I started gutting the interior and cleaning out my $200 85 GSL I bought back in February. Things are in pretty nice shape except for some wheelwell rust. Any advice on how to fix this? I have searched a bit and found that's mine not as bad as some of had it. There is no rust in the hatch at all. I can't believe that it's a canadian car with 216km on it. The previous owner butchered the stereo wiring though, there is no factory stereo plug left. He also wired the horn to work through a button through the cruise control button (!) I'll have to fix that. I want to replace the front 2 carpets It also looks like I have to remove the dash which is something I didn't want to do. Any ways around this? While cleaning I found about $8 in change and a CD copy of Steve Earle's "Guitar Town". I've included some pics. The floor under the front carpet looks as good as the floor under the rear carpet which I removed. You can also see the "scratch" in the hood, I need a hood, a header panel and both headlight covers.

 

Nice, I bought my 84 GSL for $300.00 with the same problem plus extra. I actually took a hammer and grinder to get the rust off. I will have a shop weld it back up.

Extra is take a look at your sunroof water channels and check for paint bubbling. I found some bad rust there. I'm in the process of fixing it with Por15.

 

How do you get at the water channels? Do you mean the drain? Or just around the sunroof under the weatherstripping, which is fine. Although my passenger side sunroof bracket is a bit rusty. I saw in a search that someone mentioned to look there.

 

Nice catch for only $200!!!

For the rust I'd just take it to a reputable body shop, they should be able to work some magic with it, considering there is so little rust. That car looks like the perfect restoration project.

How do things look in the engine bay?

Where in Ontario are ya? I'm in Ottawa, and I'd love to drop by some time once mine's on the road if you're not too far out.

Jon

 

looks like my first 7. it was a black 84 with loads of rust...and rats nest and **** filled the car.. anyways i took every little piece of interior out and left no mercy to the **** in fested car.. i had to take the dash out for the carpeting and to getting it back in place right.. do it right the first time and you wont have a second time... alsobe carefull when pulling dash out wires are everywhere and the heater cables are a bitch to. good luck

 

It's pretty clean in the engine bay as well, I'm pretty far from Ottawa I'm in Barrie. I'll probably steam clean the front carpet I have then. I don't want to take the dash out.

 

I meant the water channel around the sunroof that leads to the drain.

 

nice project. I just picked up a 79 for 200 bucks myself. minimal surface rust, body is very straight, but the paint is really faded

 

Hey sjd, looks good, can't wait to see it in person!!

 

Definitely use POR-15 for rust. It should neutralize what you have and prevent future rusting. That rust looks like you'll have to grind it down, but if there's no welding required etc, you can just coat it with the POR-15 afterwards.

 

Your rust is not so bad. Hit it with a grinder and then por15 or you can get spray on rust converter at the auto parts store.

I pulled the dash on a 79 the other day, Not near as bad as I thought. there is a real good how to here on the forum somewhere.

 

If you want the rust taken care of for good, CP Racing does a great job.
People have their ups and downs with them, but they just took care of my wheel wells, and did a great job.

www.cpracing.ca

I don't know where you're located tho, and they're in Tottenham....

 

don't wanna derail ur thread, but i'm pretty proud of my 300 dollar 84 GSL lol... its paint is great, its only got maybe 2 dents, and it doesn't have that rust that everyone seems to have haha

 

Post pics Elysian, also I see you're in the Northwest so your car shouldn't have any rust anyway. And smnc, I live about 15 minutes from CP racing so that is an option. I was going to buy some POR-15 as well and I'm going to pass on pulling the dash if possible, but can I change the car from an auto to a 5-speed without removing the dash? Next up is to change spark plugs and all the fluids and see if I can get it running.

 

I do believe the tranny swap isn't too bad, but you'd probably have to search, as quite a few guys have done it.

POR 15 is great stuff, but it's better to get the affected section cut out and replaced first to make sure you get any rust INSIDE the metal too. CP coats the metal with an anti-rust paint and an undercoating on the outside to make sure the rust stays away.
I'm VERY happy with the job they did on my car.