Topic: GrantC's Winter Beater Beater? [Baller wheels]

[Rathburn]

Jumbo freezie. Getting an early start on your Dark Knight era Joker costume for Halloween?

[GrantC]

Inside:

• Grind off surface rust on the back, paint.
• Grind/cut out rust on the front till good metal.
• Neatly remove front half inner from the parts chassis.
• Plate over top & stitch/plug weld all over.
• Paint inside with "silver"
• Cover wheelwell with so, so_ much undercoating
• Reinstall seats.

Outside:

• Cut out rusty fender lips
• Cut out good fender lips from donor chassis
• lap/butt weld on
• paint with silver-ish paint.

We'll see how close, if at all, that ends up being.

It begins!











(irony is needing to patch some of the patches before you use them to patch up the holes in your car)

[ultimatt]

That Saab was so not outwordly rusty, that it makes me think this is a problem all GDs would have. At least all wagons.

[seat safety switch]

That Saab was so not outwordly rusty, that it makes me think this is a problem all GDs would have. At least all wagons.

Definitely all wagons. It's a terrible design.

[ultimatt]

Look at how not rusty this rear 1/4 is! Much of the rest of the car was in great condition too.



But lurking further...

[jellynuts]

That's crazy!  There isn't that much difference between sedan and wagon in that section is there?  Mine are not like that at all.  Trying to think now what mine looks like with the seats off.  Maybe I don't see the strut tower even with the seat off?

[jellynuts]

Hmm...  Is there two layers of metal around the wheel well in a sedan so that we don't see any damage?

[seat safety switch]

I went into it briefly when I posted in my own thread about this car.

For whatever it's worth, sedans don't seem to get this. The wagon rear wheelhouse seems to be a two piece setup, and the rear bolts that hold the seat fold-down latch to the body are what sucks the moisture/salt between those folds.

[RockThePylon]

Just hit up an autox event in the spring and fall... if nothing folds, the shell is probably good to DD another winter.

[jellynuts]

Oh sick, so those bolts protrude to the outside and draw the aerosol brine into the interior? 

[seat safety switch]

Oh sick, so those bolts protrude to the outside and draw the aerosol brine into the interior?

Indeed, and the sound deadening foam holds it like a sponge and keeps it against the outer metal.

I'm not sure how to seal them on my Saab except a metric butt-load of undercoating...

[jellynuts]

Do you need the backseat? 

Do you need the sound-deadening? 

What if you undercoat the strut towers and then replace sound-deadening with some moisture-wicking material?  Teflon tape the bolts?  Add a spacer between the seat-fold down latch to let it vent/breath?  Use those silica gel packs as spacers? 

[diamondedge]

I was planning on tackling this over the summer with my unemployment - but I found other things to do. With mine being an 07 I hope I can catch it before it gets out of hand.

Sigh lol

[jellynuts]

I was planning on tackling this over the summer with my unemployment - but I found other things to do. With mine being an 07 I hope I can catch it before it gets out of hand.

Sigh lol

Why not tackle it in the fall? 

[diamondedge]

Because cold. But I guess I have a garage at present to do this in. An afternoon/morning to strip the entire hatch area and seat? Yeah I could probably get it done.

Challenge accepted. I'll also be able to show the rest of WSC what mine looks like too.

Subscribed for updates Grant.

[ultimatt]

Our initial impression was that it was the through bolts for the latch which start the corrosion, but after looking at where I occurs I'm not certain that's the case. It seems to collect more around the seam of the inner skin and the strut support.
Explains why the back of the inner skin is rusty as well as the lower middle of the  passenger side.

[jellynuts]

What does it look like from the outside, under the body looking up into the strut tower?

[seat safety switch]

What does it look like from the outside, under the body looking up into the strut tower?

There's a pretty prominent ridge where the two parts of the wheelhouse join. The sedans don't seem to have it.

I pushed through it with my bare fingers until I felt sound deadening foam, it's definitely where the rust has started.

[GrantC]

Oh what a lovely day!





Roly-poly Subaru are best Subaru...

[RedBimmer93]

Roly-poly Subaru are best Subaru...

Truer words have never been spoken...

[seat safety switch]

A fine automobile.

[Asstuna]

A better park brake turn would have placed you next to the curb without bending rims. Only novices have to reverse into position.

[GrantC]

Parked, inside.

[05LGT]

Does parking inside nullify beater status?

[GrantC]

Lord no