Rust repair: Realistic, or go Subaru hunting?

[the_bard]

My '92 Loyale is rusted up pretty bad, now that I've gotten a chance to really start digging into her. What had been a "wow, this looks like it might be fun" project has gotten me rather discouraged... Take a look here. (Dial-upper's beware: Lots of big pics.)

 

Keep in mind that most of my mechanical experience has been related to old farm tractors.. The most I've dealt with body rust is disc-sanding down an engine enclosure from an old John Deere B, then repainting it by hand with Rust-O-Leum, or however y'all spell it. Growing up, if my father had a car that was starting to rust bad, he simply parked it and bought a new one.

 

:moon:

 

I don't quite have the heart to do that with my Subaru, though. I love the engine, and the tranny's still going strong. I'm looking at the potential of hitting 300k, and loving the thought. The rust has me really worried, though. I'm not willing to simply treat it, fiberglass & bondo it over, and keep an eye on it. I've got a feeling it's simply too far gone for that. :boohoo:

 

I'm not going to be able to get to my parent's farm (closest access to a acetylene/oxygen cuttin' torch, plus an arc welder) 'til after winter. Hence the bad fiberglass job (I don't have the tools I need to do a good fiberglass job, either, nor the money to get the right tools ). I could wait out the winter, then bring it back home to the farm, and get it cut out and welded on over (and I'm willing to take the time off from work and school 'til I get it done).

 

I'm not the world's greatest welder, either... haven't had all that much practice. That sheet metal looks really thin, so it's probably gonna be a :argue: to weld. And this isn't a engine enclosure on a farm tractor... there are a lot of serious rust holes in this body.

 

What I'm trying to find out is everybody's opinion on my options? Is it worth my effort to rescue the ol' girl? Or should I find another Loyale or GL, preferably with little to no body rust (something that I can deal with, at least), and part her out?

 

P:S. : Don't mention the lack of tread on the front tires... gettin' replacements Friday. Cash flow, ya know?

[Setright]

Dear me, looks like a lot of the chassis is rusted, doesn't bode well for shell strength.

 

I hate salt, it's nibbling at the corners of my Legacy too, and winter is coming up....I have decided to leave it, until it looks like your Loyale and then buy a new one. Once rust has taken hold, there is no holding it back - unless you want to spend unrealistic sums on buy new panels, wings, sills....not worth it.

 

Good luck finding a new friend!

[Flowmastered87GL]

And I thought my 82 brat was rusty

[MilesFox]

i have seen worse, actually, had TWICE worst myself.

 

the little chunk behind the door isnt even there on my gl-10, i have had cars with no rocker panels, the rear quarter is expected to be gone for eny soob i get ahold of.

 

get a pic of the underside of the framerail, i have seen them pretty much gone, but the car still holds up.

 

take it from me, the car is not too rusty to consider not fixing it.

 

these guys out west could not comprehend the rust in the midwest, upper east, find your best example and they will tell you its a rust-bucket!!!

 

they junk cars over smog tests, not rust!

[the_bard]

Once rust has taken hold, there is no holding it back - unless you want to spend unrealistic sums on buy new panels, wings, sills....not worth it.

 

Good luck finding a new friend! [/b]

 

I've heard this too, from a lot of places... it just sounds to defeatist, I guess . I've also heard that if you can get it cut out, welded over, POR-15'd, and painted over properly, you can save it. Which makes sense if you've got minor rust.

 

This ain't minor rust, though. I wonder how hard it'll be to find another Loyale or GL up here in the Northeast that's in fairly decent shape. I've seen a few Loyale's here in Troy... but they're all worse than mine

[thealleyboy]

Believe it or not, Japanese cars have come a long way in the way of rust protection. Some of the ones from the 70's and early 80's were notorious rust buckects. Your Loy is has the typical rust found on Subes in these parts. Restoring the body would not be worth it on that car.

 

If you just want to just keep driving it, structural integrity is what you've got to be concerned about. Safety can mean life or death- everything else is looks. Get it up on a lift and take a good hard look at the floor pan and rails.

 

As far as the body rust, you can keep it under control without too much effort. It'll look like sh*t, but you'll extend the cars life by a few years. I'm talking about grinding rusted spots, treating with extend, and spot painting, or undercoting in the non-visable areas.

 

You might want to do a quickie fix in the rear quarter area, since those holes will allow moisture and fumes into the cabin. You can do this from the inside by sealing off the open cavity with sheet metal and caulking the seams. The extererior will continue to deteriorate but the inside will be protected.

 

Of course you can do much more to make it look better, but eventually the rust will catch up to ya. Don't go overboard. You don't want to send a Sube to the yard with a perfect body but no floorpan...

 

good luck, John

[Meeky Moose]

find a new soob.. use yours for parts.. least that way you know what condition the parts your gettin are in :cool:

[calebz]

Drive out west and buy a soob out of a wrecking yard. there are soobs in the yards here that ended up there because of a blown headgasket or a bad tranny.. lots of good bodies.

For example, I recently saw an 85 wagon brought into a yard.. straight, rust free body. Interior was beautiful, with the exception of the rear cargo area carpet, which appeared to be oil stained. the thin was said to have a bad motor.. for a few hundred bucks, you could have yourself a new soob

 

After you get one from the yard, have it taken to another board members house(work this out before hand) and swap drivetrains/interior and whatever else you want. haul the rusty hulk to the crusher. drive your new/old soob back to NY!

 

(Tim.. does this sound like a familiar conversation?)

 

I have to warn you though that a really high number of the EA82 cars I have seen in the yards down here are brown .. yuck

[Sweet82]

I have had all the same problems, including 8" holes in my floor. The only difference is, I spent time over the years battleing rust on the body panels. The body panels can be fixed. The bellypan or frame rails can't be fixed (for a reasonable price).

 

My Sub had a little over a 100k on it. The engine and drivetrain were in great shape too.

 

I decided it was time to take it off-road (permanantly) because of safety issues associated with the lack of structure on the underside.

 

Make it into a highly modified off-road Subaru!

 

For what it's worth,

Glenn,

82 Hatch, transforming........:temper:

01 Forester, jealous........... :madder:

[archemitis]

subarus are cheap, drive it into the ground or find another solid one. you cant bee TOO sentimental with sometning like this

[MorganM]

Looks about teh same shape as my '88 GL wagon. To be blunt you are beyond the point of no return. Just drive on with a on your face knowing full well you will eventually be replacing it.

 

Good news is you can salvage all you want thats still good for your next Subaru

 

Shoot for a GL series next time and you will fall in love all over again. Personaly I found teh Loyales to be more like the DL models. THe GL, GL10, XT, etc etc have so much more stuff to play with :cool:

[the_bard]

Well, there's no gaping holes in the floor pan, but there are a couple that are thumb sized near the damage on the right rear.

 

I've come to the decision that I'm gonna give her up... start saving up for that next Subie that comes along. Things'll be tight until my fiance graduates come May, but once she's out, I'll be able to pick something else up.

 

I've got a feeling it might be pretty difficult finding a GL in the NE, but I'll keep an eye and ear out for one in the rest of the country. Picking it up wouldn't be too difficult... Dad's got a Ford sitting at home that's big enough to pull a double-axle trailer with a winch mounted on the front end. As long as I pay for gas, he'll pick it up. It'd get awful expensive hauling that trailer to Washington or Oregon, though .

 

*sigh*

[thealleyboy]

Bard:

 

Ive got a pretty decent 85 GL in Columbus, that needs a good home. I bought it to convert to 4wd but found another toy to keep me occupied (91 xt6). I've got under $500 in it.

 

Email me if interested. I might be interested in yours for parts.

you can use it for a trade-in {lol}

 

John

thealleyboy@yahoo.com

[viceversa]

I got a 92 Subaru Loyale, also red and also from NY and also in the same condition, as a parts car for my 92 Loyale. Used engine and other stuff.

 

That's all you can do it with yours. Drive it, then part it out.

 

Or find a good body and use it as a parts car.

[GeneralDisorder]

I don't think I've ever seen a rust bucket in a yard around here - they are all wrecked, or have problems that cause them to not pass smog, or not drive (these are usually minor). Most cars around here just don't rust. And we have LOT's of rain too, so that's not the cause of it.

 

GD

[the_bard]

Hypothetically speaking, if I do manage to find a Loyale or GL (I'm actually leaning towards the GL), what would y'all recommend to prevent the rust in the first place?

 

As far as I know, the best solution would be to take as much off the bottom of the car as possible, coat it with POR-15 (use the high temp. stuff for the exhaust system), recoat it with the underbody coating, and reassemble. That, and keep a good eye on it, trying to catch it as early as possible.

[MorganM]

My GL came with some sort of undercoating. Its a thick, chunky black material similar to bedliner in a can. Anywhere that stuff is the car is solid. Everywhere it had scrapped off years ago there is now rust or a hole.

 

Another key factor is mud flaps! They arent just for getting chics Saves the poor fenders in the front and rear.

 

Here is the poor mans undercoating that I learned myself and also noticed the OZ guys like to use Used motor oil and dust! I noticed in my engine bay where thick dirty oil had formed a protective skin that any metal and paint underneath was MINT. I mean you wipe it off and its showroom finish. Some have gone as far as slapping it on after an oil change and running up an down the gravel road Maybe not quite the sollution you are looking for but it works

[Flowmastered87GL]

Originally posted by GeneralDisorder

I don't think I've ever seen a rust bucket in a yard around here - they are all wrecked, or have problems that cause them to not pass smog, or not drive (these are usually minor). Most cars around here just don't rust. And we have LOT's of rain too, so that's not the cause of it.

 

GD

 

I bet my brat is the rustiest you've seen around here huh Rick? Its the rustiest ive seen.

 

for those that dont know:

 

Rust holes to be fixed:

Firewall spare tire area

Door sill spots

Bottom of front fenders (just gonna chop off like subarujunkie)

Right rear fender well

Former jump seat mounting area (to be fixed with leftover metal from bobbing the rear)

 

When all is said and done it will look good again.... and the frame is totally solid dispite all this rust on it

[GeneralDisorder]

Yeah - yours is really messed up, but that's because it was at the beach. Around here, that's the only place the gets the rust. That's to be expected tho, cause of the salt air. Anywhere around the ocean will be like that. And even Flo's is not rusty enough to throw away - good rally car, or off-road car. Since we don't see much rust here, there's no law against driving a rust ball, and we don't have safety inspections either, so as long as it has a tail pipe that's solid enough for them to sniff, you be gid-ta-go.

 

GD