Saving a Dsm from the clutches of rust.

[NWHTanK]

After having issues with his motor, a friend of mine wanted to fix his front strut towers on his car. Right now its the citing stage. This upcoming Sunday we will be welding in patches from a donor car

 

[dsmspick]

Tank got a great start on the towers. He does crazy good work and I trust him any time to do body work on my car. Can't wait till it is finished.

 

[NWHTanK]

Some one got a little camera happy .

 

[dsmspick]

The gf wanted pictures.

 

[manny correa]

Ouch.. Atta way of saving her tho! how's the other side? Or the rear inner wheel wells? Those are usually just as rusted as the strut towers, from my purchasing experience .

 

[ricktb]

the proper way i've been told to repair this is to replace the entire strut tower, the spot welds can be drilled out, i hope your repair holds, remember the car rides directly on this point and all it takes is a hard corner to rip right off. I think you might be better of having a pro do the entire thing or at least get some high quality welds in there.

I used a mig welder and even on the lowest power setting i blew right through the thin gauge metal, I ended up making a shitload of spot welds around the perimeter of the patch, and its held for 5 years but the bondo and paint has since cracked along the seams and is rusting again. I am going to have to eventually redo the whole tower.

Check out mine... http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/app...-tower-rust-merged-1-7-a-4.html#post151290550

 

[warren]

How that happen

 

[dsmspick]

The guy I have a for me is a pro. He has 30+ years in body work a welding. Tank is doing the work by the way. This happens when water and metal and air and time, the rust starts to occur and begins to eat the metal. It is a chemical reaction.

 

[NWHTanK]

The guy I have a for me is a pro. He has 30+ years in body work a welding. Tank is doing the work by the way. This happens when water and metal and air and time, the rust starts to occur and begins to eat the metal. It is a chemical reaction.

Ok now I feel old..

 

[gorf]

I admire the will to save a DSM from rust, however, is it worth it?

In North Carolina you can pick up a very clean car with little or no rust for around 4-5 thousand dollars...

 

[RallyEclipse98]

There was an episode of "Wheeler Dealers" on last night where they so the same fix to a R33 Skyline. If anyone is curious about fixing their strut towers, the show demonstrates how it do it very well. The show is on Velocity (DirecTV).

 

[NWHTanK]

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For him it is his is first car, as far as the rust goes its nothing in comparison to some of the cars new and old that I have worked on.

 

[NWHTanK]

In the pics in the beginning of the post the strut tower is mostly intact. The brace that runs over to the upper rail ,is rusted and is being cut out and replaced along with some of the inside of the upper rail. The big piece that is removed is basically stamped thin sheet metal.

 

[dsmspick]

I admire the will to save a DSM from rust, however, is it worth it?

In North Carolina you can pick up a very clean car with little or no rust for around 4-5 thousand dollars...

Why spend 4 to 5k on a car when I can have the rust fixed by a friend?

 

[EisHERE]

There was an episode of "Wheeler Dealers" on last night where they so the same fix to a R33 Skyline. If anyone is curious about fixing their strut towers, the show demonstrates how it do it very well. The show is on Velocity (DirecTV).

Wheeler dealers did an R33?!

 

[RallyEclipse98]

Wheeler dealers did an R33?!

Sure did! I was excited too! I checked the schedule and it won't be on again for the next few weeks. I would keep checking though.

 

[moonstation2000]

Yeah, and I think they paid 2700 pounds for it, lucky bastards!! It was in great shape too...

They turned it into a mild drift car.

 

[dsmspick]

Oh man I'm gonna go set the direct tv to record it now.

 

[gorf]

Why spend 4 to 5k on a car when I can have the rust fixed by a friend?

Be thankful - that is a good friend!


I guess I am just a lot more anal retentive. My first dsm had a lot of rust on it. Every time I went to do any mod or change anything, I spent more time cleaning up rust than doing the mod - that got old FAST!

 

[dsmspickdad]

If I remember it correct I think Tank and Dad where the ones in the garage. Need to remove the other fender.