it just never ends. So today after a long battle with my strut bolts. Conjuring up fabulous leverage devices and so forth, I discovered something most unpleasant. Rust.=/
As you can see in the first pic the little rat hole is at the base of my strut tower and frame. But it gets worse. The rust goes all the way around the base of my strut tower and frame. So much so that I can rip it all out by hand if I so desired. I don't even know what I'm going to do with this car anymore. To keep putting all my nice new shiny parts on a dying car with be ridiculous. This isn't the only place I've found rust. It's everywhere. But this is the last straw. WTF is the point??? :mad:
dude, that does suck...
That is the newer TC, isn't it?
Sorry to hear about that.
That is bad. Buy Eirc's Blue Max;) Oh and you've just had 5 manliness points deducted for using that word before leverage....Sorry:hick:
Had the same thing happen with my 1980, every time I looked at it it found a new way to leak oil and another piece of rust fell off. Time to start looking for a clean car, my 82 has rotten fenders, i'm not too sure about the tranny, and the interior is fadded, ugly ass red. I did crawl all underneath before I bought it and couldnt find anything more than surface rust, now I just have to swap over all the good parts I spent years collecting/putting in to the 80 over to the 82.
Ditto
man...if your goal is to have a sweet tbird as the end result than id say keep on truckin with the mods. keep an eye out for a nice clean fox body and swap everything later. if the car is more one of those "in the moment/for now" cars than id put it bcak together and drive it while you can.
Yeah that is definitely cancer rust. Too bad.
I agree with Shame302, drive it till it's no longer safe to, then swap everything into another TC...
TbirdScott-out in the salvage yard I work at, there's an '80-'82 just like the one you have in your sig....
haven't driven it since early Feb. i stopped driving it because parts kept on breaking and it was too dangerous to drive. especially in the snow.
That's the exact same kind of rust my parts TC has, which is why I decided to part it instead of fixing it. I feel for you - I was kinda disappointed, even though I knew before buying it that it had cancer, I had a spot in the back of my head hoping it would be fixable.
Technically, though, it probably could be fixed - you could put a patch in, and where it's hidden from view it doesn't have to be pretty. Had I REALLY wanted to I could've fixed mine but I already have a nearly rust-free body waiting for some TC parts...
I had a '78 Pinto that rusted out on me. One day it got real squirrely in the turns. One of the rear spring shackles pulled loose from the chassis. Totally rusted out. Lucky I was not going very fast.
So you should check things over real good. Make sure nothing is going to let go and make you lose control.
I have come to the decision that I'm just going to button the front end back together with all the old parts. I'll get some decent used 5-lug rotors and swap in the T-3 in and crank up the boost. I'll sort thru whatever parts I don't need/can't use for Darkthunder and sell what's left. And when she's undriveable I'll save what goodies I can and part her out and send her on her way.
As for that rust on the strut tower, I'll take Thunder Chicken's advice and just put a patch on it.
actually i don't remember using that word. geez. =/
well now that i have the turbo removed you can see the damage in full. the frame looks worse than i thought. the pics make it look better, it actually looks worse in person. :(
dude....
That's the first place I check when buying a fox. Had the same stuff happen to a fairmont I bought.
Wow I'm lucky I guess. No rust there at all. You will find one someday man.
the same can be said bout my ex-wife
That is a shame :disappoin , but I can see just continuing with your plans as long as in the future you plan to pop the parts back off when a better "donor" chassis comes along. The chassis/body is just another part!
Shew, that is a lot of rust. You should, with a little time and patience, be able to fix it.
Holy s**t dude! That doesn't look too safe. I could probably be fixed but you'd have to be careful. When I see things like this is makes me gald my car spent 14 years of its life in California......