1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Pull all your wheel arch moldings. The outer fender and the inner fender are spot welded along the seam. If water gets into the arch trim, it can penetrate that seam and water/salt will do its job. Fix the visible rust, and wire wheel the underside of the seam. Then Por-15 the area, then fill with a good seam sealer, lastly apply new toilet bowl wax to the arch trim and put them back on.
If you pull the interior panels (definitely recommended), you can do the same treatment on the back side of the fender. Also down inside the side well. Check the drains while you're in there too.
On the interior side of the doors at the bottom, make sure there isn't a bunch of crud in the weatherstrip clogging up the weep holes. Also be sure that you wash and rinse that part of the door when you wash the car. If you're anal like me, pull the door panels and treat the inside of the door at the bottom with POR-15 and spray-on undercoating. Just be sure not to clog the weep holes.
Another area prone to rust is the cavities between the structural frame and the outer skin at the sides of the front hood near the mirrors. Open the hood, clean that area with a good high-pressure blast of compressed air. Spray rust convertor in there, then the next day spray some paint in the area. It's easiest if you put one of those spray nozzles with the straw on it from carb cleaner on your paint can.
If you pull the front bumper, You'll see what can happen to the front cross member and the radiator surround from salt. I sandblasted mine and Por-15ed it all and hit it with undercoating. You can clean it up with a wire wheel if it's not too bad, and then treat it. The boxed area with the mounts for the bumper can actually rust through. If you have rust-through, cut it out and weld in new metal and then be sure to use seam sealer on the ends before painting.
The tunnels where the drive shafts come through the inner wheel well are the most critical spots to check for rust. The floor of the tunnel fills up with gravel and sand which holds water and rusts the area badly. Clean all the gravel and sand out. I usually use compressed air through a j-shaped metal tube to get it out of all the nooks and crannies. If the area is still sound, you can do the POR-15 and undercoating treatment. If it's thin, you'll have to consider having new metal welded in. It's easiest to do a good treatment when the suspension and driveshaft is out of the car. But that's not necessary to do a decent job.
One other area often overlooked is the underside of the piece where the windshield wiper arms come through. Go all the way to the ends on each side and feel up underneath (kind of near the corners of the windshield). If you feel rust, you should treat that area before it comes through the outside of the piece.
posted by 64.128.17...
, Thu, 7 Jan 2010 22:26:51
, Fri, 8 Jan 2010 02:45:50
, Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:05:56
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