I picked up an 88 GTU a while back and noticed some surface rust on the drivers side of the engine compartment. Turns out it was a bit worse than I expected. Ended up cutting out some of it. Probably more to come. It was behind the radiator support. Is this common? Are there other places I should look at while I have the car stripped?

 

I don't think the RX series has any particularly "common" rust spots, each car will have areas of vulnerability depending on how/where it is stored/sits.
I guess on area shared by all of them would be the drains at the bottom of the hatch and the sunroof- both of these can get clogged with debris and allow water to backup and pool.
Another area to check would be the wiper cavity, which can also collect dirt and leaf material, an ideal mulch for rotted metal.
Also, the area behind the front wheels.

So, I guess there ARE some common area to look out for...ignore my first sentence.

 

Ha! Thanks for the info Clokker. Being in the south, we don’t have too many rust issues. That is what threw me off with this one. It looks like there is rust in the front where the supports are spot welded. It doesn’t look like anything is collected in them. Who knows. The car had been sitting for a while when I bought it. Maybe the open compartment allowed moisture to collect in the seams and rust.