General advice regarding rebuild

james280779 · 11-23-2014, 09:24 PM

Hey,

I have my car down at a bodyshop having the sills done. The outer was showing some small rust bubbles however upon opening it the inner and outer sills were not that bad. There is no rust on the slam panels either. The sills are repairable but I am thinking about just putting on new ones.

The car is coated underneath with a hard rubber like substance which covers everything.

I was going to have it all taken off to see what the floorpans were like but I have been quoted nearly $2k just for that job (sandblasted and repainted if all ok).

I know they were all treated about 5 years ago and the rust proofing was put on then - Am i just being dumb not having them done while at the bodyshop?

How prone are the pans in an '85 cab to rust? It spent its entire life in a climate controlled garage apart from 6 months last year where it was undercover and a car cover also.

It originally a UK car with zero rust when I bought it in 2012 (I think the sills was from salt getting into the gaps while it was being shipped in 2013 then me not cleaning it properly this end when it arrived) it now lives in the tropics where rust isnt usually an issue.

any advice received gratefully

snbush67 · snbush67's Garage

If you are sure you had the undercarriage clean and sealed before the undercoating was applied it shouldn't be an issue, but if there is any chance that it is rusting it would be best to get after it now, rust won't get better with time.

You should be able to tap on the bottom and check for soft spots.

james280779 · 11-25-2014, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snbush67

If you are sure you had the undercarriage clean and sealed before the undercoating was applied it shouldn't be an issue, but if there is any chance that it is rusting it would be best to get after it now, rust won't get better with time.

You should be able to tap on the bottom and check for soft spots.

I didnt do the job, it was done before I bought the car. I am confident due to the standard of the rest of the car it would have been a proper job. It was looked after by the one garage for about 15 years.