hi all, got a few questions, used the search and gave up, couldn't find what i needed. ok, here goes. i have an 89 rs that is rusted through all 4 wheel wells, on the lip and close to the lip on the outer surface. also, under the spare tire is rusted through, the PO put a plastic bag down with foam on top of it just to fill the hole and put the spare back in there.

as for the wheel wells, is there anyone that makes replacements? i asked a guy that i work with, he works at a metal fab shop, and he said that he wouldn't be able to do them for me. not sure if i will find a donor car with solid wheel wells or not.

the other body work, i found the t-top conversions, so no questions there, but that is on the list to do this winter. didn't search for this one yet, just popped into my mind. how wide are the wheel wells? i want to put wider tires in the rear, but don't know how wide i want to go, kinda wanna just tub the rear. does anyone know how tubbing the rear would affect the structural integrity? if i go that route, i'm going to put in SFCs, and a 4-link rear with a shortened axle. also, what all would have to get relocated to tub the rear out? looks like the fuel tank may be in the way, line wont be a problem, cause i'm planning on replacing all the lines (fuel and brakes) with braided.

thanks

 

I just found out the other day that my car is like yours rusted out in the spare tire well and a lil bubbling on the outside lip...I have a friend at the local body shop and he said the only correct way to fix it is to put a new quarter on and while doing that they can fix that well. He said he would hook me up with a price but still its not going to be cheap. If im going to have that done i will have them sand and all the rest of the car and get a paint job done. For now I will wait it out.

As for you...tubbing out the rear is a BIG job to do it correctly. Somewhere on here a guy just had his car redone with roll cage and suspension and all that at a proffesional shop.....hopefully someone has that thread saved...

The gas tank will most likely need to be pulled and have a fuel cell inside the car as a replacement....usually they place them between the tubs when they do thirdgens.

....Let me know how converting to all braided lines goes. My lines are old and rusted(but work) and ive thought about just going the braided route instead of messing around with regular lines. Post pictures...and problems you had and so on...

 

will let u know when i do it. dont have the money just yet to do it. i dont have rear brakes right now cause the hard lines are all rusted out in the rear.

thanks for the info. will do some searching about doing the tubs. going to try to find a donor body with good wheel wells and t-tops to swap onto my car

 

I also have rust and I just bought a parts car cheap with good floors, fender wells, and rear quarters. It will take some work but if you look up the price of 1 quarter panel and add shipping, you are talking big bucks so for me, this is the way to go.

Kevin

 

Yeah while this post is up I thought I might slip in a question

So I plan to soon take my International Racer fOr Champions (I know I know it just sounds cooler that way) down to the ole body shop to get stripped down to the chassis and cleaned up like new (Body Only not interior like dashboard center consol or seats ECT.) IE: make everything rusty like new then primered over and everything bent, straight. The only major rust spots are three baseball sized areas; under the doors and on the rear hood under the lip near the latch. Besides being old there isn't anything really major though. Does anyone have any idea what kinda price range that would fall under.


Feel free to PM me with answers

 

I would try to find a used rust free hatch and used rust free doors. Just my suggestion but rust in the doors is hard to fix unless you get new skins and that is a lot of labor.


KEvin

 

Yep already got'em got the price too but thinks for the advice the body shop directed me to the junkyard for the door-hatch bits

 

Good luck on your project.

 

If it were me i would search really hard to find a rust free car that maybe has blown engine no interior whatever. Repaint the rust free car and then swap what you need from your rusted out car to complete the good car. trust me you can find them i have a friend that just bought a almost perfect 92 camaro with 305 for 1000 bucks. You just have to search.