I'm going to look at a 92 RS. T Top, 305, 90k miles. Only thing is its an Illinois car - guy just moved to California so i'm a bit weary about rust. He claims he and the original owner kept great care of it and never drove it in the snow yadda yadda...I still would like to see for myself. Where, besides the obvious wheel wells is rust likely to form? If there is rust, how much is "too much" and at what point is it easily repairable?

 

Common points of rust I'd say are:
1. Floor pans, right where the front driver's and passenger's feet rest
2. Wheel wells, you should be able to see it.
3. Front strut towers, once again, noticeable
4. Lift the rear hatch and look up (bottom of the hatch)

I'm sure there's more, people will chime in.

 

Check where the spare tire sits, mine had a small amount of rust (now removed) there.

 

Floor pans big time.Being from Illinois I can tell you where the big rust problems are.First like they said where the drivers and passengers feet rest,and also behind the front seats right along the rocker panels.That is usually the first spot to rust.Also behind the lower rear part of the front fenders,where the leaves fall down and sit along the bottom there and hold water and moisture and rust the crap out of everything.Good luck..

 

The front edge of the hood usually gets kinda rusty on these cars. Obviously, you should check around the T-tops. And I think they covered just about everything else.

 

remove the ttops and move the weatherstripping back with your hands. especialy along the tbar. there is almost certain to be rust here. as long as there are no holes i think your good, but it should turn that 3,000$ into a 2,500$ or less real quick once you point it out to him. if he will let you pull up the carpet on the drivers side DO IT. bring a philips screwdriver. you will be glad you did.

 

Will I be able to see the rust where the drivers feet go by looking under the car? Or do I have to pull the carpet?

 

If you bring a mechanics telescoping mirror and a good flashlight you should be able to look under there and see what you need to see.Have a real good look on the floor pans along the front and rear where they meet against the rocker panel.

 

Check around the windshield... if there is any rust then there is a good chance the entire windshield frame is toast. This is one of the hardest parts to replace.

 

Dante was unaware of the rust belt states when he wrote about the circles of hell!!


is it a t-top?

 

Dante was unaware of the rust belt states when he wrote about the circles of hell!!

 

Yes T-Top.

 

Another common place for rust to form is on the a pillars on the outside of the vehicle. I have some on my passenger side pillar and lots of people have rust on the driver side as well.

 

Didnt see this listed, but the battery tray almost ALWAYS rusts out northern/soutern cars

Lower radiator support is normally soft

Simple test if rust is BAD

Take a small screwdriver and jab the ugly parts of a rust section. If it goes thru/flakes off big chunks/feels soft and spongey, then its bad

If it doesnt flex and gives the satifyin 'bonk' then its jsut surface

 

How does one go about repairing various types of rust? If there is surface rust can that eventually get worse into structural rust? Can I just sand away surface rust and be done with it? Or should I paint over it with some kind of sealant?

 

Yup you can, just use POR-15

 

Very minor surface rust can be repaired by cleaning with Naval Jelly then, primed with epoxy and painted. Check hotrodders.com for how to instructions.

Any other rust must be amputated and repaced with new steel.

Very minor surface rust is pretty rare. Most rust needs to be amputated before it infects the rest of the body.


Ric