Aargh... Rust! Now with ugly pics!

[Dominik]

While inspecting my rear fenders for ideas on how to make them fit some wheels i have on order i unfortunately discovered that the insides of my rear fenders in my Cedric are rusting. Its only where the inside skin (inner wheel-well) meets the outer skin (inner skin is rusted but outer skin appears fine). The inside of the fender lip is pretty messy too (again, it looks like its the inner layer that is rusting), and i am worried that rolling them flat would just do more damage than good.

Front fenders are fine, and i havent found any other rusty areas yet, but havent had the car on a hoist to look for it. I'm guessing this happened due to driving on salted roads or something??

Does anyone have any experience taking rust like this out? I've never had rusty car before and i am kinda apprehensive about this; should i even bother (be a shame to give up on one of the only Y32s in the country though!)

Is it expensive to have sections cut out and weld in replacement sections? Or since it isn't a structural part should I just get some of that rust-stop stuff and leave it?

Another option is to go all the way and get my fenders 'processed'; inner wheel wells partially removed, wheel arch raised and slightly flared; but the wheels i bought were meant to fit the standard fenders so flares would be a bit pointless (unless i change wheels)... Any ideas?

[555]

sorry to hear that man..rust its like a communicable disease to the whole car :buck2: ...
anyway might try some of the local bodyshop and ask 'em what can they do about this kinda rust and get a quote ;)

[Dominik]

Ok, no more takers? I went and took some pics of the rust incase it jogs someone's memory of similar stories... I am leaning towards cutting the whole fender arch up and getting rid of all the rust in one go. Will get quotes this weekend...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG2307.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG2306.jpg

[137]

i would say you are lucky dom, thats not nearly as bad as the rust on my s13 (floor rails, trunk floor, front strut towers, exhaust mounts, and on and on). not sure on the cost to fix, mine is going to be fixed during it's restification, if i can ever get enough money, if its even worth fixing :(

[OnTop]

the best way to fix any kind of rust is to cut off the entire section that has rust. get the exact piece cutoof from a donor car and reweld. have it sealed in self etching primer then ready for paint. if the spray undercoating whe possible.
in your case dominik it isnt REALLLY that bad. what i would do for your problem is to sand blast all of that till you see shiny metal and spray the self etching primer then undercoating. that should net you another 5+years of normanl use if you have salted roads around you.

sand blasters are not expensive. you can buy a suction fed gun, get a bucket of beach sand(filter out all the grasses first), and have at it. you need a good compressor of cousre.

hope that helps

[firelizard]

Wow, I thought it was gonna be worse than that..
My rust is pretty stable in summer but I can't leave it one more winter...I'll need to get at least the major part fixed, though my car's paint overall is in pretty rough shape, on closer inspection.

NSFW picture :P
http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/8006/uhohsmall1kq.jpg

(sorry about the threadjack, now, back to Dominik's car)

[Dominik]

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys, i wasnt sure how bad my situation was (like i said, i'm not experienced with rust). I want to get the whole section cut out and flared, but the wheels i ordered arent wide enough :(

No salt on our roads. Its about as cold as it will get this year and it stays above 5-10 degrees

Will look for a sand blaster though, they sound like a cool tool to have (that and a welder, if i could weld)

[username]

if its golden rusted like you seen through metal, thats way way bad.
like someone said, cut that surrounded rust area and weld a new one in its place.
oh for welding, i think tig welder will be good.

[OnTop]

do you have a ''harbour frieght'' in your side of the globe?? its probably the coolest shop to get any tool CHEAP i have 2 of them within a 20min drive. it all low cost, low quality tooling but when you need something that you're only going to use a few times (like a sandblaster) theyre the guys to the rescue.

http://www.harborfreight.com/

[Dominik]

No, but i wish we did, that MIG welder looks quite cheap!

Would a dremel+wire brush do the job? Or will that just take forever?

[OnTop]

using a dremel/wire bush is okay. i mean it will scrub rust off and not actuall metal, which is good. i hate the wire shards that shoot everywhere. thebig downfall to it is that it cant get to the rust thats in the ''pockets'' shown in the picture. the dremel wire brush can only get into areas thats big enough for the diameter of the disk VS the sandblaster can reach into areas that are as small as the media you're shooting, in this case, sand. keep in mind that those rust holes you have once began as a rust ''stain'' the size of grain of sand. rust IS cancer to cars.*

too bad for no access to harborfrieght. i found this for $15USD

1 LITER ABRASIVE BLAST GUN
Ideal for removing rust, paint and grime
Adjustable nozzle lets you control the flow of abrasive
87 to 145 PSI
1/4" NPT air inlet
Average air consumption: 3.2 CFM
Capacity: 1 liter (34 oz.)
ABS grip


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/92800-92899/92857.gif

[KumaXL]

As far as the blasting goes.* For pretty cheap you can usually find a powdercoating company or something of the like that will take on small jobs for theblaster as well.* It prob wont cost much... Then you can fix at home..* :)

[One Ton VIP]

Only true way to eliminate the prob with the rust... is to completely removed the affected sheet metal. This would entail cutting out the cancerous areas,and a tad beyond.. get it to a point where there is known good, solid sheet metal left, so that you can fab a patch panel using the part you cut out as a template, and weld it in place. Here's a little page with some pics showing what's involved
http://www.teglerizer.com/triumphstuff/73gt6br_newsheetmetal.htm
It's not THAT difficult a process, but, well, it's more like it's simple, but not necessarily easy. Not even most established body shops can do a stellar job making up a new patch panel, as some people would just skimp and make up something that "sorta" fits, and fudge it the rest of the way. I guess you're semi lucky in that the affected area is under/behind the fender, so you can't really see it... which just means that you your fix doesn't have to be 10000% perfect...

[Dominik]

Wow... that car has way more rust than mine has and he managed to restore it pretty well! It gives me hope!

Because when i went out to some panel shops on the weekend i discovered my rust was actually a fair bit worse than i had first thought. Front and rear corners of the fender arch are rusting on both driver and passenger sides. The front corner (back section of the door sill) is rusting through so that it requires a complex shape welded in (corner of the door).

I decided i would wait for my wheels to arrive before doing anything about it though, because both places i went to were happy to do flared fenders for me at the same time if it was necessary.

Then when i got home i was poking around getting a wire through my front fender with a flashlight and i saw what looks like a line of rust on the inside of the fender (on the fender cavity it is on the engine side). That will require the fender to be removed and another plate welded in. A further two points were found at the front of the shock tower in the engine bay. More plate welding i think!

You are right though, almost all my rust is in unseen parts (makes me scared to go exploring for more). From the outside you wouldnt think there is any rust at all!

And while i'd love to do it all DIY style, my welding skills are, well, non existent (although i plan on learning how!), and i get the feeling this needs to be fixed sooner rather than later (i.e. cant wait for me to find an affordable welder, do a class on how to use it, perfect my skills, and finally tackle the job)


Btw, I found a sand blaster at a local "Super Cheap Auto" store for $25AUD so thats a bonus. Just need an air compressor now.

[socalvip]

wow so Im guessing you live on the east coast?

[Dominik]

East coast of Australia ;)

No snow on the roads here, and the car was actually inland for the last 3-4yrs (no salt spray)
All i can imagine is that it had a hard time in HongKong where it was imported from.

The amount of rust is quite mind-boggling, but i will fix it. Unless i find a way to get another cedric in from Japan!