i know its not really the frame rail but on the drivers side where the pinch welds up front are are rotted threw....should i ditch it or weld a channel in there

 

this thread is useless without pics

 

as you can at the bottom of the pic there is the nice nast hole. looks like someone tried jacking there and crushed it and it rusted threw. sucks cause the rest of the car is in good shape. Only other spot is where one of the rear links ties into body. but i know i can fix that for sure

 

could i just box the rail in there??? thats what i was thinking????

 

im not really 100% sure where that is. whatever you do unless you remove ALL of the rust itll come back.

nice looking car though. you may way to consider buying another and swapping everything over to it.

 

it probly rusted inside and out but if its not you put some POR15 on it and be fine with. POR15 is painted on and it sucks the moisture out of the rust and stops it dead in its tracks

 

I say if she has a nasty crusty rust hole you better be careful what you stick in there.

 

drivers side right where the frame rail starts to bend to come back...right in front of drivers door where the two rails are seemed let me get a better picture from another car i saw on the forums

 

it sucks i live in wi 1st gens are hard to find. body is flawless up top

Where you see the rust its circled yeah its rusted threw right there i think i might be able to box it. dont want the frame to sag though if i dont....

 

Well, the only permanent way of getting rid of rust is to cut out the affected metal and replace it. If the rust hasnt gotten past the rail itself, it should be pretty easy to cut out that part out and replace it with some C-channel steel. If the rust gets into the floorboard, its gonna be harder to replace. when you cut open the rail, spray POR-15 down inside it, and get all that surface rust off the bottom of the car and get it undercoated. Id Rhino-line it if it were me.

 

I personally think this spot is far beyond POR-15. My good friend has owned and operated a bodyshop for 17 some years. He's a believer in the stuff but I'm not. I've seen it used on different projects where it just didn't do what it claims it's suppose to. Good luck.

 

+1 except fot the undercoating. Maybe they got better stuff now but back in the day that rubber undercoating only worked if its intact. One hole, scrape, tear and it would just collect and hold water and accelerate rust. Maybe the rino liner would be better as protection.

 

I would cut out the rust and weld in some new metal, the nice thing about the rusts location is that it doesn't have to look pretty just make sure its strong!

 

Find a good weld shop and see what they have to say. Any reputable shop will be able to tell you how to remedy that situation.

 

you should get your car sandblasted so it will stop rusting

 

You mean expose the entire steel structure to the weather? That's more ludicrous than your bumper.

Ben, I'd have to agree with everyone else here and say cut it out, the weld it back together. Then I would put POR 15 on it. If it wasn't so bad, I'd just say POR 15 it and call it a day, but it's pretty gnarly.

OR sell me the car.

 

no i mean like get it sandblasted and get somthing put over it so it will not rust.

 

I can't believe he assumed you meant to leave the metal bare......

 

I dont like that nasty *** rubbery oily crap that most people use for undercoating. Rhino lining will not tear or scrape. Its good stuff. My grand-pa had a 1/4" coating in his truck bed, that stuff stood up to everything from throwing concrete blocks and boulders on it, to lumber, his little boat, deer, anything you could throw at it, it would take, and still look good. You can also tint it almost any color you want. The downside is, if you were to put a 1/4" of the stuff on your car (little bit of overkill..) It would probably add about 20 pounds to your car. To me, its worth the protection. Hell, I knew guys that had beater 4 wheelers painted in the stuff, and when they hosed it off it looked new, after a hard day of wheeling.

 

The 3m undercoating seems to work pretty well, but yea Rhino lining would probably be best, and I agree the added weight is a small price to pay to keep your car from rotting away. Just remember to seal the metal with some kind of good primer before undercoating it, don't put undercoating directly on bare metal....

 

Cut the rusted part out. If you look closely, it's spot welded on. Your local autobody supplier should stock a spot weld drill bit, buy one and use it. Channel iron is over kill. Pickup some 16-18 gauge steel sheet and bend up a new piece.

Sandblast all of the affected work area, shoot a weld through primer on before welding, then a primer/sealer after welding. I prefer epoxy for that. Once that's done, I use the Dupli-Color Truck Bed Liner in a spreay can for the final protection.

 

Wotnard pm me. I looked at it today for some time at work. It is a structual load bearing beam .....kinda i mean its right after the fire wall but before feet. Dont get me wrong it needs to be fixed but i also drive it once or twice a week very nicecly. i will fix it this weekend and try not to drive it much. sucks 1st gens are hard to find up here. you either find one in a field or one for 4 grand. and i dont want someone project i want my own

 

i agree with trochoid cut the nasty part out and 16 guage bend be sure to bend the steel before you cut that way you can use the channel as a bend point with your hammmer form it into shape then cut out the old . use a 6inch angle grinder with a stiff wire brush attached and wire that area to death or sand blaster your bugget. clean with a rust preventer and spray a protective cover on it