Whats your opinion on RUST?
05-30-2007, 09:38 PM
#1
Whats your opinion on RUST?
As we all know, Z's are notorious for their rust problems. Basically EVERY Z including the ones that are described as "NO RUST HERE!" have rust if it hasn't been stripped and restored. I have this pet peeve about it, and I can't seem to stand buying a Z and restoring/fixing it up if I know it has rust problems. I guess this pet peeve really developed after looking at some of the people's threads over at HybridZ and their truely rust-free restorations. Looking at the media-blasted stripped and rust free frames and their beautiful paintjob-restorations makes me feel like picking up a rust-prone Z without stripping it down would feel similar to having a thorn. How do those of you that didn't strip your car down to bare metal deal with this? I wouldn't mind paying a shop to restore some obvious rust but you can never really clean a car of it unless you take it down to the metal frame.. which I'm not prepared to do (or pay for).
Opinions?
Daniel
Opinions?
Daniel
Last edited by mrgoochio; 05-31-2007 at 08:13 AM.
05-30-2007, 09:43 PM
#2
My opinion... I worked in a body shop for several years, worked on the body of my z for several years... I HATE RUST. 
You cannot stop rust any other way than removing it entirely. You can slow it, but not stop it. Most auto collision shops these days won't take a rust bucket just to restore it for someone... they work on wrecked cars, not rusted out cars. A shop that will do it, will charge A LOT.
You cannot stop rust any other way than removing it entirely. You can slow it, but not stop it. Most auto collision shops these days won't take a rust bucket just to restore it for someone... they work on wrecked cars, not rusted out cars. A shop that will do it, will charge A LOT.
05-30-2007, 10:00 PM
#3
Thats what I'm saying, so I feel hopeless attempting to own a Z since I'm not in any position to be stripping the car down to fix all the rust. Shops generally don't do it and will cost an arm and a leg if they do. (and whatever else they can manage to take! lol)
Daniel
Daniel
Last edited by mrgoochio; 05-31-2007 at 08:13 AM.
05-31-2007, 08:40 AM
#6
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Boulder, CO
Posts: 474
Well, of course I don't like rust, but it's really not bad. My '78, like all S30 Z's had some rust. Mostly the body damage was what was bad (collision plus aftermarket sunroof). I took a couple of months to find a good body shop who'd work on it the way I wanted it done. I saved some money by stripping it to the bare unibody on my own and then towing that to the shop, and then sourcing and delivering all of the new sheet metal (except for the roof, they found that).
Mine was in pretty bad shape when I bought it. I guess with body work, parts, and paint, I probably have ~8k on the body stuff, completed. I'm not totalling up the costs until I'm finished (kept every receipt, even for the 800 ziploc bags I used to sort and label parts). If you get a car with just a typical amount of rust here and there, a good cut-and-replace job won't cost too much. Couple thou, maybe 5k with some decent paint work if some of your rust is on the finished surfaces (as opposed to floor pans or something).
Like NismoPick said, though, finding a shop to do it might be the hard part. I don't know how many questionable shops I had to visit before I found some good ones, and then which of those would work on older non-exotic cars! Just a lot of phone calls and driving around and talking to people with nice looking cars (to see if they knew any shops).
good luck,
Dave
Mine was in pretty bad shape when I bought it. I guess with body work, parts, and paint, I probably have ~8k on the body stuff, completed. I'm not totalling up the costs until I'm finished (kept every receipt, even for the 800 ziploc bags I used to sort and label parts). If you get a car with just a typical amount of rust here and there, a good cut-and-replace job won't cost too much. Couple thou, maybe 5k with some decent paint work if some of your rust is on the finished surfaces (as opposed to floor pans or something).
Like NismoPick said, though, finding a shop to do it might be the hard part. I don't know how many questionable shops I had to visit before I found some good ones, and then which of those would work on older non-exotic cars! Just a lot of phone calls and driving around and talking to people with nice looking cars (to see if they knew any shops).
good luck,
Dave
05-31-2007, 09:53 AM
#7
I have a present for you...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: dayton, nevada usa
Posts: 1,691
You can spend a small fortune on a rusty car. There are still some rust free cars out there in AZ, CA, NV. I found a '78 abandoned on private property. The law here says you can have the car towed away with written permission from the property owner. It's called a class C tow and costs you $212. It is towed to the impound yard and the DMV runs a search on it. If it comes back as stolen or the owner claims it then you get back $200. If no claim after 30 days then you get the car! I couldn't find any rust anywhere on or under it! When I picked it up there was a Nissan 4x4 trans in the rear hatch compartment. On the way home I sold the trans to a shop for $100! It needs body work and wiring but is complete. I went to PichnPull last week and there was a '74 in there with near zero rust. I got the fenders complete with light buckets and turns for $50.
What I'm getting at is do your searchs for a long time and you will be ahead when you start the project.
What I'm getting at is do your searchs for a long time and you will be ahead when you start the project.
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