Rust and Body Work

OK. Driving a 89 XJ, living in the rust belt of Northern IN, rust protection is mandatory. I found out (yet again) what happens when someone doesn't take proper care of a new vehicle.

You end up with things like this:




My biggest problem is not the massive holes in the floor, but rather, that the rust has managed to get through the pinch seam in a few places on the LR fender, shown here:


I've repaired the holes in the front with a combination of sanding, painting, and new metal. However, I just can't see that working on the pinch seam. Any ideas as to what to do?




This may be in the wrong forum......mods, if so, please move.

Also, sorry for the ginormous pictures......:dunce:

Looks like it's time for a welder and some steel. Look at it this way with the level of rot you have in the places pictured you now get to trim your rear wells and cut and fold the rear quarters. For the rockers it can be cut out and do like alot of people on here do and weld 2x3 or 2x4 box steel in there to create new rockers and sliders at the same time.

you can get a new xj real cheap, especially a pre 1992. its not worth the work! dont dooo it!!!!
its not the size of the pictures that is disgusting, its the content!
rust!!! ack!

You can get patch pieces from Sherman

http://store.shermanparts.com/cgi-bin/sherman/product_list.html?img_num=075

Hope you can weld good

Yah I saw a late 80's or early 90's xj for sale in a local lot the other day for $700.

xcm said:

you can get a new xj real cheap, especially a pre 1992. its not worth the work! dont dooo it!!!!
its not the size of the pictures that is disgusting, its the content!
rust!!! ack!

Click to expand...

With the exception of the rust, i've gotten most of the body issues worked out. The electrical gremlins have been tracked down/killed, the suspension rebuilt, lift installed, brakes/lines, fuel pump/lines, etc.....

There's a $700 XJ here in town with a blown motor.....but with both myself and the missus out of work, it's just not happening.....

Damn salt belt... I feel your pain. Yeah at that point surgically removing the cancer I mean rust and welding in new metal is really the only way to fix it.

I'm planning to POR-15 my whole underbody one of these days when I have time. In the meantime I'm undercoating with Penetrol, goes on oil, dries... oily filmy. Messy as hell but hopefully will help keep rust at bay.

well, the redneck version of rust-proofing (at least around here) is kinda like that. My uncle used to put used motor oil in a paint gun, then spray it on the bottom of the truck. Go drive up and down a dusty dirt road a few times, and it helped it stick. Also used to dump old oil inside door/body panels, to prevent rust from the inside out. It worked well, but was messy as hell....

Hi,
Looking at the pictures I would say it was terminal !!!!!! It would not be worth all the hard work to put it right. Go find a better example and like someone else said (and it's what I do) brush or spray engine oil on the underside, inside the rockers, doors and anywhere else you can get to, that way it will last a whole lot longer.