How bad is my rust?
 

Hello all. I have a '91 S13. The rust on my car has been causing a lot of concern for me. I don't really know where it is, maybe a sort of radiator core support or bumper support. I would just like opinions on how bad it is, how much it may potentially cost, or even if it's worth keeping my car. I am the 3rd owner and this car only has 58k miles, which is the only reason why I want to keep it because it drives great. I'm gonna upload a series of photos here. Sorry if they may be too big.

http://i.imgur.com/RVeBBuSh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/U4SH2U2h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/D2oNhhZh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0kyQcPmh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gxsqqrFh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Cs0OPmLh.jpg

If the bumper support and headlight brackets are that rusted, I can only imagine how much worst the rest of the car is. Start peeking under the car, I bet the damn frame rails looks like termites ate it.

wow..i thought my rust was bad. and im in the northeast. that's really bad. especially for california.

LOL beat me to it!

You can throw that low mileage figure out the window if the whole damn car is infested with rust.

Looks like the parts that are rusted to shit can be replaced. Hit up the junk yards.

But yeah your gonna need to scope out the whole car just incase.

The strange thing is that this is the only area of major rusting. Frame rails are fine. The only other area is just minor surface rust around the door sill area. I'll probably just take this to a body shop to get it looked at since I don't know what other potential parts I'll need to look for and replace from a junkyard run.

Pull your interior plastics in the read behind the doors. Look down in the voids. If you see a shit load of rust, that car needs to be donated to the scrap yard.

Ok, that's a bit drastic, but in all seriousness, take a awl and poke at your frame rails. You may not be able to see it, but they could be soft spots.

the components in the photos are easily unbolted and replaced.
like previously stated, if you have this level of rust in other places like floorpans and frame rails then its a whole other mess.

i'd set that radiator on fire while you're at it.

..............................

Thank you guys for your honest opinions, I appreciate it.

What radiator? I don't see a radiator in any of these photos. I do, however, see an a/c condenser.

My bad I don't have AC so I'm not familiar with it -__-

If what's in the pictures is the totality of it, you're mostly fine. Radiator support back looks OK.

The bumper metal isn't a big deal... you can get used bumpers for a song. The two uprights with the 2x 10mm bolts either side... those you can easily find as well.

If I was you, I'd spend a few hours drinking a few beers to pull that front bumper off. Get it off and get a look at what all is rusted.. if it's much worse you can ask here obviously.

Don't throw it away yet.

OP's car sleeping the last 5 years
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/710/dscf0003mc.jpg

Thank you. If any of you would like, I'll take some pictures of the rest of the undercarriage of the car since you may have better trained eyes than mine. Are there any other potentially hidden areas where rust may linger? Again, I'm just as confused since this car has been around in California only.

also spray a fuck load of kroil or pb blaster before you try to loosen any of those bolts so they don't shear off.

your location says SF, i've seen a number of cars that are close to the ocean (morro bay, santa cruz, etc) that get eaten up from the salt in the air and the moisture from the ocean, so its not something terribly uncommon, especially if the car was parked outdoors

Yes, I live close to the ocean. The original owner was from Monterey..which probably doesn't help either.

If the headlight brackets look that rusted and chewed up, I'm still willing to bet that under the car doesnt look so hot. I'd check under the windshield wiper cowls, and rear wheel wells.

I need a tetanus shot just from looking at that.

I dub that car the USS rustoleum

from what I see its not bad because all those parts can be replaced. What scares me is if thats rusted what else is? if thats it then you're golden.

Hello all. I didn't have time to jack up the car today(or next week since I'll be out of town) but I took a bunch of quick pictures crawling underneath the car since I'm still on original suspension. For whatever reason the front fender lining was already not on so I took a picture of the metal underneath.. seemed okay. The rest of it, you can judge for yourself.

It certainly doesn't seem bad from the pictures but still puts into perspective that this car is old and sitting close to the bay doesn't quite help...I've been torn about selling it to someone who has more time to take care of it.

Here's the link to the album I made.

S13 Under - Imgur

Pics kinda suck, we are interested in the important places. Anything replaceable doesn't matter, there are enough used stock parts floating around to rebuild anything.

Go Google Image search for "s13 rust", look at where other people get rust, then check the same spot on your car. If you find rust on parts that can't be unbolted, could be bad.

Sorry, I'll get better pictures ASAP.

dam thats bad!

well here my take on it....

That car appears to be what i would say 40% of the way rusted to the point i wouldn't touch it.


The bolts on the underside of the car are rusted and some look worse than others. Being you have only severe rust on the front support, i would replace those pieces. As far as "working" on the car such as if the car were to need bushings which i can see it needs very badly, be prepared for the heads of bolts to just fall off when attempting to remove the bolts. Be prepared with a air powered cutting wheel, torch, a welder and a lot of damn elbow grease.

The car is fixable but omg would that be a PITA to work on that particular car being it is not completely trashed but it is at the point where every nut and bolt on the damn underside/undercarriage of the s13 will not come off or just break.... be ready for some serious work, or sell it and get a better 13 or 14.