Rust on frame rail

[Jah1mon]

I know this is a popular topic among s13 owners. I have little experience with body work, so I need some advice.

I sanded down the undercoating and paint in the passenger side wheel well because of bubbling issues. I found rust developing in between the seams of the frame rail.


The metal is still intact, but it feels a little fatigued to the touch. I don't think I can get away with just using a rust stopper like POR-15. Will wielding and patching be in order?



Some people have worst rust issues with there frame rails, but would this rust issue mean the car is scrap?


http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff350/jah1mon/Rust1.jpg


http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff350/jah1mon/Rust2.jpg


http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff350/jah1mon/Rust3.jpg


http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff350/jah1mon/Rust4.jpg

[clark]

yeah that rust doesn't seem that bad. if it does feel fatigued, then yeah, chop out the fatigued part and weld in a new patch.

if you have extra cash, buy the frame rail.

nissan sells frame rails. user "jon_mr2" on here took his out, and welded a new frame rail in. check his build thread.

[S14_Kouki]

Yea the only true way to fix rust is to cut out old and weld in new

[nsn240]

do they still sell the rails? I thought someone posted in jon_mr2's thread that they were done

[Jah1mon]

Yea, I just looked up Courtesy Nissan, website says no longer for sale on rails.

[jon_mr2]

i had so many people pm me or ask about this ever since i posted it.

here is where i purchased it from, not too sure if they still sell it, but you could check and see. heres the link:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getLocator&siteid=214761&chapter=AEF3713&appSectionid=2399&groupid=51837&subgroupid=2668&componentid=0&make=25&model=240sx&year=1989&graphicID=3713270&callout=8&catalogid=2

click on 8) extension right, and it will give you listings for the left and right side peices you are looking for. hope that helps.

Jon

[Jah1mon]

Many thanks for the link.

[ranger240]

oh man that site is tempting with the idea of just buying up n.o.s. body parts for some monumental resto work in the future

another thought is to buy up front clip half cuts sans parts, as that japanese stuff is likely in better condition and w less rust... that should also afford you with a good patch pannel for that dogleg part of the frame rail

[Jah1mon]

I have a front clip already. But some of the Japanese parts are rusting in the same area. I'm also not that sure how strong the metal is considering it has been sitting for a while.

[boske]

Hey man, that frame doesn't look bad at all. Things always rust different, but that looks a lot nicer than the ones I have seen, so you should be in good shape. You can bang around the frame with a hammer to feel for solid metal, if your hammer goes through you'll need some patch work.

edit: also, there isn't much you can do, that I know of, to stop that area from rusting. The frame rails seem to rust from the inside, so anything you do to protect the outside is only hiding the problem for a while. If you have some soft spots, you could patch them up and have a very solid repair for years, there is no reason to replace the rail at this point it is 100 times more labor and you would be good for another 10 years or more with just a patch.

[Bigsyke]

Wheres the rust? you should see mine

[jon_mr2]

Wheres the rust? you should see mine

yeah, for reals... thats really not too bad. mine was pretty bad, but ive seen even worse. but then again, sometimes rust works from the inside out, hiding in all those damn places you cant see and all of a sudden breaks through the surface eventually creating a huge problem...

[Jah1mon]

Yea, I just wanted to stop this before it becomes anymore serious.

The rest of the rail is fine, so maybe just a patch job would be required.

[blackoutt]

just make sure you cut out more than you think around it, like 25% more, because rust spreads like cancer.

[Bigsyke]

Get some rust bullet, I got a container of that, works better than por15. Just dont get it on your hands...if you do, you will quickly understand why it works soo good.

[93nismo]

if you were to cut into a seam like that it could potentialy hurt the structural integrity of the car. meaning if you smack a wall on that side you might be fucked.. so the bost thing for you to do would be to replace the whole thing. just patching might affect a crush zone or something like that. and you dont want to make that part stronger either. just not a good thing. but i suppose if you dont care go for it.

[lazysk8er2]

ahh you guys just bring it in for warranty im sure nissan will be more than happy to cover this for you.

[Jah1mon]

Get some rust bullet, I got a container of that, works better than por15. Just dont get it on your hands...if you do, you will quickly understand why it works soo good.

I've tried both products, and I prefer POR-15. It spreads easier with a brush, comes in black, and sets with little to no bubbles.

if you were to cut into a seam like that it could potentialy hurt the structural integrity of the car. meaning if you smack a wall on that side you might be fucked.. so the bost thing for you to do would be to replace the whole thing. just patching might affect a crush zone or something like that. and you dont want to make that part stronger either. just not a good thing. but i suppose if you dont care go for it.

This is a concern of mine, but it's rusting in-between the seam, so I think both pieces would be replaced. I'm not sure if Nissan still sells both pieces of sheet metal, and it would be extensive work to remove the frame rail and upper apron.

[93nismo]

This is a concern of mine, but it's rusting in-between the seam, so I think both pieces would be replaced. I'm not sure if Nissan still sells both pieces of sheet metal, and it would be extensive work to remove the frame rail and upper apron.

what you might be able to do is replace one part of the rail, the easiest to remove, and while its off you may be able to patch just the section you dident remove.(hope that made sense) that way you arnt cutting a hole and ruining the original seam. that i dont think would affect the crush zones as much, if theres even one around there. its deffinitly something to look into and plan out ahead of time. you might want to go to a collision shop thats reputable and ask them what they would suggest as far as patching it. you might be able to just get away with cutting and replaceing. id just make sure your 100% sure it wont affect anything.