What does r3v think of my rust?

[TimKninja]

I'm quite upset right now, in the middle of my 5 speed swap on my eta j went to pull the rug back and find this....



Is this worth fixing ? I'm really friggin pissed and feel stupid for not seeing it before it goes up all the way to the top of the fenderwell/ firewall.

Car is an 85 325e, this is about the 2nd rust spot, the other one is the passenger jack point, typical spot that I had planned to fix.

Might go look at an es on Wednesday. Sucks, i put about 1200 into this car with insuring it and registering it. Along with timing belt and waterpump. Plus I already bough a parts car and parts to do the 5 speed swap.

[ck_taft325is]

That's hefty. I'd look into getting a shell, which sucks balls. Or maybe a clean non-runner that you can re-coupe some cost off of with the excess parts? Sorry to see it, man. I hate when that happens.

[dannyyisntt]

Hard to tell from the photo. Living in the "rust belt," I've seen my fare share of rust.

[nomansland92]

that a hard one to fix but it can be down. But now that you found that i would be scared to check the floor bored. I bought my car and i was told there was only a quarter size whole in the fender then i soon found out both fenders were going under the trim and both driver and pass foor boards had over 6inch wholes and both corners of the trunk was gone as well and the worst whole was above the exhaust where it levels out behind the fire wall of the passenger side like a few feet forward from the shifter. But after a few months and a lot of work all the rust as fixed and the car is back on the road after sitting for 3 straight years. And of course i did a lot more than just rust repair haha

[Jonny Cash]

ouch man, sorry to hear. I personally wouldnt bother with it.. But then again being up there, you may not find many "shells" that dont have rust.

But i guess in the grand scheme of things, for 1200 you have a reliable car that will get you where you need to go. Its not a show car and you'll never see it- Trust me I grew up in RI, dealt with rusty cars for a long time, I feel your pain.

[u3b3rg33k]

I'd suggest you find a local body shop that actually cares, and take it in. I have mine de-rusted from time to time. Most recently I had the edges de-rusted, and inside the fender I had a gash in the undercoating that looked similar. They stripped it, cut it out, and welded her back up. Then painted the whole thing.

If you like the car, who cares if it's cost effective (provided it doesn't need $4k in body work or something)? Maintenance is maintenance, and on steel cars, that eventually includes metal work.

[TimKninja]

I agree, as I really don't wanna trash this car. Unfortunately the spot on the other side is bad too. Im gonna look at the 325es for sale, and if its alittle more void of rust I may go for that. The car needs alot right now, interior, alittle body work nothing major, and im in the middle of going to get the cylinder head rebuilt and doing the headgasket. So its gonna run me a bit, and Im afraid getting to the rest of the rust will require removal of more things. Maybe I will fix it. Im in college and a bit tight on money, Ive got about three grand in the bank tho.

I just hate to see this car hit the scrapper as Ive done alot to it and went through alot to get it.

We'll see. I almost wanna just forget its there, throw the clutch pedal in, beat the crap out of it then get a better E30....even that still requires $400 worth of parts, and headaches getting the motor back in...

Heres the passenger floorboard...drivers floorboard is surprisingly unscathed, you cant see it., but it runs into the rocker panal too.



heres the view of the first spot from the wheelwell



And heres the ES in question

http://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/cto/2046706222.html

[Pac1373]

cutting wheel+ chunk of steel+ wire feed welder+ afternoon= patched floor.


cover it with a zinc paint or POR15 or ...paint...

I have done it with worse, you can too. (self taught here)

[6gen91]

LMFAO u think thats bad broskin? checkout what my floor board looked like before we redid it all...

[F34R]

Not bad if you can weld or know someone that can. My father and I redid a 1974 Mercedes 240. The whole floor pans were gone. It was a week of fab and welding. I loved that car =)

[TimKninja]

If this ES isint worth it, Im definitely fixing it, Thanks guys! Im taking welding class at school, all I need is a welder.

Biggest focus is on getting 5 Speed swap, I cant be in the garage im using for much longer. Then rust will come next.

[iwantspeed]

ca cars
:nice::nice:

[ck_taft325is]

Not bad if you can weld or know someone that can. My father and I redid a 1974 Mercedes 240. The whole floor pans were gone. It was a week of fab and welding. I loved that car =)

Thread derail but, AWESOME. I had a '73 280 SEL with the 6.3l V8 stuffed into it. That thing was a beast and got attention everywhere.


If you can weld, or even just have access to a welder, I'd fix it yourself. The experience is well worth it. Pick up some scrap metal of roughly the same gauge and practice a bit, then tackle it face first.

[F34R]

Thread derail but, AWESOME. I had a '73 280 SEL with the 6.3l V8 stuffed into it. That thing was a beast and got attention everywhere.

HOLY SHIT! that must have been a work of destruction! I was planning to swap it the the 1984 280 straight six I had. But I moved and both were sold =(

[MoparJ]

That can be fixed; I've seen a lot worse.....it really depends on if you yourself think it's worth it.

My car had a couple of dime-sized holes on the pass side floorboard....the cowl drain broke off and allowed water to run down in between the exhaust heat shield and the firewall. Sealer and (expensive) flexible filler from POR15 took care of it pretty well, though.