Rust on frame rail. worth fixing?

[NoGoHatchS13]

i have rust on the drivers side frame rail towards the engine bay. it has a hole on two sides. the holes are about two inches length wise. i dont have any pics right now but. if you know what i can do let me know. thanks

[lflkajfj12123]

nope trash that shit

[NoGoHatchS13]

ah shit thats what i thought. damn. thanks

[lflkajfj12123]

shop will charge you 1-2k to redo the whole rails

which is probably the same price as a new s13

if you're lucky you can find some handy welder who may hook it up cheap

but still if the rust is that bad there you're likely to find more of it which means PIA

[IIIXziuR]

It can be fixed but, yes most likely costly.
I have seen guys make weld on patch braces.

...get some pics of though dude.

[Rapier46]

We fixed my buddies rusty ass s13. Now it's perfect. as long as it doesn't find another way to rust. Had to cut out the rust, weld in new pieces and make it look pretty. It's alot of work. Frame rails are tricky though. Gotta do it right for strength.

[lazysk8er2]

patch then drive it till it falls off?

[ChicagoS14]

My S13 has some rust on the frame rails and it drives fine. Im gonna do some patch job welding when I get a chance to. Yeah it can be costly at a professional body shop but I mean at the same time eventually many of these cars will be rusted so if people keep trashing them LOL there wont be shit to drive anymore LOL. If its not too bad id say find someone that welds and have them patch it up. Especially if its not that big of a hole.

[Ragnarok043]

its only worth it if you can do it yourself, somebody here has a build thread in which he welds a new frame rail.

[aoiken3]

^^wat he said. if i remember, those replacement rails cost him like a few hundreds and he redid both sides on his own saving him bank. if you can weld, you should go that route

[White Comet]

i agree, junk it. what you don't see is more of the frame rotted inside in teh area surrounding the hole. its probably rotted through at least another 3 inches in either direction

[arkive43]

what about strengthening the frame rails is it worth it . a lot of us like to ride dumped, and ive hit my frame on a skiny speed bump and dented it lol. it sukd.

[Taniguchi_Is_#1]

i have rust

that's all i need to read to tell you no.

[slothonaleash]

Both my rails are rusted to bits in the same location as yours. I got over it and just drive the car without thinking about it.

Makes my outlook on life a little better.

I'm not dead yet, I can't really tell the difference... it's just ugly and I end up with a little pile of rust chips under the frame rail every time I jack up one side of the car on the rail :)

[nikonzero]

this sounds like the 240 i just bought.

[iampoor]

ive got the same problem. just find a friend to weld it. like somebody said earlier get rid of the rust and just stitch weld some sheet metal and brackets on there.

[S14DB]

The crash rails or the frame rails? The frame rails are along your door sills were the pinch welds are. The rails in the middle are for controlling crumpling during a crash.

[Bubbles]

Get some pics, I'd like to see it.

[Jung918]

dude, looks really bad.

[gregfarz78]

You can buy new frame rails from nissan for under $100 I think there were around $60-80 last I checked, so if you have a friend that welds its worth it to keep it a shop would charge way too much to do it

[singlecamcammed240]

the guy i bought my car from took mine to frame shop to have this done he said he paid them 500 to fix it. it looks like they used 1/8th inch plate and it looks good this happens to alot of 240's in the rust belt, and with that fixed the car is rust free.in the newer 240's it did not happen becuase they put holes there to prevent condensation from getting locked in the frame rails. so if thats the only major rust on the car i would fix it.

[QuickSpoolSR]

omg dont trash it lol wtf, you can get that frame rail peice from nissan for like 70 bucks, cut out the old one and weld this one in... haha dont trash it lol

[nsn240]

omg dont trash it lol wtf, you can get that frame rail peice from nissan for like 70 bucks, cut out the old one and weld this one in... haha dont trash it lol

Agreed...

Do you know where you can order it from or the actual PN?

[miggypq21]

I think that exact frame rail you're talking about has been discontinued.

I could be wrong though.

[r6_240sx]

It's fixable with some welding skills, the only thing you have to worry about is where else is the rust hiding...

[OutToWinPAHC]

My shell was like that but I had it fixed at a local shop here in Philly. The cut it all out plated it and tig welded it all then boxed it in. Think it was 300 bucks ontop of what else I had done.

[iampoor]

drive it until it falls apart or...if you dont have the kind of money to " Trash it " get a friend to weld it. god damn its no that big of a deal. just catch it early

[Walperstyle]

pull a 'dent sport garage' with it

...unless you dont know how to weld

[duffman1278]

I say weld it. It shouldn't be too much work. But then again I've never done it.

Just make sure you don't have all kinds of other rust hiding anywhere else.

[JRas]

It's an old car.. you can't expect it to be new like

as long as it's not BAD do your best to fix it

think of old classic cars.. that actually have worse rust than you. They still fix it though :D

[nsn240]

I think that exact frame rail you're talking about has been discontinued.

I could be wrong though.

It seems like it, I can't get information from anyone about it. Definitely the best way of fixing it though. Drill the spot welds and replace.