Hello, been a while since I posted. Well, today I was doing some trivial maintenance. I removed the fan from the trunk, and all the tubing. Oddly enough it works? but it never has on the car. I'll do a search to find the info for the methods used to fill the voids left from this mod.

Anyway my absolute worst fear has hit home. I was afraid it would be the case as, the rubber seal leaks, and the trunk had been getting damp... I pulled the carpet, and found huge rust holes in the sides of the trunk. Besides only minor surface rust on the usual places there is none this bad anywhere else. Should I look deeper? Like pull the rear fascia off, and see if it has rusted else where? Or, have I caught it soon enough to be able to stop it's progression? Any help on this matter is GREATLY appreciated.





{Fixed pic's} Don't know how I messed them up

[This message has been edited by Yellow355F1 (edited 10-27-2010).]

Everyone up north wishes their car looked that good.

You could just leave it alone. You could patch it.

Too far gone? That is always a totally subjective question. It's always up to you. You could rebuild your Fiero starting with the ignition key. You won't ever stop a car from rusting, but you can slow it down.

So it's up to you. If you wish to invest in the time to 'make it right' you can. You can also leave it alone.

check other area's like where your lower control arms attach to the cradle, more of a concern.

Yes be concerned. There is good cause to suspect your frame rails are infected and perhaps weakened.

This needs to have the area exposed and repaired. Rubyredfiero makes replacement frame rails if they are in fact rotten. You need to cut out the infected metal and weld in new. This is not an easy quick fix. You will likely have to remove the rear clip and do major surgery.

Sorry to give you the bad news. I don't think I'd drive it without stripping it down and making sure the frame is solid.

Arn

From my experience, you have caught it soon enough to save a lot of the original metal. Fix it now, as it will worsen rapidly. You need to remove the rear clip and fender liners to properly assess the damage. It can be repaired, but do it now.

While i have seen worse i have also seen better. now is the time for some premptive matinence others will cue in to what that is because i'v never delt with a rust problem.

Fix the leaks, cut the metal out and weld new stuff in. It's not that bad.

Definitely not bad ......

You could even sand/grind it down, and JB weld on a new shiny piece of metal on there. Then just seal it up good on both sides with some rust inhibiting paint and you'll be good.

This being the only car I have ever owned for more than a couple of years. It pained me to find the problem. However, the good news may be in the fact that the cradle and areas closest to it are fine. It has just been a little over a year since it got a physical at the Fiero factory. It was in for a clutch they looked it over in the major areas visible without taking things off. It looked ok, not great, or showroom perfect but passible.

This will be a salvage operation I have had this car to long to give up on it. I have had cars come and go but, this one I have never even thought about selling. Of course the only times someone offered to buy it I was offended by the lowballing offers. I had to literally chew, not bite but, chew my tongue to keep from going off...

So, metal work it will be. I wanted the opinion of the forum on it. As I know alot of you have seen this type of damage, and have dealt with it. I have seen quite a few threads with pics of much worse unfortunately a few of those cars became parts donors.

quote Originally posted by Arns85GT: Yes be concerned. There is good cause to suspect your frame rails are infected and perhaps weakened. Arn

And, this is the exact thing I was afraid of.... Welding is not my strong suit but, I know a really good welder. I'll leave that to him, the rest is fine with me. I have never taken one apart this extensively so, I'll likely go and study the various stages of stripped ones at the Fiero factory. Though time is not on my side since my work is now being slowly brought to the shop instead of done on site due to changing weather.

I can stop the leak easily but, the rest will take time. Would it be ok to bomb the affected areas with rust converter till the time comes for the repair? The stuff I used worked really well on the intake can pedestal still looks ok after a year now.

And, thanks for the info everyone.

[This message has been edited by Yellow355F1 (edited 10-27-2010).]

thats a common rust spot, mine had that too

I took the splash shield off and wire wheeled that entire area, then sprayed on some zinc primer. if you want you could weld in a patch, but wire wheeling followed by paint should keep it from spreading anyway. I also like 3M professional undercoating

If you want to hold it until you can strip it down, use Rustoleum yellow. That is the best rust paint, used for heavy equipment. It will hold actually longer than you need it to.

Arn

When I perform this type of rust repair, I have Jeremy at the Fiero Factory cut out good metal from a Fiero and ship it to me.
I then drill out the factory spot welds, remove the rusted pieces, and weld in the pieces that I get from the donor. I can usually cut the upper frame rail aft of the forwardmost body mount pad, take out the formed trunk corner at the factory seams, the aft end of the structure at the rear crossmember, and put in the repair piece as one structure. Weld in the drilled out spot welds, paint and seam-seal, and it is impossible to tell it was ever rusted or repaired.

It takes some trimming, cutting, clamping, measuring (several times) and welding, but the end result should be as solid as the original structure, and react properly in case of a collision.

Good luck - get on it and do it right! It needs new metal at this point, as it has spread to areas you can't see or get to easily.

At the very least, pull the wheel well liners and have a good look/feel up under there. If any sign of rust on the upper frame rails, pull the rear clip and fix it. not that bad.

See my posts in this thread for some pics

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/112351.html

PS. This was the first time I'd ever pulled a real clip or repaired a frame rail like this (did the rockers as well while it was apart, also rotted). Not to hard really, even for a relative novice like me.

------------------
Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

[This message has been edited by ltlfrari (edited 10-28-2010).]

Mine had about the same. I cut it out, applied rust converter paint then glassed over it.


Luckily the inside sub frame was intact & not rusted out.

------------------
86 GT
87 coupe restoration project.

Thanks all.

Ok, I will use rust inhibitor paint to help till I can get to it. I have used Rustoleum paint alot. I painted the intake filter housing with semi flat black and it still looks good. The yellow works best. Ok, I will use that.

The Fiero factory is just a few miles from me so, the pieces should be easily attainable. However the Rubyredfiero replacements are an option as well. Any prices on these parts. Or, are they custom built to the size of the affected area so the price differs?

If this car looks this bad. I can only imagine the Mediterranean Blue 87 up the street from me is probably just a parts car now It has been sitting on the ground with crap piled on top of it for at least 8 years now. THE very same car I almost bought..... it was at the same lot. I only passed on it because the interior was way better on my 86. I will have to get spy pics of it for you to be able to take in the absolute ghastliness of it all.

If the rear is like that I strongly suggest you to also take a look at the front before it is too late. This car has a perfect trunk but this is what I found when I went to restore a little the black frame that is seen between the front bumper and hood. What a big surprise