Poorly repaired crash damage

[Monkey_Science]

I recently purchased a 1990 CA18det 180sx (I'm in Australia), and being the ass I am, I disobeyed two of the biggest rules in inspecting a car when I checked it out. I looked at it by myself and at night.

Anyway once I got a chance to have a decent look at it the next day, it became apparent that the car was in a decent accident at some stage (most likley in Japan, it's a grey import btw) i.e. one pop up not sitting flush with the bumper, door scraping on front quarter panel, front wheel arch plastic trim not screwed on correctly.

After opening the hood I was greeted with this:

(Note the patches of rust and cracks on the seams at the top of the shock towers, sections were the seam has come adrift, wavy dents in the tower it's self and poorly applied bondo at the top of the seam where the shock tower is joined to the wheel arch (I know that there was some sealant from the factory in this spot, but I doubt that this is the factory job).

(may be too big for 56k)

Right hand side:

[img=http://img7.echo.cx/img7/4958/rhs18hh.th.jpg] (http://img7.echo.cx/my.php?image=rhs18hh.jpg)

[img=http://img7.echo.cx/img7/8098/rhs27ht.th.jpg] (http://img7.echo.cx/my.php?image=rhs27ht.jpg)

[img=http://img299.echo.cx/img299/5182/rhs35nd.th.jpg] (http://img299.echo.cx/my.php?image=rhs35nd.jpg)

[img=http://img299.echo.cx/img299/7881/rhs48xi.th.jpg] (http://img299.echo.cx/my.php?image=rhs48xi.jpg)

[img=http://img299.echo.cx/img299/452/rhs54be.th.jpg] (http://img299.echo.cx/my.php?image=rhs54be.jpg)

Left hand side:

[img=http://img7.echo.cx/img7/7995/lhs17bg.th.jpg] (http://img7.echo.cx/my.php?image=lhs17bg.jpg)

[img=http://img7.echo.cx/img7/660/lhs21ja.th.jpg] (http://img7.echo.cx/my.php?image=lhs21ja.jpg)

At least it was reasonably cheap I guess... :(

I'm also pretty concerned about the damage I can't see, in particular what's behind the right hand quarter panel as that seems to be where most of the damage is.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure most of this is un-repairable, or simply too expensive to repair, especially the large spots of rust along the seams of the shock towers. Am I right about it not being repairable/worth fixing, and do I need to get in the market for a clean s13 shell ? (not an easy task in Aus)

[m0rex]

All that rust in that area is really common problem for s13s i've seen worse.

[aznpoopy]

maybe its just the pics but it doesnt look bad at all to me

i just see rust, which you can fix

take off the fender and check out the other side

unless the shock tower mount is coming apart from the body, i wouldn't be all that worried

if the pop up isnt sitting flush with the body (closed i'm assuming) try lubricating the joints

on 2nd gen rx7s, the headlights will do the same thing if there isn't enough grease

[mrmephistopheles]

none of those pics look like they're showing any repair work. That looks like typical common s13 rust problem on factory seams. Have a look under the wheel arches and at the framerails.