Does towing behind a camper rack up the odometer?

[WmWatt]

I went under my car with a wire brush and a hammer and cold chisel to clean off dirt and to knock off the rust scale, then painted by hand with a brush a couple coats of "rust paint". Takes a bit of time but very cheap. That body rust can be treated by sanding back to bare metal with a sanding disk on an electic drill. A wire brush for the drill and a small gringing stone are also useful. Then patch the holes with wire mesh, fibreglass and resin, epoxy, or whatever, and paint with as close a matching colour as you can get in rust paint. Rust comes from the inside, not the outside, usually where condensation gets trapped like the front of the rear wheel wells, bottom of the door panels, etc. I took the inside door panels off, cleaned and painted the bottom seams and have had no rust. I go over the rust every 5 years or so. Depends on how much time you have to spend on it. It will prolong the life of the vehicle. I've had my Festiva 28 years now. Good luck.

Oops, just got all the photos displayed. You might have to pop rivet some sheet metal to replace the larger areas of body rust. Hope the box beams underneath are not totally rusted out anywhere as they are structural. Also you want to paint the fuel tank before it's perforated and starts leaking. A new one will cost about $200 plus installation if you can't install yourself.

Interior appears clean.

[alena]

I went under my car with a wire brush and a hammer and cold chisel to clean off dirt and to knock off the rust scale, then painted by hand with a brush a couple coats of "rust paint". Takes a bit of time but very cheap. That body rust can be treated by sanding back to bare metal with a sanding disk on an electic drill. A wire brush for the drill and a small gringing stone are also useful. Then patch the holes with wire mesh, fibreglass and resin, epoxy, or whatever, and paint with as close a matching colour as you can get in rust paint. Rust comes from the inside, not the outside, usually where condensation gets trapped like the front of the rear wheel wells, bottom of the door panels, etc. I took the inside door panels off, cleaned and painted the bottom seams and have had no rust. I go over the rust every 5 years or so. Depends on how much time you have to spend on it. It will prolong the life of the vehicle. I've had my Festiva 28 years now. Good luck.

I've got lots of free time for now! I'll look into this, need to find someone with a proper lift so I can get under it!

[alena]

Thank you for the ideas! This thread may save my festiva, I surely want to keep him forever and make him pretty again. I decided he's a boy. lol

[WmWatt]

Pair of jack stands will do. Spent many happy hours lying on my back on an old piece of carpet under the Festiva.

[alena]

Pair of jack stands will do. Spent many happy hours lying on my back on an old piece of carpet under the Festiva.

Currently I don't have enough jacks. I have a set of drive up/park on jack things, I can't remember what they're called, but they'll only bring up the front side. Maybe I could also back the rear wheels up too after the front end. Might be dangerous though I'll have to ask my dad, concerning the e brake not working properly right now and I don't know about just leaving it in gear to keep it in place on those drive up ramps. Maybe! I'll find out

[william]

Just keep it in first and chalk the wheels with something, rock, block off wood , whatever you got.
And yes you can put front or rear up on the ramps.

[Eaglefreek]

Sorry, but I have to wonder, at what point does this situation become dangerous?

I agree with denguy and sorry to say, but that rust looks horrible. I would have a shop look at it, before you put any time or money into it.

[alena]

I agree with denguy and sorry to say, but that rust looks horrible. I would have a shop look at it, before you put any time or money into it.

I thought the same thing, so I'm just doing minimal improvements to make it safer to drive and exploring other fronts. I'll take more photos when I get it jacked up high enough sometime!

Thank you everyone!

[WmWatt]

I think the rust looks fixable. The holes in the photos are in body panels which is not critical. The box beams look like the coating is peeling off. That can be scraped off, cleaned up, and painted. One place to check is the driver's foot well. If it's rusted through you can clean it up, pop rivet on some sheet metal, and paint or coat underneath with roofing tar.

Ramps are okay. With jack stands you can remove the wheels and get at the fender wells better. But only do one end at a time. I have 2 jack stands so do one end at a time anyway.

[denguy]

Besides using jackstands, I like to throw something solid and positive under the car for backup, like a couple of wheels or a big log. Never cinder blocks, they can crumble.

[alena]

Ok next time I have it jacked up, I will take more photos of underneath. I don't have any pavement at my house to park on or I could take better photos now, there's too much grass in the way where I live :p thank you everyone!


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[Rick the Quick]

As Neal Young said "Rust Never sleeps"

[alena]

Yep. I think what I'll need to replace is the shocks, struts; I think the bearings are all fine it seems. What else under the car should I check for replacing, rust wise?

[william]

Just get under there and make sure it's safe to drive before putting any money into it.
Things that make it unsafe, rear beam/ axel mount points, front control arm mounts, and radiator / front Swaybar mount points. These. Are a few common rust spots to check.

[alena]

Just get under there and make sure it's safe to drive before putting any money into it.
Things that make it unsafe, rear beam/ axel mount points, front control arm mounts, and radiator / front Swaybar mount points. These. Are a few common rust spots to check.

I'll be rolling it up on the ramp jacks soon for better photos, but my dad cleared it to drive despite how rusty things LOOK they are still solid enough for now. But yeah I want it all replaced if it's rusting out underneath. Gonna be fun finding out what I really need to replace lol


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