Kalvano

Went over a really nasty bump the other day and noticed the car was handling a bit looser, and there was a lot of rattling from the rear right of the car (where there had been none)

this is what i saw looking into the rear fenders



right side





left side





it's getting worse, too.

i had no idea my wheel wells were rusted straight through like that. is this structural? what exactly is that plate that was attached to the inside of the fenders, and what is it attached to?

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Want me to grab some pics of my car in that area for you?

Kalvano

if you had some with the wheels off that would be great, but yeah any kind of reference would be a huge help, thanks.

i'm just trying to figure out what exactly that plate is attached to, so i'll know if i can keep driving the car until next week when i can get it worked on.


this sucks i just bought this thing

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Hold on for a few minutes, I can yank the wheel off and snap some.

Kalvano

**** i think those are the brackets attaching the upper trailing arms to the body

please god no

Eville140

Yep, your screwed. It is a fun fix. Do a search on bin rust.

Jeezus

iTrader: (4)

Pic

Kalvano

Thanks jeezus.


is there a specific thread that explains what needs to be done? every thread the search turns up is along the lines of "oh i had some pesky bin rust and i fixed it" not "help my daily driver rx7 is about to lose its rear suspension while im driving to work i need to fix this now before i die"

seriously this ******* sucks

'84-12A-GSL

OUCH!

There's no easy fix here, unless you own a welder, if not, you gonna have to drop some $$$. Your gonna have to pay someone, to cut out all the rust in that area, than fab up, and weld in new metal there, and some sort of bracket to hold in thous rear axle links. Or you could experiment with a lot of pop rivets...but that probably isn't a good idea...

Lets just say, you not gonna be able to buy a part to bolt in there haha...

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

You drove it at least one season through montreal winter didn't you?

This is why I store mine. People never understand.

Unfortunately, it's probably easier at this point to buy another shell and swap any performance parts you have over to it.

Jon

dbragg

iTrader: (7)

my first 84 died to wheel well rust. on that note i drove that thing for months with it. the rearend definately handled loosely and it once caused me to do some crap over steer on a wet road that sent me perfectly sidewise with the middle of my car on the yellow lines. i wasnt speeding or anything. with that being said, its not very safe to drive like that. so dont drive it hard in curves or anything until you get it fixed.

dj55b

iTrader: (2)

its very weldable, especially if you have the skills, it maybe not end up the prettiest thing but its something.

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

I hope you didn't just pay a lot of money for that car,because it needs serious work,and some may not even bother with it.It is clearly fixable,but will take lots of time,and or money to do so. I would forget about that one,and buy another,but then again I wouldn't have bought that one in the first place,so you are in a sticky situation. It is either fix it NOW,or ditch it,and find another car. What are the laws in your province on selling lemon cars? I would think you could legally get your money back from the seller on this,as that is clearly a major defect,and would not pass an inspection by a local inspection station here in Massachusetts,but I am not sure what the laws are in QC.Good luck,and don't drive that car it is dangerous in that condition.

85rx7crazydriver

mine has the same problem, so it's not even safe to drive?

MontanaKid

Hey. Yeah you could deffinitely fix it. This is what I would do. Cut the nasty out and rivet and glue a couple patch panels in. In places where you don't need strength and isn't readily visible, sheetmetal, rivet and glue is better because it is water tight easy and doesn't burn off the factory rust coating that is on the sheet metal. Use aluminum if you so desire. Most home improvment stores have everything you need. A sheetmetal drill, disc cutter, rivet gun and rivets is it.
Then Install a 3 link on the rear end. The 3 link wold require less welding than the patch panels would if you were to weld them in. You would get better handleing and it really wouldn't cost much more than paying some one to fix the factory upper "rust boxes". It's a great opportunity to upgrade. In fact I bet the car rusted there on purpose just because it wants a 3rd link set up.

MontanaKid

If you ARE going to use the upper arms I wouldn't recommend riveting it. It should be welded!

Mazdax605

iTrader: (5)

I wouldn't drive it like that.Those arms on the top of the axle,and attaching to the body in that spot are there to hold the axle in place uner the car.I wouldn't risk my axle falling out from under the car,would you? It seems pretty dangerous to me,but maybe I am alone here.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

In it's present condition, it is definitely unsafe to drive. It might be cheaper in the long run to toss the watts link and 4 control arm links in favor of a panhard bar and tri-link. Parts will run around 600+ shipping and install. I wouldn't charge less than 400 to repair the damage shown.

Before you even start any repairs, assess the total rust damage. Pull both rear wheels, pull the bins, check the rockers, get it up on a hoist and inspect the entire underbody. As bad as that one wheel well is, you will find a lot more rust elsewhere. Don't forget the engine bay, particularly under the brake master and battery.

PvillKnight7

iTrader: (16)

I dont think rivets and glue is the best solution.

I had the same rust spots on my car when I first got it. I cut out the old rusted sections with a cut off wheel then cut patches from scrap sheet metal. Welded them in place (complete weld around each patch). Wire wheeled the entire area clean then sprayed rustoleum rusty metal primer. Then rustoleum semi gloss black. Then sprayed undercoat.

Your rust looks a little worse then mine did. Get that wheel off and start cutting out the bad metal. If the rust is into the frame badly ( the piece behind when the suspension bolts on) then you have a bit more work to do then I described. You won't know until you start the job and see what you have to work with...good luck. Post pics of your progress

twinkletoes

iTrader: (17)

I just changed my fuel pump The other day and I found the same thing. Not as close to bad, but will need to be repaired. Thats a bummer man. Hoipe all goes well, and everything works out. They should seel like new brackets for those, Since those always rust.

Kalvano

thanks for the advice guys, i appreciate it.

tomorrow's a holiday so i guess i'm waiting until tuesday to find out how much this is going to cost me, if anyone will even take the work

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Agreed, $400 is the very least i'd charge as well, when repairing my wheel wells (they were bad, but still driveable) it probably took 10 hours of work, and thats a conservative estimate.
I repaired the wheel wells on my one FB by cutting patches to fit in the hole left from cutting out the rust and butt-welded them all around the joint, on top of that went good primer and undercoating. I never put a new brace on the outside as the factory had and have put at least 8k on the car with nothing bending, tearing etc. That being said on my current project to be safe I added some pipe bracing on the inside to keep it nice and solid.
Good luck and if you need any further advice feel free to ask, there are plenty of people on here that know how to weld

rx-7 obsessed

shitty my se had this problem i bought it not thinking and no dont drive it like that mine costed 500 bux canadian to get fixed and dont give up just cause of this that is y so many of our cars end up in auto wreakers just fix the damn thing suck it up...after all there just money pits anyways

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Agreed, too many of our cars have been lost to the rust in this area, too many people are afraid of fixing the rust....