Poptart

How much body rust is too much? I bought a 91 bird back in march or so just as a way to get into cars, the usual taking things apart, seeing how they work and attempting to put them back together. Well I have the engine running nicely now and hopefully just need a few more parts to get her back to original.

Anyway I got to looking at the body since I have been contemplating painting it and there is a bit of rust on the edges of the wheel wells and a bit on one of the doors where a piece of molding was broken. I was wondering how easy this is to fix / paint over. Theres a few spots on the wells that have been completely corroded and one or two spots on the front end where the ground effects bolt on.

So would it be worth the time / money to attempt to fix the rust spots?

I bought this car for $500 and the engine and tranny are solid. I just dont know whether to sell it and try and upgrade to a more solid bird or not.

Thirdgen Ranch

iTrader: (5)

We would definitely have to see some pictures to see how bad the rust is but from what you described it doesn't sound bad enough to worry about. However, I would definitely get it taken care of as soon as you can because it can get a lot worse in a hurry.

sleepsinshed

iTrader: (10)

Rust usually attacks from the inside out, so when it becomes visible on the outside of the car, it can indicate more serious hidden problems. The rule of thumb is the more you look, the more you find (ask me how I know). Make a good assessment of the rust situation before committing to a paint job.

TREK

Yeap keep digging.

TREK

how are the floors and rockers?

Poptart

As far as I can tell from the underside of the car and pulling up some carpet the rockers and floor panels are solid. Its just spotty around the parts mentioned previously. I will get some pictures up tomorrow morning.

kcb37

Depends on what you want to spend.
I have a hole in the drivers side floor board of my car. Because of that most people would either sell it, or use it for parts. However I am going to fix it.
I know it's going to cost some money, and take alot of time. But that's alright.
If you only have those spots, that's not bad at all.

The best way to fix it is to,
Sand it down as close to bare metal as you can get. Then put a rust converter on it. Once that is done you can paint it.
As a side note, like was said earlier, it's worse then it looks. So take the time to take out the seats and pull up the carpet. Take the door panels off and so on.
If it comes down to it, the best way in my opinion. Strip the entire car, clean all the rust, repaint it. While all that is being done unless you do it yourself, after. Start cleaning and painting all the suspension parts and so on. Rust converter/undercoating.
It's alot of work, but if you don't get all of the rust, it's going to come back. If you have rust where you didn't see it, just going to get worse.