Would you keep or sell a Kouki with this rust?

[Ichi]

Since I'm a rust noob, I'm trying to get opinions on whether to keep or sell my Kouki which has some rust issues on the underbody due to East Coast road salt. Pics are below...I apologize for the photo quality since I only had my 1.3 camera phone on me when I brought it in, and I only had a few minutes to snap some shots.

Basically the main rust issues on the underbody are the downpipe, entire exhaust assembly, sways, axle end assemblies, various screws and some random pipe/fasteners. I tried to get the worst areas with the pics. Wheelwell panels and the surrounding areas aren't very rusty, though there may be a hint of it. Bottom panels and the like are fairly clean, but the rust is pretty bad on the sections mentioned above.

About the car, it's a 1997 Kouki in black, 5-speed, 113K miles, bone stock, and no other major issues that I know of. Given the rust problems, would you keep it or sell it? I don't mind trying to fix the rust but I've heard that it's like a cancer and will keep coming back. I know I can replace most of the sections for clean ones, but is it even worth it since some of the rusty parts can't be swapped out easily (axle ends, etc.)... Will rust spread from contaminated parts to clean ones? A couple of my friends told me to sell it and find another since it's too much hassle, but stock S14a's are hard to find. What do you think? Thanks for your opinion!


http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2240/rust2bd4.th.jpg (http://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rust2bd4.jpg)
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2299/rust4ez7.th.jpg (http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rust4ez7.jpg)
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8158/rust3yn1.th.jpg (http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rust3yn1.jpg)
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/6367/rust7dw3.th.jpg (http://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rust7dw3.jpg)
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/8122/rust6el0.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rust6el0.jpg)
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/470/rust5if4.th.jpg (http://img253.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rust5if4.jpg)

[Jung918]

That type of rust is not bad at all. As long as you do not have rust on the chassis, you should be good. Even if you had rust on the chassis, you have the option of cut and welding a new piece in. I think you are over reacting. Most of the parts that are rusted are replaceable. Just upgrade them.
I thought on the east coast there are places that spray the underside of your car?

[Bryants95240sx]

if thats the only things that are rusted then its no biggie. keep it

[khmerguy618]

Thats a gang of rust. If I were you I would sell the car to khmerguy.

But like everyone else said, it's not bad at all.

[street240]

Keep it 4 show.

[joshuaput]

I wouldnt keep it at all. thats only going to cause you problems. J/k

So Ill take it off your hands for free to do you a favor;) J/k(unless you wanna do it)

no thats not bad rust at all. If your really worried about it just replace the parts(they arent that hard to replace) when you upgrade.

Good luck with it.

[Vision Garage]

Hahaha. Look at everyone trying to come up. Keep it. All the parts you showed that has rust will pretty much be replaced when you upgrade, or you can clean it off with some sandpaper. Make sure you paint over any bare metal you find to prevent rust from coming back. Nice car BTW. And as long as there isnt a much amount of rust on the frame you are good to go.

PS. Your friends are just jealous!

[slapinfunk]

if your gonna do anything with the car your gonna replace most of those parts anyway...

[surge s14]

you should sale it to me :D

[zenki-217]

Is this a joke?

[CA18_S13]

only looks like surface rust just needs to be sanded down then painted.

[FinalDrive]

keep it
all of the affected parts will be replaced when you upgrade
if you're looking to keep it oem, there are a ton of people who upgraded those parts and would sell the original parts CHEAP

[koukimonster139]

lmao.


"theres rust on some bolts and my exhaust I think I'll sell it"

dude you can fucking take a piece of sand paper, sand that shit down for like 15 seconds and spraypaint the rusty shit black. That or take all the rusty shit off, sandblast it, prime it, and paint it.

btw what the fuck is a stock s14.5???

[FinalDrive]

^ he probably means kouki s14

[silviaz]

LOL! a 3 years old car who've seen winter where I'm living will have more rust than that !!!!! IMO, I still find your car fucking clean!!!!!!!!!!

change that exaust system and you'll be set!

[S13SilviaGirl]

Tell ya what give it to me! I will take that rust bucket :keke:

[Ichi]

I heard rust spreads and/or keeps coming back even if you sand it down and such, so I wasn't sure if this level of rust would cause problems to other sections later on (never had a car with rust issues before).

Seems like the consensus is that it's minor so I'll look into fixing it. Thanks for the replies!

[Farzam]

It's not even minor.

It's not even worth mentioning.

I've seen brand new Bimmers with more rust under em.

I used to live in RI, believe me I know rust.

Go por-15 your wheel wells and anything you can and then get a new exhaust/bolts/whatever and be happy your undercarriage is spotless.

By the way jung918 said something about places that coat the bottom of your car...never heard of that.

[O3DigitalBath]

It's not even minor.

It's not even worth mentioning.

I've seen brand new Bimmers with more rust under em.



exactly, I saw a new ford explorer with manuf. date of 4/07 so the damn thing with only like a month old, and had just at 3k on the odo..... every single spindle, driveshaft, and parts of the exhaust had surface rust on them already...

don't sweat it if your 10+ year old car has the same sorta things that a lot of cars see a few weeks after they leave the lot.

[exitspeed]

Don't listen to these guys. They know nothing. Check the rep. ;)

That car has cancer. Sell it now before it's too late.

I'll give you $3000 for it now, but I'd really be doing you a favor.

[ranger240]

ha you california people are soo spoiled jk... you guys see 30+ year old cars daily, seeing a junker that old is a rare sight over here... because our shit rustssss
my next s13 will be a southern car for sure

[speedstar01]

oh-my-lanta! that rust is nothing to worry about since most of the rusty parts will be completely replaced with upgrades in your future. what part of the east coast did you get this car from again???

i, as a fellow new yorker, be more than thrilled with a 97 this nice :) LUCKY!

[Snoopy]

Is this a joke?

Ill double on that.. I live on the east coast.. BIG DEAL ITS RUST THAT YOU DONT SEE! Get over it! Your car is not going to fall apart because of rust on the axles kid

[azndoc]

Don't listen to these guys. They know nothing. Check the rep. ;)

That car has cancer. Sell it now before it's too late.

I'll give you $3000 for it now, but I'd really be doing you a favor.


LOLz, I myself agree with Exitspeed. If your questioning it then obviously your not up that kind of task of removing the rust. So you should sell it. Perhaps to me.......

[cgguy]

We Canadian drivers can only dream of our cars looking that good.

[heyitzalan]

you got be kidding me

[jim1234664]

come back on here when you can stick your hands thru both frame rails like me :eek2:

[DJ_Sunrise]

if my eyes dont deceive me, everything rusted can be changed out quick without a prob besides the subframe.. that will take a bit of effort, but once again.. it can be changed out.. grab some sand paper and go to town. then rustoleum line the shit.. they sell underbody spray. but the crinkle type shit and you're good to go. i wound out sanding everything i could, then lining the complete underbody.

-Bart

[Ninjabread]

haha. ha. ha.

you call that rust?

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h160/Mathieu1989/DSC01934.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h160/Mathieu1989/DSC01933.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h160/Mathieu1989/DSC01943.jpg

And this one isnt bad.

[Irukandji]

Someone post Barry's OLD chassis... the one that looks like it took a mudbath

[IIIXziuR]

Yeah that rust is nothing like everyone said. no sweat
If you are really worried, sand and POR-15 the chassis like Farzam said.

You can even get some spray on undercoating after you have neutralized the rust. I think the East Coast S13 guys have it the worst when it comes to rust.

[sidewayz240]

When you car starts looking like this then you might want to worry.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b118/sidewayz240/DSC00472.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b118/sidewayz240/DSC00465.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b118/sidewayz240/DSC00464.jpg

[Ninjabread]

Can you say : no undercoating.

[IIIXziuR]

^wow that looks the the Titanic, present day