Shock tower rust

Boostedpimp

Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
May 8, 2003
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NJ
Is there anyway to fix this other then maybe cutting them out of a donor car? My daily driven 88 hatch has some decent rot and im getting concerned about it a little. Just want to know what my options are so I can start saving some money up to deal with it.

Here's pic of some of what im referring to.. it's the seem where the pas apron meets the shock tower.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/boostedpimp/88 lx/DSC08399.jpg

Thanks
 
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Are there actual holes? It just looks like surface rust. Whats it look like at the seam where the tower meets the frame? All you can do is cut out the rot and put in new metal, Clip the car, or sell it and buy one thats not rusty. Those are your only real choices. If it is just surface you can sand blast it put on a good urethane primer and repaint it.
 
Are there actual holes? It just looks like surface rust. Whats it look like at the seam where the tower meets the frame? All you can do is cut out the rot and put in new metal, Clip the car, or sell it and buy one thats not rusty. Those are your only real choices. If it is just surface you can sand blast it put on a good urethane primer and repaint it.

afraid of that

haven't really looked but I believe some of it in that seem area is through :notnice:
 
i had the same problem but worse and on both sides of my 88 t-top and i was going to have it fixed .i called a reputable bodyshop and got a quote like 2000 dollars i looked around and found a clean 87 t-top shell for 1000 dollars.something think about
 
Im going to hopfully take a closer look at it tomarrow morning before work if it isn't sub zero or snowing again.. but I purchased the car about a year ago to use as a daily driver and fun on the weekends from a lesbo chick who lightly tapped someone from behind. Damaged the fiber cowl hood, cracked the head light panel, headlights were cracked up and the rad support was bent in.. so I through a stock hood from a previous mustang on it, heated and bent the rad support back a little, replaced the headlight panel and throw a set of smoked head lights I had on it and it's been good to go.. I never noticed this rust before because the engine's been really dirty except of late I swapped a holley intake, power pipe, efan, pullies, headers x pipe, catback, lower control arms etc basically the car was stock when I got it and now I find this **** so im pissed and hoping it's not as bad as I think it is because im not a body guy and having a one year old, wife, mortgage and a turbo gm I can't afford to have my entire engine way cut up and rewelded lol
 
Bad pic, but I'm guessing from the looks that it is mostly surface or heavy surface. I would just get all the wiring and other parts outta there first. Second, I would sand all that down with some 80 grit then 150, 320, and prime it all. Then paint. It will turn out fine.
 
Take a flat blade screwdriver and peck around on those rust spots. It's not a great pict to tell from, but just from that pict it looks like surface rust. Best thing to do is get everything out of the way first. If the screwdriver goes through or flakes off pieces it will all need to be fixed. If it still feels solid, sand, grind or blast it down and use some good rust converter, I like the Eastwood or the POR-15 stuff, then repaint it.

I would also check the back side where the shock is, becuase it is probably rusting from the outside in. You also have a lot of rust on the frame rail all the way to the headlight, might check that out. You either need to use a good rust converter or a new front clip or new roller, just depends on how bad that rust is and it is hard to tell from that pict.
 
Well after those picts, other than a couple of holes it looks like a lot of surface rust. Although it is hard to tell without being there to prod around. Did you poke around with the screwdriver as I stated above? Does it feel solid?

How is the rest of the car, floor pan, torque boxes etc? From the picts there is a lot of surface rust everywhere. If the rest of the car is not worse than that, I would say soda blast the whole car and repaint, if you want to keep it. If you don't have the funds or don't care too much about it, look for a roller in better shape. I am not saying the car is going to fall apart anytime soon, but if you really want to fix it right that is what you need to do. Defiantly not a loss, just time and money to fix it right so the rust won't come back to bite you.
 
Well after those picts, other than a couple of holes it looks like a lot of surface rust. Although it is hard to tell without being there to prod around. Did you poke around with the screwdriver as I stated above? Does it feel solid?

Mostly surface rust but the seem from the apron to shocktower seems to just about through.. if I push on it hard enough she'll break open :notnice:

How is the rest of the car, floor pan, torque boxes etc? From the picts there is a lot of surface rust everywhere. If the rest of the car is not worse than that, I would say soda blast the whole car and repaint, if you want to keep it. If you don't have the funds or don't care too much about it, look for a roller in better shape. I am not saying the car is going to fall apart anytime soon, but if you really want to fix it right that is what you need to do. Defiantly not a loss, just time and money to fix it right so the rust won't come back to bite you.

The rest of the car is in great shape, the floor pans are clean, torque boxes are clean with no signs of abuse, only issue with me prior to this was the fact that the rad support is bent up due to the light front end hit, a few rinkles in the aprons which you hardly notice, and a gay silver racing strip painted on the car half ass like but I did buy this fox to be a daily driver and to get into the 12s with at the 1/4 while maintaining good handling.. and I did eventually plan on having the car painted with a decent paint job to get rid of the stripes later on down the road but didn't want to invest 3 to 7k for paint and body work you know.

Think im going to continue to mod the car and drive it the way it sits and eventually when I hit the lottery have the cancer cut out and new metal welded in then painted I guess :nonono:
 
Well if that is the case, in the end it will probably be cheaper to have a new front clip put on then replacing all those spots. So keep an eye out for a good donor car with a good front clip. Replacing the whole front clip will be easier and less time consuming than replacing those pieces. Just my 2 cents.