rear strut towers (help)

1670 Views 25 Replies 13 Participants Last post by BoostAddctn, Nov 1, 2003

ryans_supra

Discussion Starter · Oct 18, 2003

3

Has anyone had an issue with the rear fender wells rusting right through the rear strut towers? Whats the best way of fixing the issue? As a result when i drive my car, water will spray up from the tires through the hole and just leak down the sides.

here are some pictures of the situation.

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1 - 20 of 26 Posts

Thermactor

· #2 · Oct 18, 2003

oh my God, that looks horrible. then I saw that you're in Canada. Strip it down, cut it out, weld new sheet metal in. It's the only thing you can do.

hawkeye

· #3 · Oct 19, 2003

Find a new body... I think it will be cheaper than trying to find all of it and cutting it out and welding.

ryans_supra

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 19, 2003

I think i will look into cutting it out and rewelding in new metal.

G

· #5 · Oct 19, 2003

It's very common to find rust in that area, but yours seems worse than most I've seen (junkyard observations

).

I fixed mine by cutting away all the rust, and fiberglassing the holes. It works great, but I'm not planning on keeping the car for very much longer, so welding is probably a more durable solution.

Enraged

· #6 · Oct 19, 2003

put the interior back in, and sell the car... if theres anything more than surface rust, its really not worth the effort to fix it....

SupraOfDoom

· #7 · Oct 19, 2003

Ouch! I hate rust !

Under that tape = rust. Luckily I dont have any rust where you got it.

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G

· #8 · Oct 19, 2003

2

Heh, my whole trunk floor where the spare tire is rusted out, so I basically had to fiberglass the whole darn thing. It looked insignificant at first, but once I started cutting away, it took forever to reach good metal. It's a loosing battle.

Yellow parts is fiberglass, replacing rusted metal.

Finished repair:

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adjuster

· #9 · Oct 19, 2003 (Edited)

I'm lucky, the original owner had the car "Simonized" they sprayed black gunk into all the body panels, like between the hood skin and frame, inside the doors, inside the lower rails, the wheel wells, and the rear hatch. I've also had a pretty good oil leak for a few years, and that coats the underside of my car while I drive it... LOL
Every fall I like to get under the car and look for rust too. If I see any, I wire brush it clean, then apply a nice coat or two of ruberized undercoating.
I've had some issues with the left front frame rail, it was damaged by battery acid, and every thing the acid hit, is now rusting away slowly. When I have the motor out one of these days, I'll get in there and strip it down and coat it. (With bedliner this time, plan on doing the wheel wells, and the underside of the car too, that stuff is totally durable, and not that heavy, possibly 10lbs at the most.)

Shawn, are those hood struts you have to hold up the rear panel? Dang nice mod. Too bad about your rust out, but nice repairs, and extra storage space you picked up anyway. Does that repair hold your spare still, or are you just packing some cans of flat repair in your car?

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G

· #10 · Oct 19, 2003

Adjuster, I used to undercoat (oil spray) my car every year, since there were many places in Ontario that used to do it.

But I guess the rust just creeped up on me, and when I finally noticed, it was too late.

I use a space saver tire from an Rx7. The whole trunk 'shenanigans' is actually part of my car computer project.

You can see details here:
http://members.shaw.ca/shawndude/Supra/mp3Supra1.htm

ma71supraturbo

· #11 · Oct 19, 2003

lol I thought my little bit of rust in the spare tire well was bad (which has since been fiberglassed).

ryans_supra

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 20, 2003

well i got a quote from a local shop and he said he would get rid of all the rust for less than 600 dollars cdn. Definatly the choice i am going with. rust from the strut towers and the back. Plus life time warranty. Well my car will be going in tomorrow to get repaired

Jeff Lange

· #13 · Oct 20, 2003

I bought the car without any rust, and it still has no rust... anywhere.

G

· #14 · Oct 20, 2003

Jeff Lange said:
I bought the car without any rust, and it still has no rust... anywhere.

Good to hear. I'm assuming it hasn't been winter driven?

How many kilometers on her? My rust-bucket has over 400 thousand Km, daily driven 365 days of the year, majority of the time in Ontario.

So I can't really blame the car.

ryans_supra

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 20, 2003

mine has 287 thousand KM, car is going strong and body is in perfect shape, just running into that issue with the water coming in from the wheel wells, also water from the tail lights. I have liquid gasket. Do you think that should work fine for resealing the tail light covers?

Jeff Lange

· #16 · Oct 20, 2003

Shawndude said:
Good to hear. I'm assuming it hasn't been winter driven?

How many kilometers on her? My rust-bucket has over 400 thousand Km, daily driven 365 days of the year, majority of the time in Ontario.

So I can't really blame the car.

Never driven in the winter, (except once), 130,000kms.

G

· #17 · Oct 20, 2003

ryans_supra said:
I have liquid gasket. Do you think that should work fine for resealing the tail light covers?

Liquid gasket didn't work for very long for me, but it rains like hell here.

I struggled with the tail lights leaking before (it's a nasty design), and the final fix proved to be very simple.

On the tail light gasket, there is a raised portion, in the top outermost corners. This portion traps the water, so it cannot drain properly. I trimmed this, to match the rest of the gasket contour, and it works perfectly (old gasket, no silicone sealer).

I think they redesigned the new gaskets, to remove the raised portion. After I cut mine, it looked like the one shown in this diagram: http://www.cygnusx1.net/supra/library/EPC/MKIII_NATO/291410/8111_1.html

My tail lights also had tiny gaps, where the red lens meets up with the black trim. It leaks through there also. I used black RTV sealer, pushed it into the gaps, and cleaned off any residue. It looks like new and doesn't leak.

G

· #18 · Oct 20, 2003

Shit! I thought my little hole was bad. It was the only rust spot I ve had on the car yet. Had it welded last year.
Good luck
Allan

ryans_supra

Discussion Starter · #19 · Oct 20, 2003

thanks Shawn for the help, i am going to look at mine tonight and see what can be done. So both corners have a raised portion, that is very odd.

thanks again

Enraged

· #20 · Oct 20, 2003

i solved my leaky taillights with a tube of silicone sealant haha

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