S13 Hatchback rust?? fix or change Shell?

[Mike666]

Okay, My issue is after I did that my rust just grew like crazy! It had the bat tray rust, pop up lights rust, and hatch rust.

I got new set of used non rusted pop up lights and was about to relocate bat to trunk and weld a new piece there as well as change hatch! But now my rust in 2 months appear to me in new places.
First on door frame, second on my rear hatch weather striping rail, It ate the rail! and third under the roof paint rust is coming out.... The frame and rails look to be Rust free...

New Rust free shell? or just get this one fixed? The one I have now does need some minor bodywork done to quarter panel, so thinking about new shell... lmk what you experts think!

*EDIT* for pictures!





Rust is painted over with Rust-oleum to slow it down.




Rust starting to show on the roof under paint.





Taillights that leak no matter what i do.




Hole opened up so I put gorila tape and paint... for now.



Every crevice appears to have some rust...



Battery about to fall from the car!



Headlight, radiator support rust.







more rust.

[240sxcure]

Post some pics to help.

It really depends on how much another shell would cost compared to how much your local body shops will charge to cut the rust out.

Get some body shop estimates to help out.

[camaro379ss]

If its just surface rust then just grind it off and reprime and paint. Rust free shells are a dime a dozen around this site that I have seen it may be cheaper to just replace than repair. But that also depends on how picky you are with color and such.

[Mike666]

Originally Posted by 240sxcure

Post some pics to help.

It really depends on how much another shell would cost compared to how much your local body shops will charge to cut the rust out.

Get some body shop estimates to help out.

Ok took some pictures,will upload when i get home latter, im at work now.

I had originaly prepered my self to spent about $3000.00 more or less to paint and minor rust work. problem is I don't want to spend the money just so the rust comes back 1 or 2 years from now. Once I post pics
I guess you guys can tell me more.

Originally Posted by camaro379ss

If its just surface rust then just grind it off and reprime and paint. Rust free shells are a dime a dozen around this site that I have seen it may be cheaper to just replace than repair. But that also depends on how picky you are with color and such.

Yea Rust free shells are dime a dozen, but here in South Florida drifting is really big, so most S13's are just abused cars... I am kindda picky I want a nice car this is not drift car or track whore car. I am not that picky when it comes to color, I just dont want red. I was thinking repainting the shell anyways.

[camaro379ss]

Originally Posted by Mike666

Ok took some pictures,will upload when i get home latter, im at work now.

I had originaly prepered my self to spent about $3000.00 more or less to paint and minor rust work. problem is I don't want to spend the money just so the rust comes back 1 or 2 years from now. Once I post pics
I guess you guys can tell me more.




Yea Rust free shells are dime a dozen, but here in South Florida drifting is really big, so most S13's are just abused cars... I am kindda picky I want a nice car this is not drift car or track whore car. I am not that picky when it comes to color, I just dont want red. I was thinking repainting the shell anyways.

How ironic because when I was looking for a new hatch I would take any color but red as well.....kinda weird. Thats when someone out of the blue offered me a never been mounted carbon kevlar hatch for an extremely low price. Naturally I had to buy it.

[theboy]

check out the frame rails shock towers and quarters before you make a decsion to swap to a new shell. Just take a pick or small pocket flat head screw driver and try to jam it through. If it feels solid them keep it and just repair the little amount you have. Head light buckets are cheap, and any good body shop should be able to cut out the battery tray and hatch rail and replace those. But dont throw a decent chassis without actually going through it first. I love how rust free shells are a dime a dozen by you guys but up here in the midwest, they are far from a dime a dozen. Plus they arent very easy to come by.

[Mike666]

Pictures added to original post!

Theboy, even if i get another shell I will put a ka in this one and use it as a daily till it dies.

Camararo379ss! Looks like, we like same cars and color too! B13 Sentra and 240sx are ones of my favorite cars!

Rust is spreading like wild fire! I think this car was painted to hide all rust before I bought it....

[camaro379ss]

some of it looks kinda iffy but alot of that looks like it can be easily fixed by grinding down or replacing the part ie that door hinge. Where is that hole located?

On a side note I am glad to hear someone else besides me likes the b13. In my area it would just be dirty looks and laughs because a full 3" exhaust on a sentra is odd.....but its ok cause I tend to get the last laugh!

[240sxcure]

The majority of that rust looks like it's on the surface, so it could be easily be grounded down, prepped, and then painted. If you're able to do that work yourself, you can save lots of money.

The only drawback is that you'll have to go through the car pretty throughly to make sure it doesn't come back.

[Mike666]

So... come on guys fix or replace shell? any expirience with a rusted and fixed s13??

[camaro379ss]

Ultimately depends on if you want to fix it yourself, pay someone else to fix it, or swap everything to a new shell. Most of that can be easily fixed.

[Mike666]

Unfortunetly when it comes to paint and body work I am clueless so i will be having a shop do the rust repair... Now I don't know, im wearry trusting somebody to do the job good, I might get the car really good looking, but who know if the fixed underneeth correct! I dont want a polished turd. Now If i do the shell swap it will be more money, but I guess will know its rust free i guess....

I would love to fix this one I have, but I think its never gonna be as clean as a rust free shell.

So I guess I am going with a new shell.... let the quest start! now question is Hacth or coupe...

[camaro379ss]

I always loved the coupe and thought the hatch was ugly..... but then again I bought a hatch and actually love it now.

[evomike]

From the pics I saw I would just start grinding and see how far it goes but none of it looks real bad.

[eoinl4529]

fix it. in ireland that rust is nothing.
in our ae86 corolla's they would rust the sills, pockets, rear quarters, chassis legs, bottom of pillars, rear panels, and so much more. we fix them up to like new.

if i were you i would keep your shell. it is not bad at all. any rust that is not surface rust cut it out and repalce it. do not fill the hole with filler as it will rust even faster.

but if clean shells are easily come bye over there and it would be cheaper to reshell you can also sell your old shell for cuts

[Mike666]

This weakend it rained is SFL hard! and my car got flooded! water came in threw every rust hole there is! so as off now I decided to fix it, do to the fact that I could not find a clean shell at the time and everybody says my rust is not bad. so to save all the work from swaping shells I went to fix this shell and save a 240sx.


*update*
Well the car as of right now is in a body shop. I took all interior out and its getting the rust fixed.... so far the bill is $700.00 dollars... hopefully they do a good job. All I can do is hope.

Will post pics and updates.

[Mike666]

Well here is some update.


Car is at body shop! fixing rust and getting new interior... Old one was well old! and also the rain made it look worse. Lets hope it comes out ok.

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