squigles

Hello all,

This is my first car, I bought it to be a winter beater/general beater for cheap. Anyway, I took some pictures of the chassis where there has been some major rust and want to know how concerned i should be and what course of action I can take. I am from wisconsin so rust is always a problem, I honestly seemed to have not checked the one place there was major rust and somewhat concerned about it's longevity. This is my first car so I don't really know what's what and how big of a deal something like this is but maybe I just got totally ripped, you tell me.

Here's some pictures...



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kyleag89

Your entire floor is gone and someone tried patching a piece at one time. That is a lot of rust and it takes several hours and skill to fix that. I would be more concerned about the uni-body. There is rust showing on the outside and that's not good as they tend to rust from inside out. I would have someone who knows a little bit more about cars check that for you.

HCCAFan

I'd look for an XJ that needs an engine/trans and move your stuff over to it. Save the spare parts and scrap that rust heap.

squigles

So is it even safe to drive? I just want to get groceries in the winter, I know it is a total rust bucket, I am looking for another one to be the real thing. I just go this to beat around. Should i just call it a loss?

kyleag89

Snap some more pics of the uni body so we can see exactly how bad it is.

squigles

I will get some up tomorrow, I am hoping to get it to a friends garage and pull the center console/seats and pull up the carpet to really check it out. I checked what I could (I can't do much at my place, no garage and prop management doesn't want me working on cars in the drive). What I could tell there is a lot to work with other than that particular part. Maybe get a drivers side pan? I really don't want to sink cash into this piece, just looking to make it a winter beater so I can keep another car out of the ****. I also of course don't want to die.

garb.man

Really, pull the carpet and seats, order some sheet metal/ or factory floor panels, get the TNT frame stiffners and some POR 15 rust inhib paint (CALL EASTWOOD AUTOMOTIVE). The unitbody is EASILY!!! Accessible when the floors are up, sand-balst'em, fix the bad, etch prime the inside of the rails, then epoxy prime, mount the frame stiffners, fit your new floors, weld away, and seal-it all up and never look back. Theres alot to be taken from this given your first ride, all the skill and experience, the satisfaction, the money youll save from potentially buying another bucket, Take some photos so you can brag about what it was and what it is now, youll never find one more solid after you fix yours, unless the roof and firewall is rotted, then F@*K it!!! just my 2cents and a canadian penny!

garb.man

If i could i would, someone should link a floor replacement thread for him

squigles

Thank you Garb for giving me some faith, that is what I wanted to hear and what I am looking for, a learning experience.

squigles

Here are a couple quick shots of the exterior, passenger side is badly dented, i was planning on going to the junkyard and picking up some new doors?

On a seperate topic, anyone have a picture of a headlinerless interior? I am thinking about just removing it all together (it's really bad), any reason to keep it?

TheJerm

ah you got more floor there than my 96, little tlc and it will be a fine winter beater. x2 on tearing out the interior, cleaning out all the rusty sheet metal, por15 it, you can rivet new sheet metal in if you cant weld (be about the same as chyslers spot welds), and stiffen up the frame and where the seat attach. Dont want those coming out if there was an accident. You can buy frame stiffeners or just use some angle iron and weld in there The 1st pic looks the unibody right behind the LCA needs some attention.

squigles

I will try and get some pics of the unibody near the lca driver side, as you can see there is a fence in my way and im usually parked in so the passenger side is hard for me to get shots of. Glad to hear some encouraging words.

TheJerm

I wish i had a pic of my 96, There are no floors once so ever and my quick fix of using roofing metal to patch the floors like in your pics is hilarious, i did it so crap would fall out of the jeep like phones or ipods.

Now it's getting ready to go under the knife and be built up, stock sheet metal is overrated

TheJerm

Quick little search and i found this little write-up, http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1038141

squigles

Thanks, that is a great find for me!