Festiva rust

[NMA]

My floor pans are rusted out all along the edges of the car. Frame is still solid but you can see a line of daylight from the drivers floorboard to the trunk, almost like someone cut it perfectly square.

I want to weld this up but I'm not a welder nor do I own a welder. Indiana doesn't have safety inspections so I'm safe as far as that goes. So who should I take my festiva to? A welding shop or a body shop? Do they still make any prefabbed panels?

[william]

No prefab panels.
I would just ask around either place would be capable, its just weather they wanna mess with it or not.
For the price of repair you could probably find a clean shell.

[bhazard]

Some of the rustiest festivas I've ever seen came from Indiana.

Like william said, it can be cheaper/easier just to take a weekend trip south and pick up a clean non-runner or even running car and start over.

[w4rkry]

+1 on buying a new shell. I don't think the rust will ever truly be fixed, better to start fresh

[mikemounlio]

I have a rust free shell i could sell u!

[Sid_RallyX_82]

Just a tip for anyone who catches the rust before it gets TOO bad and needs to be repaired, there's this stuff called POR15. Just knock off the loose rust (it doesn't even need to be shiny bare metal, but I like to get it close with a wire wheel on a drill), brush it on, and let it dry. Do a couple coats, sand it flush, and double check that's it's still covered, then repaint. Guaranteed rust inhibitor. My boss uses it on his Jaguars. They always rust under the windshield. He replaced the panel 3 times, then used this and it STOPPED the rust. I've been trying to get it to work with a spray gun, but no luck there

[ryanprins13]

If you cant fix it yourself it will be less than half the cost to just buy another festiva.
Bodywork is expensive.
If you want to attempt it yourself then clean it, use rust converter and fibreglass it inside and out. May get another 5-10yrs out of it.
Picture so we know how bad it is that were talking about? Probly not this bad?

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[WmWatt]

If it's structural you'd need something strong like welding. If it's not structural there are a number of remedies as suggested. Another is sheet metal and pop rivets. In the old days we slatered asphalt roofing patch(aka tar) over the patches. I spray the under body and inside the panels with canoloa oil each fall. Rust treatments usually contain phosphoric acid which converts iron oxide (rust) to iron phosphate or something, called rust converting. It's the acticve ingredeniennt in the naval jelly they put on ships when repainting.

[NMA]

I'll take some pictures this evening. I'm putting a new cv axle in and getting a front end alligment today.

[TominMO]

Just a tip for anyone who catches the rust before it gets TOO bad and needs to be repaired, there's this stuff called POR15. Just knock off the loose rust (it doesn't even need to be shiny bare metal, but I like to get it close with a wire wheel on a drill), brush it on, and let it dry. Do a couple coats, sand it flush, and double check that's it's still covered, then repaint. Guaranteed rust inhibitor. My boss uses it on his Jaguars. They always rust under the windshield. He replaced the panel 3 times, then used this and it STOPPED the rust. I've been trying to get it to work with a spray gun, but no luck there

Rustoleum sells spray cans of Rust Reformer. Similar idea to POR-15, which I have also used.

[mikemounlio]

Rustoleum sells spray cans of Rust Reformer. Similar idea to POR-15, which I have also used.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO POR15?

[TominMO]

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO POR15?

As far as I can tell, it does just as well.