My 95 S14 project begins... but wait! RUST already?? A little experience please :~]

[BoostTaco]

Off to the project I go! Right off the bat... Rust fml. This is pictures on both sides of the car. Drivers side rocker is rocked and inner also there is a pic of some other funky rust spot that I picked at with a screwdriver... The other pics are of the passenger sides outter rocker I believe it is, please correct me if I'm wrong- and the passenger and driverside quarterpanel.. The actual chassis is rust free. Should I be crapping my pants that I just bought a 2jz that will be here in a few days or is this doable still. I really appreciate the help I'm totally new.. Also is there any other spots I should check for rust like in the trunk or anything under the backseat? It looks like through a hole through the back wheel well I could see some corrosion . Thank you!

-Nick :wtf:

[BoostTaco]

Off to the project I go! Right off the bat... Rust fml. This is pictures on both sides of the car. Drivers side rocker is rocked and inner also there is a pic of some other funky rust spot that I picked at with a screwdriver... The other pics are of the passenger sides outter rocker I believe it is, please correct me if I'm wrong- and the passenger and driverside quarterpanel.. The actual chassis is rust free. Should I be crapping my pants that I just bought a 2jz that will be here in a few days or is this doable still. I really appreciate the help I'm totally new.. Also is there any other spots I should check for rust like in the trunk or anything under the backseat? It looks like through a hole through the back wheel well I could see some corrosion . Thank you!

-Nick :wtf:

1300 is the driverside rocker, 1304, 1308,1309,1310 are the spots below it. This is the rust I'm really concerned about. The other long spot of rust is down the passenger rocker. I hope this makes sense thanks again!

[the a3k]

i have rust on both sides also under the doors, it sucks!

[Silvia716]

Get your self some pb buster a grinder, some sheet metal, and a welding machine and go to town o and some paint to protect the new metal

[BoostTaco]

Get your self some pb buster a grinder, some sheet metal, and a welding machine and go to town o and some paint to protect the new metal

Pb buster is penetrating catalyst? correct?

[Silvia716]

Yeah it breaks up rust it also can he used for lubricant for drills and grinder

[BoostTaco]

Yeah it breaks up rust it also can he used for lubricant for drills and grinder

Thanks! On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is this would you say from experience?

[R33E8]

i wouldn't have bought it.. there is probably more rust you haven't found yet..

[BoostTaco]

Oh I've found more.

fml

Oh well

[Silvia716]

Thanks! On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is this would you say from experience?

Like a 7-8 because some shit you might be able to grind down to good metal and paint it and other things will need to be cut out fabricated and welded in and painted

[evomike]

All rust has to be cut out go further then you think you have to or it'll come right back, rust is awful and my least favorite thing to deal with.

[Silvia716]

Like a 7-8 because some shit you might be able to grind down to good metal and paint it and other things will need to be cut out fabricated and welded in and painted

All rust has to be cut out go further then you think you have to or it'll come right back, rust is awful and my least favorite thing to deal with.

You don't have to go further than you think when you see good metal stop. Rust mainly happens due to unprotected metal aka bare metal exposed to oxygen just make sure you get a good primer

[Darren]

I would think that Minnesota cars are almost always going to have rust. The only way to protect against it is to get, and maintain (ie, redo every 5 years) a good solid corrosion protection.

Sounds like you got a decent car for your area. But that doesn't mean you don't have some work to do.

I agree with R33E8, you won't have found all the rust... best thing to do is strip out the interior while you're working on it, and have a good visual inspection around the inner wheel wells and floor boards, give everything a good cleaning and get out some good truck bed liner/rocker guard and coat everything that's not going to be visible (or you could paint it) so there's no visible metal. Same with the rockers, once you've cut out the cancer (rule of thumb is about 1" past where the last visible signs of rust are) and welded in new pieces.

If you don't want to spend your life forming metal, you can probably go to an auto body supply store and get replacement panels for your car, being that it's newer.

Good luck

Edit: Make sure you grind everything down really well first (re Silvia76), you might find that you don't have to cut nearly as much as you thought. If the metal is clear of most pitting, you can coat it with something like Por15 to stop further corrosion. Only if the rust goes deep into the metal and cannot be ground out, should you cut it out.

[theboy]

ouch, ya midwest s14s are good at rusting at the rockers. good news tho, if your making a race car your probably going to cover the bad spots with skirts. bad news, you still need to cut out the bad spots, and at least 1/4" past because rust will reappear due to dirty metal. While your doing all this fab work to save this chassis i would also recomend you checking shock towers (top seam and lower by where the brake line goes to the caliper), floor boards (driver side where it curls up to the fire wall), and also the frame rails.

Plus side to this. Youll have an awesome "how to save this hunk of shit i bought" post, and you have a ton of experience fabricating so youll be able to do your homework and strengthen the car where it needs it.

but seriously, find and fix the bad spots and then cover them up with skirts and overs

[rjtrout2000]

My S13 Hatch I recently purchased also ha s a little rust. There are a lot of videos out there showing quick and informative "how to" on removing rust. It looks like the two big things that you need to remember is to:

1. Grind down to the good metal then spray a rust inhibitor and prime well.

2. Fill with a high quality fiberglass filler. I bought some 3M body filler at my local body shop supply store and it should work well to fill in the pieces that I need to fill.

Rust is something you need to tackle though for sure. Good luck sir

[Silvia716]

Yeah the spray in bed liner is the shit for the under body and it only cost about 60 bucks if you do that just make sure all rust is taken care of and you wash off dirt, oil and grease.

[BoostTaco]

Thank you for all the advice !