Strut tower repair for my 99 eclipse.

[Nagevdsm]

So I just wanted to share how I unprofessionally repaired my rust damage on my strut tower, with pictures.

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So in this picture u can see the extent of the damage.

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Here is what it looks like mostly cut out. I used a pneumatic die grinder with a metal cutting disk attachment, a sanding disc, and a metal brush attachment on a drill. I cleaned it up alot more the night before I got it all welded up. I didn't take a picture unfortunately but obviously all the rust needs to be removed and any paint around where u will weld.

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I decided to weld a sheet of metal on the top and underside. Here u see a bottom piece that I fabricated(I used a pair if fixed vise grips and a hammer). I also cut a small piece for the gap on the top right. However that didn't really need and major fabricating so I don't have a picture of it.
This piece was welded from the top because doing it from the bottom would've been too much of a hassle.

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So here is the top piece that I fabricated with many a hits from a hammer. I decided to make it out of a single piece. I don't know the thickness of the metal but it was pretty tough stuff so it should provide plenty of support.

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So here we see the top piece welded on. The right side edge was trimmed and a cut was made on the center right side so that the metal could form the proper shape. Also a small square was cut out to make the bolt hole available.
Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the underside piece welded on. But I cleaned it up and sprayed a rust preventative primer over it all.

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So after I cleaned up the area with a metal brush drill attachment and some wax grease remover, then smeared on some fiberglass bondo. I did this on the underside as well.

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After sanding the fiber Glass bondo, I then applied plain bondo over top of it and sanded that as well. After that I cleaned it up and spray painted it with a rust preventative paint.

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And here is the finished product.

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[SasaniFab]

I give you alot of credit..... I wouldnt of gone near that thing

 

[Nagevdsm]

I give you alot of credit..... I wouldnt of gone near that thing

Lol. I had it sitting in my driveway for 2.5 years before I took the plunge.

 

[SasaniFab]

Is the rest of the body ok?

 

[Nagevdsm]

Is the rest of the body ok?

Yea, for the most part. Some substantial rust underneath and some surface rust on the cabin and trunk floor (gonna remove and paint over that next). But for the most part it's fine now.

 

[EeRiCkK29]

Cavity filler, rust remover/converter and weldable primer just might be your new best friends.

 

[SasaniFab]

Since im a 1g guy and havent dont much research on the 2g.... what design flaw caused this? Is it the metal, paint ....what factors caused the 2gs to have this flaw

 

[TypeONegative]

Since im a 1g guy and havent dont much research on the 2g.... what design flaw caused this? Is it the metal, paint ....what factors caused the 2gs to have this flaw

None of the above, road salt does this up where we get snow, up here in ny I've seen 2gs and 1gs in the junkyard with the struts threw the hood, I take my cars off the road every year when winter hits, for me that' either late November to early December, and during that time if the roads are wet the car doesn' go out, same in the spring if won' drive in the rain till late April early may but I'll put the cars back on in April

 

[TypeONegative]

Oh yea and I won a car on ebay two years ago exactly like yours, a white 2g eclipse 1999 10th edition, when I picked it up it was rotted to nothing just like yours, I welded the shock towers with much thicker steel, and fiberglass d over it where you couldn' tell and sold the car the same week I bought it, I informed the owner of my repair and the seats were falling out of it, rear strut tops busted spring banging around, my suggestion to you op is continue the nice work, and sell it unless you are going to use it as a daily driver/beater, this car is scard for life after such an extent of rust, be careful with this car! Make sure you check the uni body (floor/under the car) where the control arms bolt on, the one I had they were shot, I told the guy who bought it and explained how dangerous this is, (I didn't see it till after fixing the shock towers or I would not have) and I literally paid 2k for this car and the timing was off, I sold it for 600 dollars, nice looking car but check it over and think about it because if you want to keep it and only use it in nice weather than sell it for a rust free one, just IMHO not trying to discouraged you but believe me I seen how bad a car is rotted when the towers start to go, good luck either way you decide to go and nice to see someone saving it from the junkyard.

 

[SasaniFab]

None of the above, road salt does this up where we get snow, up here in ny I've seen 2gs and 1gs in the junkyard with the struts threw the hood, I take my cars off the road every year when winter hits, for me that' either late November to early December, and during that time if the roads are wet the car doesn' go out, same in the spring if won' drive in the rain till late April early may but I'll put the cars back on in April

Ive never seen so many cars experience this type of rust damage, how are the strust towers getting water on them or salt for that matter

 

[TypeONegative]

Ive never seen so many cars experience this type of rust damage, how are the strust towers getting water on them or salt for that matter

Well there's nothing wheel well/splash gourd underneath, so all the dirt,salt and water shoots directly up in the towers and then chips the paint and rusts it out, the Salt is the number one reason, salt is a low form of an acid, that' why it burns if you get it on your skin, and in the summer it draws in the moisture from the warm weather especially on a humid night and really accelerates the rust by like 75 percent worse than driving in it during the winter.

 

[dustyboner]

if you wanna see if your body dimensions are within spec, here is a link to the BODY REPAIR MANUAL

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[spoolinpos]

How are the rocker panels? Has anyone repaired those on a 2g? When I was searching for my car, the struts were the number one thing I looked out for. I am seeing a little bit of rocker panel rust now though.

 

[chrysler kid]

Just from seeing the national classifieds on Facebook, i would probably never buy one from the rust belt. Well, I would buy a runner that's rusting apart to put in a shell from the south

 

[Tanro]

Not bad. But I would sand it back and get some glazing putty to fill those pits/pinholes in the body filler.

 

[CODE4]

salt is a low form of an acid, that' why it burns if you get it on your skin

Sea water, or even salt dissolved in potable water does not burn your skin.

I would not say it is that plain or simple, Salt (NaCl most common) is not an acid, it is typically pH neutral. Calcium chloride or magnesium chloride break apart to form more potent electrolytes than the commonly used sodium chloride. Subsequent chemical reactions among the resulting ions and electrolysis that occurs between dissimilar metals accelerates the process.

I use a strong acid such as nitric acid to clean rusted steel and contaminated stainless steel prior to welding processes - now a freshly cleaned piece of steel will rust immediately after if not properly treated of course. But the acidic nature works well to clean ferritic metals.

 

[Dsm panda]

Im from wisconsin and here they pre treat our roads with a calcium mix of somesort that is bad and even worse if you have a heated garage i was told by a mechanic of the area.

 

[DSM007]

Bravo Nagevdsm, looks like it will hold up for a long time. One thing I found rust hates is zink chromate, you can get it at marine/boating supply stores. I had some light rust on the bottom of my 240 and I went over it with Ospho rust neutralising acid, cleaned with brake cleaner after 48 hours, zink chromate, duplicolor adhesion promoting primer, and then rustolium bed liner.

 

[TROUBLE94NINJA]

I have a 3g with this same problem how do i go about fixing it