2G Is it to late for me? (Rust)

[AlmightySo]

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[Drop Top Road Trip]

It's never too late. People build cars out of VIN plates. Just depends how bad you want it. Buy yourself a grinder, plasma cutter, a welder and get some lessons on how to use them. You'll be able to keep your car on the road forever!

That said, looks pretty wretched.

 

[PlanZero]

That's not bad at all. I've seen much, much worse. At the very least get a $15 angle grinder from harbor freight and cut all the rust out and a heavy duty rust removing wheel for your drill for the tighter areas, and use por15 or similar rust inhibitor to prevent it from getting worse. You don't want it to reach the trailing arm.
If you choose to remove/replace the whole rocker panel you can get rust free rockers from miller import parts for a very reasonable price. Most of the repairs will be hidden by the side skirts anyway.

 

[luv2rallye]

Hey your second pic looks just like mine, right under the trailing arm bracket and in the frame to the rocker panel! Price and learning of a plasma cutter and welder is way beyond my means, knowledge, and ability - not even an option. And replacing your rocker panel won't help because it's the metal under the fiberglass rocker panel that's rusted, right? Mine's the exact same way only worse so I'm interested in what you do. The body shop refused to even touch it. I keep the body polished like brand new (people are shocked to find out it's a 99) but Mn winters do a number on the under carriage with all the salt.

 

[AlmightySo]

I plan on removing the rear subframe and put her on jackstands for a while. Go in there with a wire brush, wheel, grinder. I have a friend that could weld up some spots for me if I needed but I think painting a few coats of rust converter in the spots I can't really reach. Then maybe spray it with the rubberized rust paint.
I really want to keep this 95 alive, it's been a project for me for some time now & I rarely see any on the street or anywhere. I'll post pics of my updates

 

[PlanZero]

I'm not sure I understand what luv2rallye means. I also have identical rust spots on my Tsis (thanks PA salt). The first pic on my 96 tsi and when pulled the fiberglass sideskirt off there was a hole in the two layer metal rocker. I have no welding skills so I cut the rust around the hole and made a patch out of por15 and fiberglass mat. Unfortunately it's very hard to remove the rust from the inner layer unless you want to cut a huge hole, so I just removed it as best I could and sprayed a ton of rust inhibitor in there. If it gets bad again I will cut off the entire rocker and replace with a miller one.
Now on my 97 it's the same as your second pic. But 2gb tsis didn't come with side skirts so you can see the rust if you're looking. Mine was rusted through, so the hollow inside of the rocker was exposed. After cutting off the rust I filled the hole with great stuff foam to keep water out. Do not do this if you don't plan on replacing the rocker someday, as it's only temporary and some stupid idea I got from you tube.
Once I find some twisty skirts cheap I'm going to redo the job.

 

[luv2rallye]

I'm sorry I was confusing the fiberglass side skirt with what you call the rocker panel (I'm not a body guy and hate body work and terrible at it). PlanZero, are you saying metal the rocker panel is part MR273328 (what Mitsu ASA calls "Side Sill, FR Floor, OTR RH" for the right side) and is un-boltable and is what Miller Import Parts has? I thought it is welded in and not really owner replaceable.

 

[AlmightySo]

He's talking about the fiber glass over top of the metal in the second pic. I hammered around all the areas and knocked off most of the loose rust. After that I got a magnetic rod that extends and pushed it in there and got all the chunks of rust out, as you can see the from 2nd pic. You don't have to be a pro at welding. Just weld it, if it's ugly sand it down. Just depends how much time you want to spend & money

 

[gsxrunning]

Thats not bad at all. Main thing just don't let it reach the trailing arm.

 

[AlmightySo]

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Put her on jackstands and took more pics.

 

[luv2rallye]

Mine is in the exact same places but even worse.

 

[AlmightySo]

I have a donor GST in my backyard. I never really got a chance to look at the rockers on that but I'm hoping their good so I can just cut pieces off of that one and weld it onto this one.