern8tion9l]

http://www.fixmyrust.com/Product/2942103.html

 

found that, but the years listed make no sense, so i'm suspicious

[slick]

Really, thats going to cost a shit ton of money. If you really want to fix it, travel south several states with some saws and cutoff wheels, and head to the junkyard. Even then, any body shop's quote for replacing the panels with what you have is going to be more than the car is worth.

 

If it were me, I'd dump no more money into the car, and find something clean. Swap everything over, and start over.

[GnatGoSplat]

I'm completely guessing since I've never paid to have this kind of work done, but if the pics you've showed are the ONLY rust holes on it... that looks like minimum $2,000 worth of work to repair. My guess is based on what people had repaired on trucks that looked similar to that and how much they said it cost.

[Crazy K]

as long as it is in a hidden area I would have used sheetmetal and pop rivets and made a rough approximation of the original body shape.

 

BONDO = NO STRENGTH TO REPAIR.

sheetmetal = strong repair.

 

if you had a welder you could weld it in, too...

[Chvcmrrcr1969]

Don't use bondo. I wouldn't even Pop rivet it. you need to cut all the rust out till you get to the clean metal. rust is like cancer and will spread if not treated properly. you'll be just as good leaving it alone than to waste money on something that will come back.