I am posting this here because apparentley no one reads the exterior interior audio forum

Well, ladies and gentlemen I am going to be starting bodywork on my car soon. and I need some advice.
My car is originally from Michigan (drove it out here recentley) If you know anything about Michigan, you will imagine the rust damage that has infected my vehicle.

so some questions:

My quarter panels in the rear are rusted through. however, it is only the outer fenders (the inner fenders are still made of metal :P) rx7s are unibody cars, and I read up on this a little bit, and found out that I can potentially compromise the structural integrity of the frame by cutting off/ replacing the quarterpanels. I don't belive I need to replace the whole thing just about the bottom 4-5 inches. (I think the holes are too big and severe to patch with fiberglass/ body filler)

*Can I cut the qp's off of another car and put them onto mine safely?

I plan on replacing the front fenders, as mine are pretty janky (bent up as hell)
and filling in all of the dings, etc. then obviously getting the car sprayed. I am probably going to go with a one coat acrylic enamel.

I feel like I have two options here within my budget, after I do the body work.

A. take it to maaco, although the more I hear about them, the less confident I am about giving them my money. (any info?)

B. Buy a compressor and and an hplv gun with all the fixins, and tackle this myself.
I am fairly competent with a welder and a paint gun.

Anything I have overlooked, links, info, etc. is all grately appreciated!


thanks,

-Miles

Pics:

Drivers side fender




Passenger side


Passenger rear QP


Driver rear QP

 

Ouch, that rust looks alot like my sport model. Just curious, where'd it come from in MI?

It is acceptable to cut the panels from another car and weld them in. Make sure you or whoever you have do it is really good at welding though, you don't want them to warp or anything (or fall off later )

As far as Maaco, I've heard they're good for just laying down color, but they really skimp on the prep work (sanding, body filler, etc). If you can take care of all that and just have them paint it it could look really good (it'll be cheaper too) A friend of mine did all the prepwork on his EK Civic and had Maaco lay down a coat of that bright red color off of the new Charger SRT-8s, it looked badass and came out pretty decent. If you got up really close and hunted for imperfections there were a few, but it looked good under casual viewing.

 

the front fenders dont look too bad. you could probably pop the dents out yourself as opposed to replacing it. but all i see is where the fender meets the hood and bumper.

i guess it depends on what you want to do. im a bit unsure about a body shop touching my car but i think thats a personal problem i gotta get over. i'd like to have a body shop do a thorough job.

but lack of money is also a big issue. plus painting a car yourself is pretty fun imo.

i have no idea how to do rear quarter panels haha. havent gotten that far into working on the body of my vert.

what color were you thinking of getting?

 

Any rust through you see will have traveled underneath the paint as weel. You can remove the paint in the surrounding areas and use a picking hammer to test for weak spots. From your pictures it doesn't appear that you would need to replace the 1/4 panels. I have used patches on far more extensive rust than what is pictured with excellent long term results. The key is to cut away as much of the rusted area as possible and the treat the remaining area with a rust preventative coating. If properly done, replacing the quater panels will not compromise the strucural integrity of the car( welded not bonded with structural adhesive ). I have over 30 years experience repairing and restoring cars and would have no problem using Maaco as a low cost alternative for a decent paint job. The key is to do a very thorough job cleaning, sanding & prepping the car yourself ( r&r trim, lights, door handles etc. ) Maaco uses good quality paint and if there are problems it is usually in the prep work. I also was production manager for a Maaco shop tahht turned out very high quality work while I was there. Good luck!

 

if your really worried about it.. id replace the whole car.

 

I think the guy I bought it from was from Grand Rapids, I met him in lansing to buy it. then I drove it out here from Bay City.

and thanks for that bit about macco! (did they do the door jambs etc.?)

to duo2999, I am thinking of going gunmetal or any variety of like 5 other colors. (gunmetal/ black are on the top of the list right now.)

Thanks! I planned on welding the patches on, what rust inhibitor would you reccomend?

I would do that, buuut I love my car! :P

The chassis is really solid other than these spots, I just want to stop the rust before it does some serious structural damage. I plan on eventually going with widebody overfenders, so I am not super concerned with the finish on the rear wheel wells (still going to make them look good). I just want them to stay together!

Thanks for the info! anything else I should know before I get started? Does anyone have fillers/ other equipment that they swear by or would reccomend?

 

You can use POR15 or spray on rust converter available at K MART, WAL MART or your parts store. I would use USC All Metal body filler. It uses aluminum instead of polyester and holds out really well if you have any rust under, whereas polyester filler will bubble up rather quickly.