Rust

[B6T]

When I first bought my '90 Festiva in May 2001, it had next to no rust any where on the body. The only rust was on the lower forward corner of the rear wheel well, the common place for all Festivas. The under body, engine bay, wheel wells, rockers, everywhere else was spotless. Now, 5 years later, I'm thinking that I'm going to have to find another shell if I want to continue with the Festiva. Reason being is that my car has rusted pretty bad, despite never being driven in the winter for the last 5 years. There is considerable rust in the front wheel wells, behind that butterfly shaped metal reinforcement patch, the front rad support is beginning to go crusty, and the rear fender edges have began to rust again in the same spot as before. I supposed I could repair these spots (and I will) but it just won't be the same. It's very frustrating as I have had the car oil sprayed, never drove it in the winter, and always took care of the body. I guess it's just the area I live in...

Do any of you guys have the same problem? What is the rust like on your car? Does anyone want to find me a clean shell?

[nonamekid]

I can't find a festiva that has a little amount of rust around here. They all are rusty or have a lot of body damage.

[mattswabb]

I've been lucky. My BP car had a very small amount of rust and it even spent it's entire life in northern ohio. My BPT car is very clean. Less the .0001% rust, the cleanest I've seen since I bought my 1st one off the lot new. My other 2 are ok. The 89 has a few spots and the bottom of the door is starting to rust. My 92 sport has a clean body but the leading edge of the hood has rust and the hatch has a few spots.

[miami man]

rust

my 1991 has a little rust under the hood but not much and only has been driven about 500 miles in the last year. my 93gl has no rust but dings and dents on it and it was a south Texas car now it is in st.Louis mo

[ajb999]

my 92 hardly has any rust on it but enough body damage to make up for it. most of them i see around here usually have a good amount of rust on them though being that i'm in montana and they like using lot's of salt in the winter.

[glacius182]

My first one, a '91L was having a rust cancer, the driver door was missing 6 inches from the bottom, the front of the hood was missing 2 inches, all the wheel well were rusty.

Than last year, I was looking for a new Festiva to put a B6T in it (what I'm currently doing), so I needed a good body shell. Lady luck was with me, after 2 months of searching, I found a '93L with absolutely no rust execpt to little spot. I'm the 3rd owner of this little gem. The first owner was using it behind is Winnebago for 7 years and had it oiled every 2 years. I can tell you that there was at least half an inch of oil everywhere on the body. It's a pain to remove (I plan on repaint it) but God I love the first owner

[WmWatt]

Underbody oil spraying really cuts down on rust. Can be done commercially. I got a big white wash brush and painted everything I could reach with used motor oil. Canola (rape seed) oil should also be good as it sticks to metal. In the days before oil wells they used it to lubricate steam engines because it stuck even when wet. I also spray or squirt oil or WD-40 inside the doors (including hatch) and hood. Hardly any rust on the '89 I bought new and driven in Ottawa winters ever since.

I've wire brushed the rear finders a couple of times and painted with plain old Tremclad rust paint. Where pitted I spread on some household epoxy adhesive before painting.

I stripped the steel wheels a few years ago with paint remover and a wire brush on a drill, used rust remover, epoxied pitting, painted with a couple of coats of Tremcald, then a couple coats of exterior polyurethane. Held up well. Now do for another refinishing.

[MEXTIVA]

I have only seen one rusty festiva over @ this side.Mine has not rust, well it does on one of the trim below the headlight,but that was in an accident since 89 and was never repaired or painted.The orignal hood was getting surfaced rust, I think they used cheap paint on it.lol.....

[Vel Crowe]

My car doesn't have too much rust, though this past winter seemed to take a particular toll. Right now there are small rust spots on the hatch, one spot near the passenger-side windshield wiper, and considerable rust spotting below both headlights on the narrow trim piece.

Plus, I bought some cheap driving lights for 50 bucks in the fall and bolted them on the bumper for the rally car look. The driving lights are small rectangular pieces with chrome bezels and trim. Unfortunately, the bezels around the lights developed rust quickly, so this past weekend I wire-brushed and sanded what rust I could, stripped down to the metal and painted the bezels with white tremclad, to match the car (which is white) It worked out well, in fact the lights look OEM now, since the bezels are white and the rest of the light exterior is chrome. I'll throw some pics up later.

I do intend to do some bodywork this summer, but I've never done any before! (Yes, I will be posting about this later on.....haha) The car has developed some dents and scratches over the years, plus a 312 lb friend of mine (who in his defence, is slightly mentally impaired) decided to bodycheck (I know....bad idea) the rear quarter a couple weeks ago, resulting in a dent. I took out the adjacent interior panels to push it out, but it didn't work to well, just pops back in.

Anyways, I'm rambling now, so I'll stop :idea:

Aaron

[Deathshead]

Most festivas i have seen are pretty much rust free except for the drivers side rear quarter infront of the back wheel, maybe a few bubbles along the lower edge of the hood,..



maybe most are rust free becuase it seems like just about every stock B3 engine needs a crank seal and they blow oil all underneath the chassis, hah

[EVOGUN]

NO rust here, just did the chasis in epoxy and semi gloss black. Just couple dents to remove before paint.

Thanks :wink:

[packrat427]

My Festiva has the most rust I have ever seen in this area ?
Living in the rust belt, They don't know how to use SALT moderately around here ,The car was bought 45 miles West of me ,so I am assuming that it has spent it's life in the SALT every winter :cry: poor thing.