Shortly before Christmas a business acquaintance of mine gave me his '84 GSL-SE. He had owned the car since new and it was his daily driver until about a year ago (he downgraded to a Porsche Boxter). Since then it was parked in his lot and after a bunch of drunks decided to break the side windows he decided it should be sent to a proper home. Thus, it came to me and has been stored under a tarp at the office parking lot since then.

The car is white, with maroon interior. Since it was daily driven year around the edges of the car are a little soft but basically the car is solid....or so I thought...

This Sunday I decided to work on the car a little. Unflood the engine, get the intermittent ignition sorted out and basically change fluids, belts and hoses so I could put the car back on the road. As I was untarping the car I made a grizzly discovery....While the underside is solid, the drivers wheel well is not. Cancer has taken much of the inner wheel well, including the mount for the front of the axle link bar. It has totally separated from the sheet metal on the outer edge and is now displaced by about half a centimeter.

I'm a little disappointed since my plan was to turn this car into a cheap but nasty fun car with a 12A PP engine, Megasquirt, flat black paint and a few other personal touches...Now I have 12A sitting on the bench with no home, and a shell that I must either part or store long term for restoration...Such is life I guess.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I hate rust!

 

damn that sucks

i was like Fe2O3...Fe2O3...why does that sound familiar. then i read, and was like, ******* rust. heh.

well that's really too bad, i was kind of hoping to see something crazy come from that FB...oh well if it's any conselation, there are plenty of ok-condition low-price FBs out there. it's hard to find a really nice one though these days. especially in this country.

 

That's a shame. At least you hadn't spent a ton of time on the car yet.

At first I thought it said Fe203 and thought that was some sort of new iron protection coating.

 

 

Man, so was I. I had some very unique plans for this car, stuff that has never been done before (that I've seen anyway). The project was really a matter of convenience since I had the car, had nothing invested and didn't want to see it parted out....But it's probably a good thing anyway since I need to concentrate all my efforts on Tina...

Nor any money...The stupid thing is that now that I can't drive it, the car will have to be stored and that's what I end up paying for...

I think the rust is repairable, it's just a matter of time and effort. The wheel well area needs to be replaced which in the great scheme of things isn't too hard. Of course, I have now been thinking of back-halfing the car and making a tube frame, going to a Ford 9"....Or maybe an RX-7 hovercraft? RX-Boat?

 

did I hear back-hlafing?????

Mr. Aaron, I suggest if you really feel like it, make a half car. lol ( granted the RWD makes that a little awkward)

Here's a small video of the old tempest we cut in half, thing did MAAAD freakin endo's and was THE MOST fun field car I've ever had.....too bad we got carried away with the smash-em-up derbies and sent it to its grave...

http://media.putfile.com/half-car-endo

 

Suggesting, of course, that you have had MULTIPLE field cars. Normal people go their whole life without ever owning 1.

I've had 3.

 

I think... you should sell it to me. I'm getting to be pretty pro at repairing rusty FB's.

The fact that I want a GSL-SE shell is just icing on the cake

 

ahhh care free country livin'...........

 

Nah, I don't want to cut it up. In a destructive way. If I'm going to do something to it, I would rather have something worthwhile at the end.

I'm also not sure how willing I am to give it away because I know that the moment I do, I'll have a use for the thing. It's likely going into storage for now for future repair after Tina is done.

 

Mechanicitus: The tendancy to keep part(s), or vehicles, around because the moment they are discarded will become needed. Also refer to obsessive compulsive. j/k

Its always good to haveanother project to look forward to, kinda lights a fire to get the current one out of the way....man I should take my own advice - haha

 

well
then to save on storage fees...

give it to me.

If you need it in the next 3 months, I'll give it back!

 

Why not start with a non-rusty car. The small cost would be worth the savings of effort.

 

Nice endo Joe. That left me laughing for awhile.

I share your same sentiments Aaron. I loathe rust aswell. Haven't spoken to you for awhile but I picked up another shell and It looks like It's going to get a FULL sandblasting of the chassis. It will be well documented so watch for It! I keep doing these things for my FC but I never addressed the foundation of It until now.

Have you signed your petition today?!

 

True...But there's also the challange of fixing the rust...The major issue right now is storage. I took the car under the assumption that I would have storage for it until I had time to actually do something with it. Unfortunately the owner of the building has now decided that he doesn't want the car there (we made a storage deal and shook on it...) so I have to move it. In the great scheme of things paying a little for outdoor storage is not a huge problem but it does mean that that car is now "detached" from me. I can't keep an eye on it...And we all know how well RX-7s store...

So there is the choice to part it out, or store it. I'm still undecided. The car was given to me with the understanding that it is going to someone who will appreciate it, whether that means fixing it or parting it. I am not too willing to part a car that really only has one rust issue...

You picked up another shell?! Was your existing one really that far gone, or just not financially worth repairing after all that has happened? Are you coating it in POR-15?

I'm confused...

 

I had to drive by the piece of junk everyday for months! You didn't tell me it was that one or I would have told you free was a rip off.



Tell him to buy shoes, the cowboy boots need to be retired.