Hey all, you may have seen me lurking and posting on the V6 boards over the last couple years as I struggled to maintain and repair my 89 RS 2.8. A week ago I hit a huge pothole while driving and started to notice a dragging noise near the rear on the driver's side. I'm not even sure what I'm looking at as I have very limited knowledge of suspension... but after reading other posts here (namely, this one https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...r-control.html ), I have a feeling it's toast.

I had a tough time taking decent pictures underneath without substantial light, and I really don't want to jack it up, but I'll share what I've got. I can provide more if needed.

Any ideas/thoughts? If this is beyond reasonable repair, which I suspect is the case, what should I do with this thirdgen?

 

That's pretty much beyond salvation.

You'd have to buy a sound car, cut it up, tear all the wasted parts off of that one, and replace them with the good parts.

Which doesn't make a lot of sense. Especially being just a 6-cyl one, there's no "value" there. If you have some other perfectly good car, what's the logic in cutting it up to piece together a bottom-of-the-line rust bomb?

Yours is ready for the recycler. Part out what's still salvageable so that other cars might live on, and throw away the parts remains that look like what's in those pics.

 

Sorry man, he's right, that thing is done.

 

Yeah I agree, a V6 model isn't worth extensive trouble, especially this one. This car has given me endless grief and there isn't much that isn't wrong with it. It's got to be THE worst thirdgen still running. However with that in mind, is there any way I can stretch this ****er any further so I can get from A to B safely while I save for a car? Any recommendations for junking/parting it out? And is there anyone in the South Milwaukee area interested in parts?

 

Honestly I don't think there is any way that you could drive that safely, and I would strongly recommend not driving it any more, at all.

 

Yeeeouch, never saw anything like that.

 

You'd be saying that over and over if I showed you the rest of the car or went into details on what I've been through.

I'm really disappointed. It looks like I won't be a part of the thirdgen community any more.

 

Thats some extreme LCA relocation! Bet the other side's not far behind. How'd you not notice things were that bad?

 

My friend had the same prob. Missing a part of the frame where the LCA bolts to. He had to sell, but he had a V8, a new paint job, nice wheels and interior. Was a shame, but it was too dangerous to drive. He sold it to a guy who does welding for a living who said it would be a task. I would sell it to someone who knows what they are getting into and is willing to fix it (if the rest of the car has any value?) or just part it out, take some goodies if any, and buy a better one.

 

So that IS the control arm. Well it literally just 'dropped' the night I hit the pothole. Before then it was just some floorboard/carpet issues farther up toward the engine.

I think the PO opted out of every possible option. Plus there's other annoying issues... so might as well junk.

 

Yeah, there's really no other viable option - real sorry dude . You're smart enough not to argue the point like the guy in the thread you linked to in the first post; all the tough-love advice given in that thread applies here. That really can't be driven safely for any distance, I'm surprised it goes in a straight line at all. The rear end is now on a mission to exit the vehicle.

Plus in pic 2, those are your fuel lines near dragging on the ground, just waiting to catch on something and get ripped out. Pic 3 of the rhs - I can't quite make out what the cylindrical thing is that's dropped into the panhard brace, but can't be good either.

 

Actually that did happen, lol. As you can see, the fuel lines are patched up with hosing and clamps, and at one point the hanging metal pushed and nudged on it enough to pop the fuel line right out. Car died instantly and I was sitting there scratching my head...

Messed around with the ignition system figuring that was the issue since I've been having chronic ICM and Ignition module issues... It wasn't until I noticed the car would only respond to starter fluid that I peeked under and saw the gas puddle

 

Wow

Also just realised the rusty cylinder thing banging around on the panhard is what's left of the exhaust, didn't recognise it at first

 

Haha, yes, that is. But that's a different story. The remaining backhalf of my exhaust is currently in my trunk. it is torn off right after the panhard bar. (just learned what that is thanks to you )

 

Thinking positively here.. Cheap weight reduction!

 

It would be better if you dropped a V8 in it.

 

hey the rust just helped you out, get a rear tub 4 link frame kit to drop in it, it would replace all that framing anyways.

and V6 V8 car doesn't matter, none of them are worth anything if its a base model, has to be a rare option model, a worn out 305 don't make a car worth more.

 

I'll never complain about any underside rust on my car ever again......

Start saving and parting..... I bought a decent 92 Z for less than 3k.... Stay with us!

 

I have a morbid curiousity - can we see some pics of the rest of the car? I've just gotta see what it looks like...

 

Wow and im pissed about some surface rust on the bottom of the doors, sorry to see that man, but by the looks of it, it was only a matter of time before it gave

 

loll... True... and for some reason the car overheats less when uh... "configured" in this manner... At the cost of all my HP and the ability to hear things

I'd been scheming about swapping a V8 in it ever since I found out it was a V6... never panned out.

ha, that kit is probably worth more than the car at this point. If this were the only prob with it and I didn't have such an awful job, I might consider it...

@Erik and Javier: Yeah it's a bummer. I'll most likely be driving something boring for a while, but I'll get another third gen someday. Or at least a 4th or 2nd gen.

I'll have some more pics up later today or tomorrow.

 

Idk about your area but down here in Tx you can get a decent third gen for 2200-3000

 

Yeah and a thirdgen from Texas is less likely to have rust... however I don't foresee myself living in the South.

Image 1: Side profile, the side with the small(er) rust spots on the fenders. You might already notice at this point that there are very many different shades of gray, black, and white on this car... Partly due to oxidization/paint peeling (which isn't my fault and occured before I bought it) and incomplete priming and sanding (which is totally my fault, but who cares about the paint when the ****er will barely run)

Image 2: The remains of my exhaust system in my trunk, which I referred to earlier. A couple years ago in Arkansas, the muffler/tailpipe assembly had an annoying habit of slipping out where the clamp held it onto the intermediate pipe. This was ghetto remedied with JB-Weld. Then late December 2012 my car was impounded because it decided to die in a snow plow area, and the towing company ungracefully shoved it tail first into a snow bank in the back of their lot, completely snapping the curved end of that intermediate pipe. I'd been driving it with nothing but a cat since. Now that I think about it I wonder if my suspension problem first started here.

Image 3: The nose; the most aesthetically pleasing part of a thirdgen IMO. This car came with a bra when I purchased it, which I quickly learned had been put on to hide some god awful scratches and dents in the original silver/gray paint job. So I spent a whole summer day taping it off, sanding it, and spraying rustoleum. The next day a neighbor decided to back into the nose with his Dodge truck as it sat parked on the street, and a year later a woman in a Grand Prix sped across me from a stop sign in a foot of snow, and my tired drum brakes were certainly not up to the task. I lost the Rally Sport grill and some paint, but her car lost far more.

 

1: The interior. The backseat is buried under tools and parts, so no point in taking a pic back there. Up front we have a missing horn pad or whatever it's called - which got punched off during a less than composed moment. We also have a questionably set up push start button installed by the original owner, and you can see its pink wire hanging under the dash. At one point something went wrong with its connection to the fuse relay box and the button would then activate the starter any time the wire got disturbed, regardless of the presence of a key. Slamming the driver's door could potentially start the car.

2: Dirt, grime, rusty crank pulley, empty space (V6s...), and some lines carrying tranny fluid to the radiator. I didn't even know what these lines were until my serpentine belt shredded up and sent pieces flying around under the hood, one of which severed this connection during operation of the vehicle. Lost plenty of tranny fluid - tons of smoke and plenty of revving, not gettin anywhere though. I patched this up with hosing and clamps. Compression fittings would be better but I didn't know better.

3: The back. This is how I enter the car during the winter. I don't know if it's just my car or if it's Wisconsin, but those doors will NOT open in freezing temperatures. I've severely bent a door key trying. Also, there is a chevy sticker (it's corny but I blame the P.O. for installing it, though it's not like I tried to get rid of it) that said "bad *** boys drive bad *** toys", but there's a few letters missing now so it's more like "ad *** oys"

 

I don't think he meant move down here, he probably meant if you want a non rusted third gen then you may consider looking for one out of state in areas with a lot less snow. When I lived in New York I traveled all the way to Louisiana to get a non rusted chevelle in 88'. Your probably going to have a hard time finding a low rust 3rd gen in your area that's not expensive. Like Javiar87z28 said the 3rd gen Camaro's here are cheap and in decent shape with next to no rust.

 

2nd gens also had the same problem, in the same spot, but it was leaf springs, and it didn't drag on the ground, it just poked up through the back seat.

hr with a welder is all it took.

 

on the soor freezing, after any rain or a hot day where snow melts n runs down, sspray inside key hole with wd-40 and spray the door seal with it too.

it happens here in Ohio too, busted a hatch motor n right door handle off before I learned that.

 

Good point. I've also heard Western cars can be had in decent non rust shape.

WD-40 eh? My attempts involved running a pot of hot water from the house and using that spray de-icer. Neither worked very well. Luckily my hatch never froze shut, so I'd crawl through, fall into the back head first, then get in the front seat and kick the doors open.

 

Oh damn lol. I'm glad I had a garage! Must have been fun doing that first thing in the morning.

 

Good news is if you part out the car, you will have a lot of money to purchase a better vehicle. TGO has a good classified ad board and you can also post on Ebay and Craigslist. You may be lucky enough to earn plenty of $$$ to buy a less rusty Third Gen. Good luck.

 

water just makes it worse, as it sonn just freezes again, wd40 you gotta spray often but it works.

wont hurt paint rubber or plastic, its all surface friendly

 

Right on the spot lol what part of Texas do you stay in?

 

DFW area

 

Nice you part of NTTGA?