sidekickin Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Hey guys, I have looked at a few Subes (80's EA-81 style) I have come across and most of them are rusted. But at what point does the car become unsafe? Which areas are critical to look at when inspecting the car? Some of the cars I have looked at are rotted pretty good on the rear wheel wells. Some have holes rotted around the rear shock mounts on the wheel wells too. Obviously when you drive in rain the inside of the car will get soaked, but other than that is the body going to break in half or something? Is that common? I guess I need to know which points on the car are critical to supporting the body. Rust doesn't bother me, but I don't want to buy one of these and drive it down the road and the car collapse due to the body falling apart. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I dont deal too much with rusty cars, but I say rust on the fenders is ok, rockers can be ok frame rails and shock mounts, not ok. Especially if they are big gaping holes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86subaru Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 what people on the west cost must remember is that almost all subaru's in the 80s or older in the midwest will have rust ,so we must put up with it , if your a good body man then you could always fix it up , or just keep looking like i did until you find a rust free one , welcome to the board , if you go to the meet and greet section we are going to have a meet in the spring in columbus,ohio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I've only seen two Subarus that were beyond salvation from rust. Both were Brats rotted out to the point where they were unsafe. Floor boards gone, subframes almost gone, only thing holding the unibody together was the drive train. My '88 GL wagon is quite rusty. It's still a safe vehicle. All the subframes and suspension are solid. The seats are secure. The brakes work great. Takes A LOT of rust over many years of neglecte before they are unsafe. As to the holes there. Make sure they are holes in just the thin skin sheet metal. The places where your subframes and suspension mounts are reinforced. If those are still solid then you are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craven Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Look at this car http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=4181 Dosn't look to bad dose it. This car is un-safe to drive. I bought this car form a bone yard for trans and parts. The doors are nice and the interior was very clean. I kinda was wondering why some one would junk it, carbed EA82 with a bad head gasket. But when I was pulling the trans, when I put the jack stand on the sub-frame and let off the jack. The jackstand went through the sub-frame and the floor into the car, Wow. Now the under side of this car didn't look all that bad, but most of it was paper thin from rust. You have to be carefull about buying a twenty your old car, any car, from the Rust Belt States. Craven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operose Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 my dad's friend drove soob's religiously until one of them literally broke apart while he was driving down the road... now he's a vw/saab guy :-\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thealleyboy Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I agree that "outer" body rust - whether on the unibody or bolt on panels, is not as serious as it sometimes looks However, less visible undercarriage rust has the potential to make your car extremely "unsafe". The floor pan and rails will tell you alot, and if it has spread to the shock towers or trunk/cargo area, forget it. If you have any doubts about structural integrity, remove the carpeting and side interior panels and examine the rear wheel area. You may be surprised at how much deterioration is actually there that is not visible. good luck, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydfloyd44 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Unquestionably, if you see rust around the windshield, NOT GOOD!!! Rust coming out from under the moldings is a sign that the metal underneath the moldings and the windshield is in a LOT worse condition than you can see. If the vehicle was in an accident (i.e. rollover), you will more than likely not be in good shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I had no rust on the body but major rust on the underside, holes in my floorboards 8" each side That is what made me deem the car unsafe and change it into the SubaruHummer! However having dismatled the car and cut up the frame... I was impressed how solid the frame rails were even though the rockers, kick panels and floorboard were shot. Knowing what I know now, I'd modify a rusty Sub for off-road purposes with out a question. ....For a daily driver hard to say... Glenn 82 SubaruHummer 01 Forester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 if your doors dont close, its not safe Bubbling on the fenderwells is not really an indication of how rusty the structure of the car is. Check the frame rails right under the footwells where they start to arch up into the engine bay. Undercoating hides stuff well, so tap them with a light hammer or a screw driver. if you feel any crunchyness, the tool goes through, or you hear lotsa flakes rattling around inside, you should probably pass on it. Also check the inner fronts of the rear fenders. For ea82s anyway, if it is rusted through the chances are the rear seatbelts wont be doing much in an accident. Another thing to consider with salt related rust damage is brake lines. One of my rear lines rusted through in a place where it clipped onto the body. The rest of the line still had its grey paint on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenw22 Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 Try to jack the car up at the jacking points. My '86 had such a rusty frame that when I'd try to jack the car up, it would bend (or even punch through) the frame. That car is sitting behind my shed now, and I'll occasionally start it up and do a few laps around the yard in it. I've changed all the tires on it, and replaced them with temporary spares. No traction at all, but fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 a rusty subaru is better than no subaru. i have had rusty subarus but never had any structual issues. generally the underside will be in much better shape than what it looks like outside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahag1978 Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 My first Brat's body was perfect... not a touch of rust on it. I brought it to a dealership to overhaul the whole car (big $) well, he refused the job due to the rusted frame... he deemed it unsafe and not to spend any money on it. I wish I had known then that frequent undercarriage washes are about the best investment a rust-belter can make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marck Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 Lets say that there was a little hole in the driver's side frame rail cover (passenger side is good). And from that hole many rust chips came flying out. How safe is that? How long do you think the car will last before it is really unsafe? Can a body shop fix this by removing the welded frame rail cover and replace that part of the frame rail by welding in new metal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 Lets say that there was a little hole in the driver's side frame rail cover (passenger side is good). And from that hole many rust chips came flying out. How safe is that? How long do you think the car will last before it is really unsafe? Can a body shop fix this by removing the welded frame rail cover and replace that part of the frame rail by welding in new metal?Well, chances are the passenger side isnt good, it just hasnt broken through to the outside, since this rust starts from the insde. Anything can be fixed with new metal, it just gets more and more involved as the rust penetrates further and further into the inner structure. On my MGB GT I'm replacing nearly the whole bottom half of my car by drilling out the old spotwelds, dissassembling the bottom half of the unibody, and welding in OEM replacement panels, starting at the floorpans and crossmembers, then inner rockers, jacking points and spring perches, and finally the outer rockers and lower fenders. When I'm finished the new panels will be rustproofed in and out and the car should last another 30 years at least. You could do the same to a subaru, but I'm not sure about the availability of replacement subaru panels. You could even cut out portions of a rust free subaru shell and weld them in. Its just a HUGE task, not really worth it in the end for a subaru because they arent rare or collectible cars. My subaru doesnt have nearly enough sentimental value to justify that much work. But the MGB GT body is a work of art, penned by pinninfarina, and I want to keep it alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myxalplyx Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 The bottom-side of my RX's frame rails is looking bad. I dunno. I'll get a couple of cans of rustoleum and see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbrand Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 My brother had an early 70's torino as one of his college cars-as he went on for a masters(got 2) and a Ph. D was in cheap mode for a number of years. The 'rino had lots of salt damage, and didn't get better with time. His first real job was in Denver, did the commute from Colo Springs and rust was so bad president of first company "banned" him from parking next to other vehicles in parking lot as he was convinced rust would "jump" to the minivans, BMWs and Volvos driven by "respectable" people. He always carried a snow shovel in the trunk as part of his winter emergency gear, and hear a slight noise one day, and looked in the rear view mirror to see the snow shovel in the middle of the road. He picked it up, but figured with a holes that big(and getting bigger) it was time to retire the 'rino. he bought a new Infiniti, and after all the negotiating was done asked-what about my trade in? He needed somewhere to get rid of the thing, and the salesman begrudgingly gave him 75 or 100 bucks, and stated that in his 20+++ years of selling cars that was absolutly the WORST POS he had ever taken in trade-and speculated it prolly would stand as a record for the rest of his carreer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 I had an 86 3-door that rusted out. The floorpan had dissapeareed on the front flor pans, the rocker panels had dissapeared, you could reach up in the body behind the doors all the way to the window. The heavy frame members that support the floor pans fell off, the jack fell out of its holder in the back, through the floor. The floor rusted out under the back seat. Car looked great untill you looked underneath. Even so, the doors shut fine and the frame didn't flex under hard cornering noticably. Should the car have been drivin on the street? hell no. was it unsafe to drive? not neccecarily. I think the cars were overbuilt to start with, and therefore can lose a lot before showing dangerousness. Check the rocker panels all the way down. esp. behind the front wheels and infront of the rear wheels. Check the frame member that supports the floor pans. If there is crunchyness or holes in these, pass the car up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thealleyboy Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Lets say that there was a little hole in the driver's side frame rail cover (passenger side is good). And from that hole many rust chips came flying out. How safe is that? How long do you think the car will last before it is really unsafe? Can a body shop fix this by removing the welded frame rail cover and replace that part of the frame rail by welding in new metal? Mills Supply in Cleveland carries these caps. If that's the extent of your rust problem, it sounds like its worth considering. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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