Paint and Body Holy Cow, what a mess!

[Rcdgl]

So I finally removed my hatch spoiler on my 82 the other day to clean, prep and prime under it, after its been in place for 20 years.

So this is what collected and grew under it! Fortunately, no rust!

 

[AeroCoupe]

Holy Canadian maple seeds.

 

[General karthief]

That looks like hazardous waste

 

[Noobz347]

Looks like unmanaged land in California.

 

[Rcdgl]

And cleaned and primed. Not really trying to sand and finish the area under the spoiler.

 

[Scrapla347]

GADZOOKS!

 

[limp]

When I first got my BMW I was reading stories on the BMW website and there were some stories about the leaves collecting around the cabin air intakes... These intakes and their filters were in the engine compartment on both sides of the firewall... While not a difficult job, It required removing a fair amount of items to get to the filters and this " so called" problem area.....
My car had been a garage queen its entire life so I thought ' I don't need to to do this".... I ended up doing it and it was pretty shocking at what a mess it was... No damage, most of the area was plastic and it all cleaned up, but how the heck did all of those leaves get in there .........

 

[Scrapla347]

It's one of those overlooked maintenance things that's just super satisfying. On my Tacoma there's a small area inside the door jam that has a plastic cover where leaves fall down and collect from the engine bay.

 

[rwordenjr]

Ughhh now I want to clean mine

 

[Scrapla347]

Ughhh now I want to clean mine

I was surprised by how many bolts actually hold on the wings for later cars. I have a hatch from a LX and there was a ton of nuts holding on the LX wing.

 

[Willybill32]

I was surprised by how many bolts actually hold on the wings for later cars. I have a hatch from a LX and there was a ton of nuts holding on the LX wing.

Yeah, all those nuts apparently fail at some point and let water into the inner panel of the hatch, where the water leakage causes the inside of the hatch to rust. My ‘86 hatch was like that, and I ran across several more while trying to find a rust-free one.

 

[Scrapla347]

Yeah, all those nuts apparently fail at some point and let water into the inner panel of the hatch, where the water leakage causes the inside of the hatch to rust. My ‘86 hatch was like that, and I ran across several more while trying to find a rust-free one.

Yea I noticed the rotted rubber gaskets they had. Need to find some replacements or get creative.

 

[rwordenjr]

Scared to look at my 2. Both from non rusty areas but paranoid

 

[Scrapla347]

Scared to look at my 2. Both from non rusty areas but paranoid

My LX hatch was from a junk yard and sat for years. There was a ton of leaves and dirt but no rust so you might be surprised.

 

[rwordenjr]

My LX hatch was from a junk yard and sat for years. There was a ton of leaves and dirt but no rust so you might be surprised.

What you think… take them off and check it out ?

 

[Scrapla347]

Beautiful cars! It's up to you. It's not really hard but when I removed mine the rubber gaskets on each bolt fall apart so maybe plan on having replacements ready before?

 

[General karthief]

What you think… take them off and check it out ?

NO!

 

[General karthief]

What you think… take them off and check it out ?

NO!

 

[rwordenjr]

Beautiful cars! It's up to you. It's not really hard but when I removed mine the rubber gaskets on each bolt fall apart so maybe plan on having replacements ready before?

Good point. Definitely wouldn’t do anything unless had replacements ready to go.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Bolt and seal kit for the spoiler:

https://lmr.com/item/HDW-44210A/mustang-hatch-rear-spoiler-install-kit-50-resto-84-93?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21804152373&gbraid=0AAAAAD62FUxt2D0bvpC8DyhAdT0sQxwbN&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5c_FBhDJARIsAIcmHK9WKKYFWtXJpv3F0iM9nqR3WXaBeB3OXd87aTAGKbiixY_lZELYrPgaAgFiEALw_wcB