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RUST MAKES ME CRY!!!!

So I bought this galant about a month and such ago and I have fallen deeply in love with it. I had an s80 t6 before that and I had driven it for years and thought nothing could be better till I got this car. But after work today I was in the process of deleting the 4WS and There is some rust but all surface so I planned on sandblasting and restoring it to the utmost racecar condition. But at the very corner of my eye I see a pinch weld has some cancerous looking rust and then I begin to poke at it and a section about 5 inches long just gets knocked out. It isn't very sever but its super shitty and I think I may get some sheetmetal and weld it back together. Have any of you went through some rust nightmares and made a beautiful car?
 

cheekychimp

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2004
Messages
7,333
Location
East Sussex, U.K.
PM Richard "misterfixit" in the UK. He will tell you nightmares about rust and yet he has built a solid and very cool daily driver.
 

raptorWagon

Well-known member
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
2,827
Location
Oak Harbor, WA
That's my current goal on my car, I've had to replace the whole rear suspension for rust and now the rear underbody is next in line. What you describe, sounds pretty easy compared to what I've seen underneath 1350.
 

SmoothCustomer

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Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
3,319
Location
Lexington, KY
To elaborate... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif Yes I would repair any rust welding in sheet metal where necessary and por-15 it up nice and that will help prevent rust in the future. And when I say help it (pretty much) eliminates the chance of rust.
 

ApexHunter

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
1,992
Location
Marysville, WA
I'm going through it too. So far i've got 3 holes. One about 1" or so in diameter in the driver's footwell, and then one in each front wheel well, both on a seam in the same area. Driver's side (pictured) got as much of the rotted stuff out as possible then used rattle can Rustoleum primer and paint. The passenger side one, same deal but used POR-15. Same for the one in the footwell. POR-15 is great stuff. I coated a relatively large portion of the rear undercarriage with it too just to kill surface rust and because it's pretty durable stuff. As far as a permanent solution to those 3 fully rotted areas, the plan is to cut out whatever's left and patch.

I didn't know about any of the fully rotted areas when i bought the car. The next one i get i will be going over with a fine toothed comb as you couldn't even see this, i found it by prodding and prying with a large screwdriver. I freakin hate this sh*t. It sucked so bad each time finding it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bawling.gif I know it could be much worse though.

 

NateCrisman

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
2,054
Location
Blairstown, NJ
This one rusted the chassis so bad that the floor literally fell apart causing the car to fall off the lift when one of the rear arms went throught the floor and into the rear seat area.
959135132_6U9Yg-L.jpg
 

Ralli380Gvr4

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Joined
Dec 27, 2006
Messages
587
Location
BOULDERADO/UWS-NYC/BURQUE
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif
 

SmoothCustomer

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Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
3,319
Location
Lexington, KY
Quoting NateCrisman:
This one rusted the chassis so bad that the floor literally fell apart causing the car to fall off the lift when one of the rear arms went throught the floor and into the rear seat area.
959135132_6U9Yg-L.jpg




Is that Tim's?
 

donkeylips

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
552
Location
Rochester, NY
That right thar is ROCHESTER, NY RUST!
I've driven that car.
 

SouthCaliVR4

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
984
Location
North county San Diego
Posts like these make me so happy I live on the west coast, sorry not trying to rub it in, I really do sympathise. Especially after years of restoring muscle cars, talk about fixing cancer.
 

Lol nate thats sick dude

Quoting NateCrisman:
This one rusted the chassis so bad that the floor literally fell apart causing the car to fall off the lift when one of the rear arms went throught the floor and into the rear seat area.
959135132_6U9Yg-L.jpg


 

NateCrisman

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
2,054
Location
Blairstown, NJ
yeah, that was 255/2000 from Rochester NY (GreenGSX....he's the One Lap guy). This car was rotted so bad on the pass side from water getting through the windshield glass seal and running down the firewall. When I was removing the engine wiring harness during the partout, the harness is fastened to the firewall with a few phillips screws that were so rusted, I couln't remove them. BUT.....pulling on the engine harness itslef was enough to get the harness out....WITH THE FIREWALL ATTACHED! I pulled a good 3 square feet of firewall off by hand. Maybe enough that my 3 year old son could have wiggled his way from the pass seat area into the engine bay via the new under dash passageway. hahahaha

I mean, yeah, the rocker pannels were rotted completely through as were the bottoms of the doors and much of the area that mounted the rear subframe. The car was a goner from rust cancer in those areas anyway from typical rust due to snowy winter use. The windshield rot damage could have happened to a southern california car easily. Don't be fooled into thinking a southern/western car is immune to rust just because the climate is warm and dry. A leaking windshield seal lets water soak the sound deadning mat and the carpet underside...which holds water against sheetmetal pretty much forever.

A few more pics of rot:

Pass floor that's now ready for Flintstone family use:
750340840_4WmUY-L.jpg


Hollow rocker pannels
750347070_QQgUk-L.jpg

750347159_XwTaK-L.jpg

 
Last edited:

G

Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
8,896
Location
zompton
Holy sh*t. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bawling.gif
 

TSimage

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
161
Location
Sacramento
We got cars 100yrs old out here that don't look anything close to that bad.. man. Fk movin' east. All my bolts break free like they were brand new from factory lol.
 

GIjoe

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
Messages
1,044
Location
Budapest
Quoting NateCrisman:
yeah, that was 255/2000 from Rochester NY (GreenGSX....he's the One Lap guy). This car was rotted so bad on the pass side from water getting through the windshield glass seal and running down the firewall. When I was removing the engine wiring harness during the partout, the harness is fastened to the firewall with a few phillips screws that were so rusted, I couln't remove them. BUT.....pulling on the engine harness itslef was enough to get the harness out....WITH THE FIREWALL ATTACHED! I pulled a good 3 square feet of firewall off by hand. Maybe enough that my 3 year old son could have wiggled his way from the pass seat area into the engine bay via the new under dash passageway. hahahaha

I mean, yeah, the rocker pannels were rotted completely through as were the bottoms of the doors and much of the area that mounted the rear subframe. The car was a goner from rust cancer in those areas anyway from typical rust due to snowy winter use. The windshield rot damage could have happened to a southern california car easily. Don't be fooled into thinking a southern/western car is immune to rust just because the climate is warm and dry. A leaking windshield seal lets water soak the sound deadning mat and the carpet underside...which holds water against sheetmetal pretty much forever.

A few more pics of rot:

Pass floor that's now ready for Flintstone family use:




Jesus Christ! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bawling.gif I really need to start fixing my rust issues before its too late!
 

gtluke

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2001
Messages
4,210
Location
dirty jersey
Something really weird must have happened to that car like it got sandblasted with salt or something.
I live in north east Jersey and I've driven mine every single winter, and I have a little surface rust on the A pillars and some new surface rust under the doglegs I have to take care of this year. And the normal bit on the bottom inside of the doors.
 

GreenGSX

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
681
Location
Rochester, New York
The wind shield glass was replaced and the installer scratched the hell out of the channel that holds the glass. That caused some serious rot around the windshield which allowed water to leak in. The water pooled inside the a-pillar, the side rails, and by the front wheel. The car also sat outside for a year before I bought it and that after I drove it for a winter it was stored in a garage for almost another year before I put it back on the road. From there is was my winter car for two years and was only driven in the summer a couple a times a month. I autocrossed it a few times and put most of my old race car parts on it so it was fund to drive.

When I sold it to Nate it still looked OK from the outside and went down the road without any problems. There was no outward sign that it was that far gone and really the only way to know would have been for me to tear it apart like Nate did. If I had know it was that far gone I would not have tried to sell it as a "car" I would have parted it out myself or found somebody who would for me. I can't imagine what that car would have done if it were ever in and accident.
 
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