Rebuild or not

[TX82FIAT]

Looks pretty good from the pics you have posted IMHO. Can you weld, learn to weld, or share a few beers with a buddy that can weld? Some of the guys on this forum have used the POR15 with a lot of success to recoat the metal. The floor pan under the seat is a cut and replace item. Some of the other areas will benefit from a good cleaning and coating with the POR15. There is a lot of stuff you can pick up at the auto parts store that will convert rust to a paintable black surface. The item that one of the other folks might be able to help with is the rusted out support bracket just below your U-joint. A proper fix in that area might require some fabrication. From the photos, that support area would be my biggest concern. Suppose you could alway find a parts car that has that support area in good shape. Cut out a slightly larger section, clean, weld and paint.

Not really sure, have not had that issue. But the car does look good. Was that you engine in one of those pics all cleaned up?

Ray

[TulsaSpider]

Looks about normal. That will take some work but not bad at all. As stated before, look at the shock towers, they are the most important to safety.

[tonyfromjersey]

Find another mechanic. One that's not afraid to get his hands dirty, and one that understands what you plan to get out of your car. It took me a while but I found a decent (not great) one. The best thing is he gets that its an old car, that I like to work on it but occasionally need something done I don't have the ability to do, and that I don't want to do a "ground up restoration."

Many mechanics want to hook a car up to the diagnostic computer and be told what component to replace. It takes a while to find an old school guy who wants to work on something.

BTW, I had the same issue trying to get my 2005 BMW fixed. The dealer couldn't find it, the "specialist" couldn't find it, but my old-school mechanic figured out I had a bad engine mount.

Your rust doesn't look all that bad, like was stated earlier the shock towers are a place to really look. They can be replaced too.

[dantye]

Hi everyone, I got the car up on blocks today and took out the seats etc. to see the extent of my rust problem. I'm including some photos and would really appreciate your advice. My first reaction is that it doesn't look too bad but maybe I'm missing something. I can see that the area around the seat slider bar is going to be a bit tricky to fix but it looks to me like the transmission tunnel is in good shape and the cross member looks to be OK. Let me know what you think. Thank you all
Charleshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/58314695@N07/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/58314695@N07/5355286264/

Looks like you still need to take a screwdriver and wire brush to these areas to knock out all weak metal.
I see no photos of the fuel line area on the driver side (81 FI). repair of any rust in this area will require removing and re-installing these. I cleaned up all my rust repair areas and prepped using wire brushes, angle grinder, etc. I prepared some patches from 18 and 20 ga. sheet metal, then took it to a good body shop and got all the welding done for less than $300.

After clean-up, rust treatment, then seam sealer and painting, In areas where you cannot reach, such as inside the seat slide mounts and cross-braces, I sprayed a product called T-9 developed by Boeing to stop any rust you cannot see. It is also good for inside rocker panels, cross-member, etc., and will go places paint will not. (A California warning chemical, but what isn't?).

Go for it!

[charlespontaven]

Hi Everyone,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58314695@N07/
I removed the fuel tank today and couldn't believe the amount of crap there was inside. I pumped out 30 litres of old brown fuel full of rust. No wonder I couldn't get it started. The new fuel filter must be completely blocked. Is there any way of cleaning a fuel filter?

In the photos you will see that I have taken of the side sills and to my surprise there isn't too much rust. Just superficial I think!

I've included a photo of the inside of the L/H fender. It looks like just surface rust to me.

Has anybody ever used one of these fuel tank sealing kits? I found a product from a company called KBS which looks OK. Any opinions. Buying a new tank in Europe will cost around 300 euros plus post.

Does anybody know if it is possible to get vinyl seats reconditioned? (seams are ripped) Is it something that I could try myself?

Thank you for all your advice

Charles

P.S: I have found 3 parts suppliers in Europe that have supplied stuff to me so far. Spiderpoint and B&H in germany and company in Lyon, France. I can get just about everything from either of these three places but for some items the prices are pretty steep. In the US you seem to have a large selection of parts suppliers and I was wondering it I should try and group an order for all the rubber seals etc. from the US. Who do you recommend?

[dantye]

Hi Everyone,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58314695@N07/
I removed the fuel tank today and couldn't believe the amount of crap there was inside. I pumped out 30 litres of old brown fuel full of rust. No wonder I couldn't get it started. The new fuel filter must be completely blocked. Is there any way of cleaning a fuel filter?

In the photos you will see that I have taken of the side sills and to my surprise there isn't too much rust. Just superficial I think!

I've included a photo of the inside of the L/H fender. It looks like just surface rust to me.

Has anybody ever used one of these fuel tank sealing kits? I found a product from a company called KBS which looks OK. Any opinions. Buying a new tank in Europe will cost around 300 euros plus post.

Does anybody know if it is possible to get vinyl seats reconditioned? (seams are ripped) Is it something that I could try myself?

Thank you for all your advice

Charles

P.S: I have found 3 parts suppliers in Europe that have supplied stuff to me so far. Spiderpoint and B&H in germany and company in Lyon, France. I can get just about everything from either of these three places but for some items the prices are pretty steep. In the US you seem to have a large selection of parts suppliers and I was wondering it I should try and group an order for all the rubber seals etc. from the US. Who do you recommend?

1. My fuel tank looked better on the outside, but had to be replaced. FI systems simply cannot process even a tiny bit of this rust dust. My only firm recommendation is that, if you proceed with the project, get a new fuel tank.
2. The amount of rust around the tunnel seems a concern - including the rust around the heater control bracket - this could be structural, but it might be possible to repair it with enough dis-assembly.
3. The type of rust underneath looks like chemical corrosion rust - was this car used around saltwater beaches, salted winter roads or some other corrosive environment?

Before taking these photos, did you make an effort to "punch through" as much of the rust as possible?.

Hopefully others with more experience will comment further.

Good luck with your project.

[2ndwind]

I just had the fuel tank flushed on my "82 AT. There was plenty of rust-fuel that came out. The Shop said the inside didn't look too bad but they didn't recommend coating the inside because or all the baffles. They didn't think the coating would get to all the places unseen behind the baffles.

After the cleaning, I put it back in and all continued to run poorly until I fixed the distributor rotor. Now all runs well.