"Surprise" pics?

[AtomicDog]

All,

Sometime before Spring, I am hoping to pull off my rocker covers to address some rust issues. I was thinking that it might also be a good time to pull both valances and the driver's side fender to tap out a few dents/dings.

It is at this point that I am gripped by an overwhelming sense of impending doom.

What if I find something truly horrible?



What is the worst thing that could be hidden, and is it likely to be there?

Please share your photos and stories of "body exploration" (P-car only please, as this is a family show).

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[elflamo]

Chris, I know exactly what you mean. I'm actually keeping a number of P-car horror surprise find pictures of other cars to keep reminding me that all in all my car could be far worse. It keeps me from turning to the dark side and give up on the resto.

When I bought the car (no PPI), I knew it would require some work and I envisioned some gas line replacement, chrome polishing and oil leak fixing. It's now been 28 months since I parked the car in the garage after buying it, in order check on a few bubbles. It has never gotton outside since. But at least I learned how to weld (somewhat), shape metal, improved drastically in the tools department and improved my look with numerous scars....

I really feel that digging and poking around the car looking for rust is like an archeological activity. My problem thus far is that I raised the bar of what is acceptible/containable rust further and further. That I like tackling rusty areas isn't helping project progress much either. At least, the car gets better every day.

I keep a screwdriver that has helped me in finding the crunchy areas. As soon as I am about to find some, I bring out that screwdriver, as it has shared all the rust history with me thus far. A bit weird maybe, I guess it has become a ritual. The screwdriver is so worn by now, that it is impossible to use it for its original purpose. Good thing is that I didn't have to use it for it's assigned duty for a while ...

If I had to name one area where you don't want to find rust, it is the section between the jacking point and the torsion tube. This area is rather complex and requires good welding to make it strong again.

For the rest of my life, I have become paranoid of rust on my cars. I have sprayed gallons of inhibitor and wax into all cavities and keep the project in a warm and air dried garage. I wonder if I ever will be brave enough to take it outside once it's finished.

A 'surprise' find gone totally astray!

Cheers

Dennis

[KFC911]

I couldn't believe the amount of caked on road tar, crud, gravel, etc. that I found on my '88 (46K mi) garage queen when poking around inside the wheel wells in front of the rear torsion tubes (inside of the rocker panel area). I didn't realize it was buildup until I kept at it... I caught mine before any damage was done, but be sure to check that area in particular.

[Rich76_911s]

What issues do you already see in your rocker panel? With an '86 I would hope that most stuff should be OK. You should really clean out the area where the bumper shocks mount to the car. My SC has extremely bad rust there on both sides. In the dissasembly of my 1980 SC I have found too much rust and accident history and am now bailing on the project, but I doubt you will run into my problems.

Good Luck,
Rich

[Monza_dh]

remove the tail lights and rear reflector to get an idea of what may lurk under your rockers. I had the same experience as KC911 when I cleaned out all the nooks and crannies under the wheel wells etc. I had cobwebs under near the trailing arms and a pile of sand on top of the rear passanger tail light. I connected a long hose to my vacumm and removed all the crap in the open area behind the reflector as well.

No rust though, thank God!!