Hey guys, been repairing and painting cars for a long time. I live in the rust belt too, and have tackled a lot of rust in my day. I love the body shop life. If you guys are looking to get your car repaired, dents or rust fixed, or general gremlins fixed in your car, feel free to post here and I'll try to chime in with my best advice or general quotes or things to look for when taking your vehicle to a repair facility. A shiny car is a happy car! Have a great day guys!
Been done, old trick, not sure how often they check that stuff now. Better place is DEF tanks in new diesel trucks running a DEF delete, more room than a gas tank, easier to retrofit, and easier to hide. Or factory tube running boards can have the end caps smashed out and loaded full.
My car has about 7 dents, but that, and patina, adds character. the bottom of the tail gate lip and the bottom lips of the front doors are rusting out on me, that's my only current rust issue. But I'm thinking it's going to be a cut n weld job.
Hey what can i do about rust spots bottom of doors on a 1989 chevy g20 camper van? It also has running boards driver's side is fine but other side is barely hanging on, not sure if i should remove them? Thanks
My buddy once had an older Chevy Tahoe that if you turned the heat on and put the airvents to a blow forward and then smacked the passenger airbag a stash box for money would open. Always thought that was kinda neat
@dropinbiking Hey sir can I ask about advice for dealing with interior rust? Pretty much think it calls for a sanding, cleaning, and application of rust stop plus prim an paint. It's a small fingerprint sized piece of rust in the rear end down below the storage unit.
I'm an engine man, into sporty cars, performance work, and a lot of (too much) "Just keep it on the road" kind of work.. Most rust I consider irreparable unless it is on a panel that can be unbolted to replace.. Or unless it is a very special car worth the work.. I have a pretty special old Subaru that I want to rebody some day.. I think the rust is too far gone to reasonably salvage, but maybe some day I can find a clean shell from the south and swap everything over to it.. I still run it hard but it is pretty rusty these days.. Rear quarters and rockers are pretty much GONE.. But it still rips, and that's why I love it.. As, Cs, and sunroof opening are even hit pretty hard by rust.. I think the shell is done for..
What year and model is it? Most subaru's from the 90's into the late 2000's were terrible with rocker, quarter panel, rear floor, rear subframe, and rear strut tower rust. My friend just sent a strut through the top mount and through his interior panel a few weeks ago on his old winter beater legacy. They rot bad.
Last year, top option, 1st gen, Coupe.. Manual, 2 LSDs, few upgrades.. 2001 RS2.5 All the super rare bits are plastic and the interior is nice so I think a coupe body swap would be the way to go.. Floorboards, strut mounts, and structure are great.. It has a few more hard winters left in it.. Getting close to 250k on her.. Needs brakes and has had a little external HG coolant leak for the last 50K miles.. New clutch, badass stereo.. I really love this car.. It's such a great drive and so fun.. I drive on snowpack more than dirt or pavement in the winter.. I drive in serious winter and this takes the sportscar to the winter.. I have 2 more German RWD stick summer cars that are a lot faster than the subie.. But not in the winter.. Those have clean bodies though.. Seriously, the little ol rusty subie smokes all the 4X4 trucks/SUVs in every direction.. Accel, corners, breaks, slow, fast, it kills almost anything else driving around.. It feels underpowered in the summer on the dry, but in the winter it spins em till 3rd plenty well enough to be quick and fun around.. Would love to do an EG33 in it on MS tho.. I'd put it up against even any new subie in the winter with no turbo..
I dunno about all that, it has the EJ 251 doesn't it? Those are as fragile as an egg and as gutless as they come, seriously. They are the weakest, most under powered motor subaru has made in a very long time. I'm glad you're enjoying it though, I'd address the head gasket issues before anything else, swapping a motor is the last thing you want to do, not exactly a wise way to spend money.
This is what happens when they run low on coolant hahaha punched fist size hole under the alternator cruising on the highway.
They aren't all that bad besides their known HG problems, and they are about 160HP iirc which is enough to be fun on snow and ice.. More power doesn't help all that much if it's already traction limited in its habitat, and it is quite a light car... But yeah they are gutless on the highway and lacking for summer performance for sure.. I can get replacement engines all day long for $200-$250, but all would need new HGs and T belt kit before replacement.. They are a dime a dozen.. I'm not afraid to blow it up, and would rather refresh a replacement engine than pull and rebuild the original.. I run it as hard as it will run all the time and it hasn't blown up yet.. They are also about the easiest engines to pull in the world.. So easy.. Swapping engines and engine management are more in my wheelhouse than bodywork, like I said.. It wouldn't be a great investment money wise, but if you want more power in this chassis, it's what you gotta do.. Their are many easy turbo engine swaps for it but I'd rather have a flat 6.. The car is/will be a timeless classic IMO.. Very unique looks and racing heritage.. I'd rather build on this classic chassis than about any newer subie.. For a personal car for personal enjoyment, it has the potential to be a heck of a winter machine.. Would need to find a clean shell to seriously build one out though.. Maybe some day..
Yeah most subaru's seem to have a pretty strong following by a lot of people, and even though they are astronomically expensive to make reliable power out of, they still put in good work at the track and are a blast to drive. 160hp with all wheel drive and that kind of weight really is kind of slow. My friends Forester wagon 2.5 is gutless and always bogs second and third on snow when trying to slide, it needs more torque. A stock civic will make similar power and less weight, and won't have much of a traction problem with two less driven wheels. The only good efficient subaru's come with the good close ratio 6 speed boxes, the adjustable center diffs, and the good front and rear limited slip diffs, they will wake a base subaru up like nobodies business. I've ridden passenger in a couple sti drivetrain swapped base wagons and sedans and it was always a hell of a good time.
Yeah, that's why I would eventually like to engine swap it too, but I only ever drive it in the winter anymore.. Just a fun winter beater..
Chipped the rust off, sanded, applied wd40, wiped down and coated in grease. Hoping that's a good enough band aid.
Better than what most people would have done. Not much to do in that situation really. Short of really clean it up with a disc than glob it full of beautiful seam sealer. That whole seam will slowly start to disappear but such is life