To fix or not to fix

[shortbus]

Hi all,

 

I have somewhat of a dilemma. Its looking like I'm going to have to sell the Brat. I just don't have the time, money or motivation to mess around with it anymore and I need the room in the garage. My dilemma is this; I discovered a few rust spots in the bed awhile back (not the dreaded wheel well rust, those areas are great), its nothing too serious but I went ahead and cut out the bad spots and ground all the iffy spots out, treated it and primered it to keep it from getting worse. The damage is not really bad and probably not too difficult to fix for someone with some bodywork experience but it does look ugly. Other than that the car looks like this:

 

 

My question is would it be worth it to put the money into getting a body shop to fix the issues before I e-bay it or should I just go with it as is? I've seen some in worse shape go for quite a bit on e-bay but then I see what the exceptional ones go for and think all this needs is some body work, a new set of axles all around and some exhaust work to be very exceptional. Then theres the fact that I know I'm not going to want to sell it once it all shiny and pretty again . Anybody got any suggestions?

[75subie]

Hi

 

if you are willing to sell it reasonably as it is i would be interested in it. pm me if you want. thanks

Jon

[idosubaru]

fix and sell is the way to go. i'd get an estimate on the body work and go from there, if you can't do it yourself it'll likely be too expensive to have someone do it without taking a loss.

 

pic's of the bad/rusted spots would help those with body experience give you some advice.

 

the thing looks great.

[Sweet82]

I have way too many cars but...

 

What are you looking to get out of it?

 

You may have buyers here?

Glenn,

82 SubaruHummer

84 GL Mad Max

01 Forester

[shortbus]

Behind the cab:

 

 

 

Front lip/fascia (pass. side)

 

 

The pictures make it look like its still rusty, its not. I used a drill & grinder with wire brush to take it down to clean metal then treated it with rust preventer, thats what gives the color. Those two spots are really the main extent of it. There is a tiny hole in the bottom of the bed about the size of the tip of my pinky finger and the seams where the wheelwell meets the body had some minor stuff which was also cleaned, treated & primered (the wheel wells and shock mounts are in terrific shape). It really shouldn't be a problem for anyone with some bodywork experience to fix. The front piece could just be cut or unbolted from another Soob and welded or bolted onto this one. Unfortunately there just doesn't seem to be a plethora of old ones around here to get the piece from (no mountains + no snow = nobody bought 4wd cars until they became a macho thing). I don't really know what its worth since most that you see on e-bay are either really good or really bad (i.e. shock mount rust). Mine is kind of in between, I know that with just a little work it could easily fetch a pretty good amount on E-bay but everytime I start to look at the pictures I talk myself out of selling it. I'm almost tempted now to get the Brat fixed and sell the Honda once I have the Soob back in good order. How tough would that hole behind the driver be to fix with one of the cheaper Lincoln Electric Mig Paks like you can get at Lowes/The Depot? We also have a heavy duty Lincoln Ranger 10,000 and a bunch of Millers (Bobcat I believe) at work I could use. I've been wanting to learn how to weld for awhile but never had the time or motivation. The axles are no problem, I've done a few of them already (who among us hasn't...) and an exhaust is cheap. Other than that and a good tune up she's golden. Sorry for the length, I'm just kinda torn right now, one of the cars needs to go soon, I just have to decide which.

[subiemech85]

that ain't good

[torxxx]

sounds like a job for diamond plate. That'll take car of the back of the cab problem. For the front core support and what not, find a brat somewhere and cut it out with a sawzall. make sure you do a cut through some of the holes that they have premade in the support, so when you weld the new one on, all you have to do is line up the holes, and everything will fit.

[shortbus]

sounds like a job for diamond plate. That'll take car of the back of the cab problem. For the front core support and what not, find a brat somewhere and cut it out with a sawzall. make sure you do a cut through some of the holes that they have premade in the support, so when you weld the new one on, all you have to do is line up the holes, and everything will fit.

 

I was planning on putting a spray in bedliner in the back anyways so its not really important what that spot looks like, just need the hole filled in. As for the valence up front finding another one down here in FL is not too likely. I found a guy giving away 3 brats but they are pretty well shot, I was only able to get one b/c there was no way of getting the other two onto my trailer (no way to mount wheels to roll it on). I did find a wagon once that had the exact part in perfect shape but the u-pull it yard had used that piece as the point to set it on the stands they use so there was no way to get it off without lifting the car up which they wouldn't do I was even thinking about just taking it off alltogether, once the bumper is on you don't really notice it anyways so I'd probably never miss it, maybe I'll be able to find one down the road somewhere.