Need your help/opinion on some rust

[Ccporsche]

I found this 911E. Seller is asking a pretty reasonable price. It runs and drives nicely, but it has some rust. I have never dealt with rust, so in your opinion how bad would you consider the rust to be from the pictures below? Any rough ideas on how much it would be to repair? I'm in the Southwest, so would it even need to be repaired on day 1? I'm not looking for a garage queen, I'm looking for a driver.

[Flat6pac]

I’ve seen worse. Being in the SW, it might be a driver.
Start digging for rust, you ll not run out of it any time soon.
Pan looks good.
Bruce

[Rich76_911s]

Are you seeing this car in person or are these photos being provided for you?

I personally wouldn’t buy this car without seeing it first. The rust in the photos doesn’t look awful, however the overall condition of the underside would concern me enough that I’d want to see it for myself and thoroughly check it. I couldn’t tell if there is a hole rusted through near the pinch weld on the driver side front wheel. (Sorry looking on an iPhone).

The big problem with rust though is that you always find more, the more you look.

There are a few common rust areas for which no photo was provided
A) how are the rocker panels (door jams at bottom rear of door)
B) how are the bottoms of the fenders
C) check the seals around the windshield and rear window carefully specifically in the lower corners.
D) how are the battery boxes and front pan on the inside of the trunk?
E) how is the jack receiver area. This is the square hole on the middle-bottom of the car that accepts the roadside jack.

If the rust is only what’s been shown and none of it goes totally threw the metal and this was “driver” car I wanted to enjoy. I’d probably wire wheel the spots of rust and properly seal and then put undercoat on top of that. If there is rust through the panels it gets a lot more expensive to repair.

Probabky budget another 2k for some ssi heat exchangers.

Rich

[HarryD]

Originally Posted by Rich76_911s

.. snip ...

Probabky budget another 2k for some ssi heat exchangers.

Rich

Why SSI's? Those are the stock Heat Exchangers which are already proper headers.

While one is messed up, if it was functional I would not change it until I need to win a concours.

[da Vinci Dan]

I would be very concerned about what lies beneath the covered / repaired areas. The repairs are far from professional (fine in some cases). Rust left untreated and covered has continues to progress.

I second a thorough in person inspection.

Rich hit all the other major parts... kidney bowls too?

[da Vinci Dan]

Could look like this after digging around

[Flojo]

this car is ready for overhaulin! trust me.
strip it, blast it... you'll find lots of bad tin.. for sure!
makes no sence to believe it's a sound car and then maybe start some patchworking.

[mikedsilva]

I think it looks fine for its age and has years before anything "needs" to be done.

[Jeff Burger]

It could be put into service but probably shouldn't without correcting the more serious rust spots. It looks like the right side rear strap mount for the front suspension area has rot through . Front pan was replaced - hard to tell how well but looks ok from the bottom -get a reputable shop that does rust repair to look at it with you.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by mikedsilva

I think it looks fine for its age and has years before anything "needs" to be done.

?????? Are you friends with the seller. Pretty lame advice but I guess it's not your money right??

[smokintr6]

I've definitely seen worse than that... From the photos it looks like there's maybe some rust through at the pinch weld where the tie rod passes over. That seems like a strange place to rust first, unless its a trick of the photo. I'ts impossible to say for sure from these pictures, but this does look like a car that could be driven for many years in a dry climate before the existing rust became a safety concern. That said, I would assume if you start digging you will find some more trouble buried, as you almost always do. As someone else mentioned, the underside of this car looks more like something that has been stored in a barn for 20 years rather than a well maintained driver. So, my concerns would be with upkeep, and if the car is ready to see use reliably. It could be fine, but you takes your chances with antique cars.

[lvporschepilot]

Looks mostly like light surface rust to me, which is not a big deal. For a driver I'd say you're good to go. Just get the mechanicals sorted etc

[HarryD]

It looks like your front pan has had the front part replaced as well.

[tperazzo]

The only way to find out is to start stripping and/or poking for holes. I had a small suspect area that turned out requiring the whole front suspension pan to be replaced. It was rusted from the inside out, so the stock undercoating disguised it well.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by tperazzo

The only way to find out is to start poking for holes. .

Small screwdriver will do. If it goes through, you know. Don't be rude and start excavating if you don't own the car. A couple of small holes will do.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Ccporsche

I found this 911E. Seller is asking a pretty reasonable price. It runs and drives nicely, but it has some rust. I have never dealt with rust, so in your opinion how bad would you consider the rust to be from the pictures below? Any rough ideas on how much it would be to repair? I'm in the Southwest, so would it even need to be repaired on day 1? I'm not looking for a garage queen, I'm looking for a driver.

look at the far right corner of the edge of the pan, by the shock.

[GaryR]

My mathmatical take on rust is multiply what you see by 10, or 100 in some cases, then double the price of the car to have it all fixed by a shop if you don't have the ability.

[Trakrat]

Probably the best area to be looking at would be driver's side along the rocker panel and up inside the front fender (close to the battery), also check up underneath the front bumper where the connection points are.
These cars tend to rust worse when road debris gets caught up in all the cracks and sits there for decades holding onto water.

It's hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like a good sand blasting on the undercarriage to strip away rust and undercoating should clean it up pretty good and allow you to spray over some fresh rust preventer and undercoating spray to seal everything up.

Most of what I can see looks like surface corrosion setting in. But these are good clean spots that don't hold a lot of road debris, so the rust is slower to react and there are no hidden cracks to get to.

[Mike964_61]

I second all those that commented look at it in person. Pictures from my experience don't do a car justice, better or worse at times when it comes to rust and body paint. Pictures now days can be edited so much can't trust them anymore. Also, I would want to know where has the car been living the majority of its life.