9/78 SA Mega rust-- seeking advice!!!
05-10-14, 05:50 PM
#1
9/78 SA Mega rust-- seeking advice!!!
So I recently lopped the front off of a donor car to repair the frame rails on this thing, but the rest of it has BUKU rust too, throughout the entire car.
I'll let the pics do the talking at first. I'm also assuming the rust repair vets can identify exactly where on the car it's at too so I won't caption anything either.
So that's where it's at. The most alarming bits are where it goes up into the A pillars, and is at the seam of the b pillar/roof. It's bad. But its NOT in the typical northern car spots where the rear suspension links mate!!
So here's my question-- what do? The car's got sentimental value- my wife found it on CL before we were married, & really wanted it. The ad said "$1200, or trade for a microtech". We actually HAD a microtech LT6 & harness at the time, and we got THAT in a trade for an inital investment of $9 into some parts. On a wim, we went & traded w/ the guy for the car and DROVE IT HOME. A $9 car that drove home... 125 miles at that, through the night! It was quite an adventure haha. On top of all that, it's one of those wonky first gen colors, which goes along great w/ our gold 83, brown 83, & beige 84. Lastly it's an early bird w/o the pass mirror, so that in itself makes it worth saving.
I'm now kinda trying to figure out the goal for this car. Do I:
Rust repair it all, keep it as close to stock as I can?
Build a cage and just kinda make a janky, semi half assed but sturdy rat rod, w/ a 13B FC injected engine?
Give up, find a different chassis?
The motor was torn down by us Friday night, it was in great shape too. I don't think the keg was ever opened, and the chrome flake isn't really bad, at all. Cluster calls out 98K, I truely don't think it's ever rolled over. Car even had the whole thermal reactor exhaust system. And the baller "m" center iron
Anyway, have a look at the pics & put your input in, please
'
Landon & Becca
I'll let the pics do the talking at first. I'm also assuming the rust repair vets can identify exactly where on the car it's at too so I won't caption anything either.
So that's where it's at. The most alarming bits are where it goes up into the A pillars, and is at the seam of the b pillar/roof. It's bad. But its NOT in the typical northern car spots where the rear suspension links mate!!
So here's my question-- what do? The car's got sentimental value- my wife found it on CL before we were married, & really wanted it. The ad said "$1200, or trade for a microtech". We actually HAD a microtech LT6 & harness at the time, and we got THAT in a trade for an inital investment of $9 into some parts. On a wim, we went & traded w/ the guy for the car and DROVE IT HOME. A $9 car that drove home... 125 miles at that, through the night! It was quite an adventure haha. On top of all that, it's one of those wonky first gen colors, which goes along great w/ our gold 83, brown 83, & beige 84. Lastly it's an early bird w/o the pass mirror, so that in itself makes it worth saving.
I'm now kinda trying to figure out the goal for this car. Do I:
Rust repair it all, keep it as close to stock as I can?
Build a cage and just kinda make a janky, semi half assed but sturdy rat rod, w/ a 13B FC injected engine?
Give up, find a different chassis?
The motor was torn down by us Friday night, it was in great shape too. I don't think the keg was ever opened, and the chrome flake isn't really bad, at all. Cluster calls out 98K, I truely don't think it's ever rolled over. Car even had the whole thermal reactor exhaust system. And the baller "m" center iron
Anyway, have a look at the pics & put your input in, please
'
Landon & Becca
Last edited by Sgt Fox; 05-12-14 at 09:46 PM.
05-10-14, 10:23 PM
#3
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you should get the rest of that gsl-se! some of that isn't bad, like the hatch drains, and maybe trunk floor, but the a pillars are really shot...
05-11-14, 04:15 AM
#4
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So I am right in assuming THIS (pics) is the car you want to keep/restore? Or is this a donor for bits?
If this is _the_ car I would R-U-N the other way. The more you dig the more grief you will find. This will suck the life out of you. Surely there are a few SA/FBs to choose from in FL? This thing looks to be so bad its dangerous.... Why invest blood and treasure when solid chassis'd "dead" RXs can be had for a few hundred $$?
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska
If this is _the_ car I would R-U-N the other way. The more you dig the more grief you will find. This will suck the life out of you. Surely there are a few SA/FBs to choose from in FL? This thing looks to be so bad its dangerous.... Why invest blood and treasure when solid chassis'd "dead" RXs can be had for a few hundred $$?
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska
05-11-14, 06:30 AM
#5
Yeah, that is weird how it's rusted real bad by the A-pillars but only so bad in the other areas like rear hatch area. The wheel wells around the suspension bar mount looks good (common rust area), other stuff looks like surface rust and looking at the back of the rear inner fenders it doesn't look so bad either. My "replaced" rear inner fender on the passenger side was shot prolly because it wasn't really ever weather proofed and was driven in the snow in NY.
Have you taken a look at the rockers? Floors behind the seat mounts? Under the tin/galvanized metal behind the seats? Another common rust area is behind the front fender on the passenger side up high on the joint where the side structure meets the back of the front wheel well. It's right behind the corner of the firewall, the side engine bay and the top of the inner fender where the cold start assist bottle rests. It's right above where the inner fender at the firewall curves downward toward the frame. They slathered on seam sealer, but on the two I've seen that joint rusts through. You can see it in my thread when I took the fenders off.
Everything I've replaced so far is pretty easy. My A-pillars have rusted from the inside out on the "wavy" joint where the door closes and heads backwards from vertical, above the speaker on both drivers and passenger sides, so I know I have to dig into that area more, but nothing like yours.
Makes for a 50/50 type of decision, but those A-pillars scare me. Like j9fd3s said, I'd go get the front firewall off that GSL-SE, cut out rust and weld in new. And make sure it's all solid. You'd hate to have a fender bender and have the firewall cave in like a beer can, ya know? But then again, if the sentimental value isn't that much, you may find it better to use as parts for a more rust free SA. I know I saw one on CL in Auburn AL last week with no engine or transmission for $500. Daytona blue at that. Maybe you'd be better off with that and using this one as a parts car.
Have you taken a look at the rockers? Floors behind the seat mounts? Under the tin/galvanized metal behind the seats? Another common rust area is behind the front fender on the passenger side up high on the joint where the side structure meets the back of the front wheel well. It's right behind the corner of the firewall, the side engine bay and the top of the inner fender where the cold start assist bottle rests. It's right above where the inner fender at the firewall curves downward toward the frame. They slathered on seam sealer, but on the two I've seen that joint rusts through. You can see it in my thread when I took the fenders off.
Everything I've replaced so far is pretty easy. My A-pillars have rusted from the inside out on the "wavy" joint where the door closes and heads backwards from vertical, above the speaker on both drivers and passenger sides, so I know I have to dig into that area more, but nothing like yours.
Makes for a 50/50 type of decision, but those A-pillars scare me. Like j9fd3s said, I'd go get the front firewall off that GSL-SE, cut out rust and weld in new. And make sure it's all solid. You'd hate to have a fender bender and have the firewall cave in like a beer can, ya know? But then again, if the sentimental value isn't that much, you may find it better to use as parts for a more rust free SA. I know I saw one on CL in Auburn AL last week with no engine or transmission for $500. Daytona blue at that. Maybe you'd be better off with that and using this one as a parts car.
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