Just bought an 85 300td with some rust

[biodieselkid]

Hello,

I live in Wisconsin, and they salt the **** out of the roads here. This car came from NJ, and same deal there. But, I have no experience with rust, since I am from WA, and I was wondering what the costs are to have the rust repaired on this car. Ballpark of course, and just doing fiberglass and decent, but not factory paint.

Anyhow, the car is mechanically solid-of course-and the interior is very good. Just the body being ****ty. I really do not want to part this as my neighbor wants this car for her daily driver and as we all know, this is one great car. No real rot in the frame, jack points are toasted in 3 or 4 sites.

Let me know your opinions on this, or if any one wants to buy it from me and is going to restore it, that would make my decision easier. Thanks for the help/guidance,
The Kid

damn, just tried to upload photos, too big, so now I gotta take some more and shrink them

[biodieselkid]

And an update, this thing drives like a dream at high speed, transmission is really nice, way better than mine at 280k. This one has 301k, must have been rebuilt but this car is certainly worth saving-maybe. The Kid

[TylerH860]

That car makes the rust on sold '85 wagon look like nothing. There is no way to repair a car that far gone without investing tens of thousands of dollars or hundreds of man hours. Even with that it will probably come back, and the car will not be as strong as before.

You best bet is to find a Southern rust free body and swap it all over or drive this one until it falls apart.

[tbomachines]

Drive it until it dies. No telling how much structural rot there is on there. Sadly this is the story with a lot of our cars - mine only has a 3x5 inch visible rust spot on the rear fender, but it was hiding a patch of rot that had eaten through the structural component behind the wheel. I bolted in a steel plate to the solid parts and said to hell with it, I'm looking for a nice body swap candidate now. Money considered, usually not worth it to repair rust on these vehicles.

[UriahT]

Oh man, that makes me sad.
Too far gone to save body-wise unless you're really, really OCD and have no job.

[compu_85]

My SDL is another salt victem, there was one bubble on the door that I saw before I bought it, what I didn't see what the dollar bill sized hole in the wiper cowling below the windshield

-J

[brownrice78]

Just keep driving it until it dies. It's a losing cause, just enjoy as it is.

[pawoSD]

Mine has ongoing rust issues too.....I fight it, so I'll be able to drive it for a long time to come.....but I know that in the end I'll lose.

My main issue is the front part of the frame rail on the passenger side has a hole.....and the rear sway bar mount on the passenger side is...half gone. I'll probably grind it all up sometime and bolt a big steel plate there to attach the sway bracket to....that should last a while.

[snookwhaler]

Some rust? That is a whole lotta rust!

Maybe keep the car and use it until you find one that has little to no rust and is not running. Then swap the mechanicals if you feel that this one is that good.

[JEBalles]

Nonsense! Any rust can be repaired with a good welder and a TON of time (you have to love the car though, cause it's far from financially advisable). You could probably buy another house with the money you would use to get that professionally fixed. Otherwise, start looking for a rust-free car with a bad drivetrain.

[Graham]

Up here in Canada, we probably see a lot more rust than our cousins to the South.

You can buy new aftermarket or used panels for our cars at reasonable prices - I think I paid under $100 for front fenders.

Three years ago, I had my car "de-rusted" . New front fenders, repaired rear fenders, repaired front jack points and areas around sliding roof and windshield. Also some areas on rear 1/4 panels. Then Maaco's best quality paint job. Total cost C$3000. After 3 years still looks great with no rust. If I get 6 years, that is $500/yr - Worth it for us because we have newish engine with only 80k km on it.

Need to have someone have a real god look to make sure structure is still sound.

[DSlater]

I'm a little tipsy, and since you already own the car, I feel the need to give some encouragement in the face of...um...discouragement.

If the motor/trans is as nice as the interior looks, and the rot is limited to _just_ the body panels and and not the frame (might take some effort to pull what panels you can to really get look, also inspect hinge drains and under/next to batt tray as water may be getting in the cabin/floorpans that you haven't noticed), and you _really_ want to save it, I would start by:

1 - Cleaning up all the weeping rust stains and loose rust and then liberally applying some kind of rust converter/stopper (usually phosphoric acid based, the really good ones leave a zinc phosphate coating to boot I think). It should help slow the rot for the moment while you work on things.

2 - Within reason, plugging water in-letting holes with Por15 putty or similar and polyurethane roofing sealant, as appropriate. Obviously this is also an 'only for the moment' thing. Make sure you can undo whatever you do at this stage.

3 - Start replacing panels, doors, etc. with rust-free ones by lurking ebay or finding a nice donor body on a blown motor/trans. Also consider new panels from Phil, or places like K&K Manufacturing. There's another place I found I can't find the link for right now. Will edit it in when/if I locate it.

4 - Figure out what will need welding and start lining up someone who can do it. Shoot for doing all pre and post prepping and patch metal fabbing yourself and only using the welding service for actually welding metal in. I'm at the 'buy an angle grinder' stage right now. DeWalt 4.5" 10-amp is in front so far.

5 - Check out the FYI: Rust thread I just posted in the Body Work > Body Repair forum. Lot's of info at the link there. Also use google with site:peachparts.com to enhance your searching here.

It will take a lot of work and time, and some money, but you can get it rust free (enough) if you are committed to it. Tens of thousands is a bit exaggerated imo.

Then it will need to be painted. A good job isn't cheap, but again, doing all the pre and post prep that you can yourself will help, possibly considerably.

Hope this post helped.