A bit of shite advice please

[504GL]

Wanting to ask a bit of advice in regards to some rust on our Subaru. Basically there are a few spots of rust dotted over the car, nothing serious but I'd love to nip it in the bud before it progresses. I'd like to get it resprayed and do a bit of restoration but that's not happening

 

The doors on the drivers are more or less rooted, I've found a couple of red ones cheap on ebay so rather than attempt an expensive repair I think I'll just replace.

 

 

There is some rust on the front quarter panels (they all do it). not sure if it would be economical to repair or if I should just buy some pattern arches. Genuine arches in good condition are hard to come by

 

Then there are a few spots of rust on the front edge of the roof. I'm guessing it'd be a screen out job to sort them.

 

The rear quarter panel is rusting one the drivers side

 

It's rusting by the drivers side door also

 

The underside of the car seems fairly solid from the last time I was under it about a year ago, not sure about the sills as there are some factory fit side skirts which are covering up the sills, they've either protected the sills from rust or accelerated it which we'll find out in time. Just wondering what people think would be a fair cost to get the rust on the roof and the body of the car sorted out? Not sure about the arches, but instinct says it'd be cheaper to try and track down a good pair of arches or just buy pattern parts. Thoughts? I'd want the rust cut out and new metal put in. Doesn't need to be repainted as the car needs a respray but it's just not an option at the moment as there's just not enough money spare to get that done. If anyone knows any decent bodyshops who don't mind doing this sort of work that would be most appreciated as the one local place I went to wasn't keen on it at all.

 

Just looking to preserve it so that it can be shut away in a garage for a few years and doesn't come out as a load of rust

[shite_meister]

The problem is that especially the roof areas of rust that will be just the tip of the iceberg, bonded screen? if so you might be looking at a new screen too, basically you need to seriously ask yourself is it worth it? I mean we're all for keeping an old shitter on the road if it has plenty of service life left in it but I wouldn't want to throw thousands on a car worth hundreds unless it had some sort of sentimental value.

 

It looks like a metallic too, you can average about three hours labour per panel just in prep and paint and thats before any repair work has got involved or any primer/paint/lacquer has been added to the bill so unless its something you'd be doing yourself I think I'd either run it until it falls apart, sell it as is or keep it as a spares car for another one if you like that model alot.

[Des]

As it's a dark colour, a rust converter / coating like Vactan that turns black shouldn't stand out too much and will keep it at bay, you'll need to scrape away the crusty bits, work the stuff in well from behind, where the rust will have most likely come from, fill any little holes with araldite for now, it will be a lot more presentable and should stop it getting worse in the near future.

[504GL]

The problem is that especially the roof areas of rust that will be just the tip of the iceberg, bonded screen? if so you might be looking at a new screen too, basically you need to seriously ask yourself is it worth it? I mean we're all for keeping an old shitter on the road if it has plenty of service life left in it but I wouldn't want to throw thousands on a car worth hundreds unless it had some sort of sentimental value.

 

It looks like a metallic too, you can average about three hours labour per panel just in prep and paint and thats before any repair work has got involved or any primer/paint/lacquer has been added to the bill so unless its something you'd be doing yourself I think I'd either run it until it falls apart, sell it as is or keep it as a spares car for another one if you like that model alot.

 

It certainly isn't worth it in terms of cost, but it's a car that the wife and I both like so it does have sentimental value.

 

Well I'm really not bothered about getting the colour to match as the intent is to get it resprayed so it can be in primer for all I care, no point in getting the colour to match anyway as the lacquer and paint are completely screwed All I really want to do is get it stabilised so at some point down the line it can get pulled out of a garage and it'll be in a state where it can be rescued.

 

Anyone have any ideas what they'd expect to be charged to put new metal in? doesn't need to look great afterwards or anything. Any ideas on cost?

[Rocket88]

The windscreen area is going to be the biggest ball ache. Trying to get a bonded screen out in one piece is not easy. I would get the sandpaper out and see how bad that bit is first, you may be lucky enough to catch it before it spreads to the actual windscreen frame, and cracks the screen.Dig it out, paint remains of good metal with rust converter, and I would fill with that chemical metal stuff. It does look like it may be too far gone though.

[Cavcraft]

I know the doors could be worse than we can see in the pictures but is not worth getting them repaired, even if only to keep for spares? I bet someone even half competant could cut the rust out and weld new sections in from spare steel. Incidentally fibreglass lasts eons in door bottoms and is solid enough.

 

Hesitant to go putting peoples name forwards in case they don't want to do the work but have you considered dropping Mini-mad a pm? He's a whizz at stuff like that.