So Wisconsin has done some pretty good damage to my car. Why the hell are we still using salt.....

I was attempting to diagnose my sticking caliper issues, and noticed some rust on the rails, just above where the sway bar mounts to the rails, stuck a finger into it and it went right through, I'm betting I could get three fingers in with some room to spare. Damn.

So my question is this, if the rust is that bad there, its probably almost that bad in numerous other places. I'm not seriously attached to the car as I've only owned it for two years, I'm considering writing the car off as scrapped considering the rust I've seen and possible even worse rust and that the paint/body is in pretty rough shape. Is it worth repairing? its an original 87 TII with 84.4k miles. Feels reasonably solid but there is a fair. Bit of rattling and creaking when driving over Wisconsin roads from chassis flex(I can hear the hatch and door seals shifting at times on really rough roads).

At this time I'm not really keen on repairing it and as far as I know, if the rust is this bad here, it'll be worse in most other places. As I now have a daily that's reasonably reliable(04 WRX wagon) and I can save up and import a rhd fc or infini(I'd like to start with a very clean and unmodified turbo fc instead of someone's project swap)

been down that rabbit hole before. never again. not when there's still a fair number of clean ones available. some pics of critical areas, like the dog legs, quarters, door sills, etc..would be in order.
but personally, i'd sell it as a drift missile if it's far gone.
but that's jst me. i can't stand the stuff. cuz it's never ending. but then, i'm not a bodyman by trade

you drive it in the winter I'm assuming?

Two Wisconsin winters. It was a Michigan car before I got it.

So its decided. I'll be going rx-8 and doing am rew swap into it. Should make for a great handling car still.

Let me get the rx8 motor if you want to junk it :)

Lol my brother is thinking of doing the same. His rx-8 with an rew.

Well lmk. Interested in both

Hm...I'm considering repairing the subframe rails myself. Clear off some of the underbody coating, weld in some temporary rails, cut off the old rails, weld in some of similar thickness and dimensions onto the old position.

The main issue I foresee is how deep does the rust go and how much is already infected. Anytime you can poke holes through it, the rust has gone way far into the metal and other areas. The last car I had with a large amount of frame rust I just tossed onto the track until the work became too much to care for (Kind of was from the get go). Up to you really, you can always use it as a practice car for welding and fabrication if you've wanted to learn.

Yeah that's the problem I'm looking at. I love the fc's lines and pop up headlights. The rx-8 does nothing for me other than the modern chassis and suspension.

Then there's the parts investment I have in fc parts. Gotta be at least 3 grand in parts. So its a really hard decision for me.

Part it out.

I had over 2k in just my powdercoating, arms, bushings, and bearings. Or buy another fc and swap it over

yeah i think i am. part out both cars, i should have more than enough for an rx-8 and start saving for an REW swap.