Save My Baby!!

hemi_fan · Jun 15, 2004

Save My Baby!! (bodywork questions)

In the great white North, fox's seem to have lots of trouble holding together with all the road salt, and such... My car is 14 years old, however... for the first 10 years of its life it was lucky enough to never be driven in the winter. But those four winter years took their toll. The car has developed some cancer marks, and the previous owner tried to path them up with some Tremclad and a paint roller He told me he was planning on painting it, but he did this to slow the rust until he could. This paint looks terrible, and the rust is still coming back. So heres my question; What do I need to do to get rid of the rust!? I have rust around the lips of all 4 wheel wells, the base of the windshield pillar on th P/S, and on the top of the D/S windshield pillar. There are also a few random patches in the middle of the sheetmetal, and where the spoiler meets the hatch. Ive decided to dedicate this summer to preventing future rust, and also to make the car look better before I jump into performance mods. Any tips would be great, as I want to eliminate all rust for minimal cost. heres the pics;

Right front fender (notice the trem-clad job);

Patch right under passenger rear-view mirror;

Right rear fender;

Under the lip of the right rear quarter (hard to see);

Closer view of right rear lip;

And another spot on that same lip;

Right hand side where spoiler meets hatch;

Trem-Clad patch right above right tail-light;

Other side of the spoiler where it meets the hatch;

Driver side rear quarter panel;

Close up of DS quarter (worst spot);

Same spot from the bottom angle;

Trem-clad patch on DS quarter panel behind door;

Driver side front fender;

Close-up of forward part of DS fender;

Driver side pillar (top);

Passenger side pillar (bottom);

I am most worried about the quarter panels and pillars, because you can simply unbolt and replace the fenders/hatch... but these you cannot do so easily. Is it possible for me to restore these areas to their original glory? or will I have to go with new sheet metal all around. I dont think i could afford new sheets, so please help!! And sorry for all the pics. lol

Horsepower67 · Jun 15, 2004

Wow, to be perfectly honest, you're going to need professional bodyshop help. Those are areas that will never go away unless they are treated the right way. I'd say plan on dropping it off somewhere and having sheetmetal work done, or it will come back. Might as well go ahead and get a new windshield while you're at it, since you'll most likely have to pull yours to fix the pillars correctly. Rust really is like cancer, you have to cut it out to get rid of it most of the time.
On a side not, it's cool to see someone actually get interested in saving a foxbody, kinda like we do with classics. I'm a classic car/muscle car guy myself, but I have grown an attachment to my little fox that keeps it from getting traded for a fastback (so far, ha ha).
Also, get the undercarriage steam cleaned, or some type of pressure clean, to get rid of residual salt that's still lurking about.

dragstang88 · Jun 15, 2004

if its the original windshield, any decent glass installer could save that window. ford used butyl tape which is VERY easy to cut. i've never broken one up that i've tried to save that was original.

however, if its pitted from small rock hits, you might as well replace it. i don't know about up there, but the prices for them really aren't that terrible down here.

hemi_fan · Jun 15, 2004

Horsepower67 said:
Wow, to be perfectly honest, you're going to need professional bodyshop help. Those are areas that will never go away unless they are treated the right way. I'd say plan on dropping it off somewhere and having sheetmetal work done, or it will come back. Might as well go ahead and get a new windshield while you're at it, since you'll most likely have to pull yours to fix the pillars correctly. Rust really is like cancer, you have to cut it out to get rid of it most of the time.
On a side not, it's cool to see someone actually get interested in saving a foxbody, kinda like we do with classics. I'm a classic car/muscle car guy myself, but I have grown an attachment to my little fox that keeps it from getting traded for a fastback (so far, ha ha).
Also, get the undercarriage steam cleaned, or some type of pressure clean, to get rid of residual salt that's still lurking about.

A friend of my dad's owns a shop. He's self-employed and does all types of work with cars. When I first bought the car, he said that I would probably need to cut the rear fenders out up near the pillar and he could weld and blend some new ones in. Then Id need replace the front fenders, and paint thw whole car. But how would you get rid of the spots on the pillars?? The car is a sun-roof car, so hopefully it isnt rusting from the inside-out thru the drainage tubes, but its possible.

hemi_fan · Jun 15, 2004

This guy also told me that the panels were about $350 each for the front and rear... The windshield has one small stone chip, but I could probably have it repaired quite cheaply and just keep the same glass if I could remove it easily. For the front fenders, I might go to a scrap yard and search for a car that has some mint condition front fenders and take those off, it should save me some $$ over getting new ones. I have been looking around, and is it possible to get fibreglass front fenders?? They have hoods doors and hatches on 50resto.com but no fenders. If Im gunna replace them, mite as well save weight and eliminate the worry of rust all together with some fibreglass.

Cannon Fodder · Jun 15, 2004

I strip the car of everything that isn't welded to it and bead blast it, then maybe you will have to cut and weld sheet metal. Of course this isn't a cheap project any way you look at it.

hemi_fan · Jun 15, 2004

Alright... Looks like my worst case scenario is being realized... I dont think i'll have enuff money to do a full body resto for a while, so is there any way I can just REALLY slow down the spreading of the rust!?! especially in the pillars... cuz I want this car to last me a while, so when my kids ask what was my first car, I can just take them out to the garage and show them. lol... Lets just assume that I wont have enuff money to fix it up until after university... so what can i do to make sure the car holds together for 5 years and is still restorable??

hemi_fan · Jun 15, 2004

If I sanded down all of the rust spots as far as i could, put on a rust inhibitor, primered and air-brushed it, do you think that would help it survive?? I dont plan on driving it in the winter, so I dont think it should rust too much more as longs as the current rust is all covered up and sealed

cjman15 · Jun 15, 2004

get some POR-15... that stuff stops rust very well...

Horsepower67 · Jun 15, 2004

POR-15 and a Maaco paint job, just to seal stuff up.
Oh, and ROH Snypers look very aggressive on black hatches, my buddy had some on his. They're a nice alternative to the Cobra R but have the same type of look.

hemi_fan · Jun 15, 2004

thanks!! I'll deffinitely take a serious look at that POR-15 stuff. I stumbled across it on the net when looking for body panels, but wasnt sure if it worked. As for Maaco, I dont really want to pay a company to paint it when I have a small airbrush thats up to the job, and i can do it myself. I think i could seal it up decently for A LOT less money than it would cost Maaco to do it, altho they'd do a better job im sure. Do you think it would be a good idea to remove the splash guards, and also put a nice coating on the inside of the fender where the fender/spash guards meet?? And does anyone have any tips on prepping and painting fenders, as well as blending the paint to match?? thanks for the help

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