I recieved my rear hatch weatherstripping (and that ripoff of a bag of retainers for the shifter ****) from GMpartsdirect.com today. It's absurd that they charge shipping on EVERY single item and still ship them in the same box, just to have you open it and see them both in there like a final insulting blow to the gut. Anyway... here's where I'm at with my whole restoration project at this point.

 

I've been waiting far too long to get this done. I put off subs and an amp for over a year just because the hatch was leaking a little bit along the side. I HATE water in the car. But anyway...

I decide it's time to see what's lurking under that old stock weatherstrip. I start from the bottom and there it is: RUST.

 

Uck. If there's anything I hate more than water in the car, it's rust. So I sanded down as much as I could, cleaned off the dust, and applied some stuff that "turns rust into a black primer." I forget what it's called, but I bought it at AutoZone. It's currently drying on the car as I type, and I will take some pictures of it tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't need another coat and I can put the weatherstip on.

This is entirely a temporary fix, I realize. I plan on having the whole body worked on professionally at some point in the future. There are various small rust spots, dents and minor damage on the car. The most prevalent is the passenger door (which is why you never see pictures of the passenger side of the car ). I was told by the previous owner that the door was replaced because "one of those big Home Depot wood carts hit it." Somehow I doubt this, considering the floorpan and quarter panel on the bottom are also slightly dented inward and up. So a different door was thrown on the car that unfortunately has a good deal of rust along the bottom. I'll update some more tomorrow.

 

That's one thing I don't miss about my thirdgen. I hated replacing crap like that.