I need some rust advice

[ignitablepyro]

I have some questions about rust repair on my '91 festiva L-plus. There was a good bit of rust along the bottom of the sides, especially right in front of the rear wheel wells, which i took a grinder to and cut out, planning to fix it with fiberglass, but there's some rust starting on the inside that im not sure how to get at. If i were to miss some, could I use some rust stopper , or will I end up with rust eating from the inside out? I have some pics:


-driver's side in front of the wheel, light rust all over, and some inside the hole of the important looking structural stuff:




Also, up front on the driver's side, by the way, was I supposed to destroy the strip at the bottom?, :roll: :


And finally, the passenger's side. not too bad outside:


But inside is some ugly lookin' stuff breaking through:


Anyone with some experience in this area know where the water's getting in and how to keep it out?, i've seen a lot of rust in this exact same spot on festivas around York, Pa.

[ignitablepyro]

hey, why did the photos not work?

[packrat427]

You copied the wrong link.
You need to copy the bottom link , to show the picture

[ignitablepyro]

ok, thanks!

[SimonTuffGuy]

Wow... That's nuts. You know, Ford (or Mazda or Kia) didn't catch that problem until 93... It was the 93's when they finally beefed up the metal in that area and made a better design of it so that t didn't rust out like you've got there.

I'm trying to think.... My 2nd Festiva I got had some minor rust on the drivers side panel there... The bodyshop that I used cut the piece out and used an expanding insulation foam on the area. Then we attached my sideskirt and forgot about the area after that. You'll almost need to use a rust stopper on the parts inside or it'll rust from the inside out. From what I know of rust, it needs air to continue rusting. I know that a lot of the Jeep folks add a bedlinder to their tubs on the inside. Easy to clean out and stops rust. Maybe try some of that?

[SimonTuffGuy]

East Berlin?! Dude - I'm from about 30 miles north of Harrisburg. PM sent.

[deathegg]

Mmmm, I thought that looked like PA rust! My Festiva, the DeathEgg (88 L+) has that same stuff going on, but not quite that bad. I was able to rivet in some patch panels and then bondo it, and so far it's been ok, (but then again, I've been in SoCal for the past two years, not Pittsburgh!)

[SimonTuffGuy]

Haha... I'm glad Casper originated from Arizona, then moved to Texas. It only sees the sunny, warm days here in PA now and is stored for the winter.

[stefan]

looks almost as bad as mine was. except the inside of the wheel well was rusted out too on mine. your second last pic... mine was like that.. except cut out all the way down to the pinch weld and remove the inner fender lol.

Replacing that spot in your second last pic is gonna drive you nuts if your a perfectionist like me. its a double curve and you will never be able to bend new metal to match.

A suggestion... the rust inside the body that your not going to fix... get some of that acid rust remover and clean it up abit... its not gonna do any miericals.. but it will slow stuff down.. also coat the inside with some tar/undercoating to seal up that rust your not going to fix.

are you going to weld in the new pieces?

oh wait i just noticed you said fiberglass... i dunno about that... i think even riveting in steal patches + bondo would be better than that

[deathegg]

yes, imo if you're not going to weld it, then rivet it instead of using fiberglass.
and if you do use rivets do not use aluminum rivets. Use steel. Aluminum rivets tend to loosen over time.
When I get back to Pittsburgh this year, the rust will start again

[Levitan]

I have no experience with these products, but might be worth checking into. There are companies, like Eastwoods, that carry sprays that convert rust into primer. I'm wondering if a guy couldn't use it first, then spray on undercoating as a sealer. I'm not sure, but does rust continue to rust in a dry environment? Or does it only continue when wet? If the chunks of rust were removed, wire brush the living crap out of the area, high pressure air the area out, ensuring the area is dry, spray covert rust to primer, then seal with an undercoating would sure slow things down, I expect. Surely there is a bodyman on here that could better instruct us.

p.s. I just Wikipedia'd the term rust. It says: When in contact with water and oxygen iron will rust.

So, I think what I wrote above would work.

[ignitablepyro]

Yeah, bedliner sounds like a good idea, ive been checking out different rust stoppers/contverters, etc. , i'll probly go for the "wire brush the living crap out of the area" approach , then a couple of those products and bedliner.
Yeah, that spot on the right side is why I went for fiberglass in the first place, no bending required, I already made a patch for that spot but riveting sounds like a good idea for the rest, but what happens w/ the rivet heads, u just cover em and paint?

[88festiva1.3l]

beware the rear axles welded sopts need to be redone i had to all of those to my 88 i will get some pics up soon'

[deathegg]

If you're not too concerned with what the finished product looks like, then you can just paint right over the rivet heads. If you want it a bit more smooth and finished, then just "countersink" the holes for the rivets. What I mean is, after you fit the repair panel and drill holes for the rivets through both the patch and the repair area, you would dimple the holes a bit, (so the area around the drilled hole is concave) so that when you attach the rivet, it would be even with, or below, the surface of the patch panel; you would just then bondo it and finish.
I think there area also flush-fitting rivets too? Has anyone seen these?
I think Eastwood sells a counter-sinking tool for rivet work, but i have never had to use something like that. If you are doing a lot of bodywork on your Festy, they have great tools.

[SimonTuffGuy]

I sent you a PM... My uncle has a parts Festiva that he might be scrapping at some point. It's got a rolling body, blown engine. I could check with him on what he would want for the car if you want to swap your stuff to a body? Don't know about rust or anything. If you're interested in going with something like that, let me know and I'll check with him.