New to Forum - RUST! Too much? Can I Stop it in its Tracks? (1 Viewer)

[Boscaccy]

Hi all,

mom new to this forum and I have taken some role to read introduction threads. I hope I’m posting in the right spot. I just purchased a 99 LX470 with 155k. Mostly, it’s in great shape. However, big however, it’s pretty rusty underneath.
I have always dreamt of owning a LC and I stumbled upon this one unsuspecting. I initially bought it to sell but now I can’t seem to give it up. Anyway, I’m attaching some pictures of the rust.
Do you guys think it’s too far gone to be my daily driver? What can I do to mitigate the problem? Carfax shows the vehicle spent a lot of time near Chicago. I am in Memphis.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Red Beard]

Doesn’t look unsafe at all. Plenty of rust though. To do it right, you’ll need around $2.5k to have a pro grind/sandblast the rust and paint it. That will at least stop the rust and look nice but there will still be rust deep the in frame. Some will say don’t bother treating it and run it into the ground, which is fine too.

Whether you treat it or not, some bolts will be rusted solid and will break off when trying to remove them which sucks. Sway bar brackets seem to be the biggest culprit.

Don’t pay too much for it, but there’s a lot of life left. Just know what you’re getting yourself into.

 

[Zer0zg]

Yeah, mine is about that rusty. It does make it a pain to work on sometimes and if it were intended to be a big project that might get frustrating, but as a driver I wouldn't have any worries.

 

[Boscaccy]

Doesn’t look unsafe at all. Plenty of rust though. To do it right, you’ll need around $2.5k to have a pro grind/sandblast the rust and paint it. That will at least stop the rust and look nice but there will still be rust deep the in frame. Some will say don’t bother treating it and run it into the ground, which is fine too.

Whether you treat it or not, some bolts will be rusted solid and will break off when trying to remove them which sucks. Sway bar brackets seem to be the biggest culprit.

Don’t pay too much for it, but there’s a lot of life left. Just know what you’re getting yourself into.

Thanks for the comment, that is encouraging. I’m $5,500 in after the new wheels and tires - no other issues besides an O2 sensor causing check engine. I think I’ve still got some value in it at the amount.
Would I be wasting my time if I got underneath it with a wire brush for a few hours? Then what would I do, paint?

 

[Boscaccy]

I just realized I said “mom new to this forum.” I’m not a mom, I meant to say “I’m”

 

[AlpineAccess]

For the "most part" you'd be wasting your time but you can slow its progress considerably. Brush as much of the scale off as you can and then hit it heavily with a high end rust reformer. For the areas without fasteners (chassis, mounts, etc.) I would coat it with Por-15 to seal out further water and oxygen from reaching the rust.

For the areas with fasteners such as the rear pan hard bar pictured, I would run a wire wheel over the exposed parts of the fasteners, and then liberally spray them with a penetrating oil once a week for a month. Once the penetrating oil has mostly dried off from the surface I would then spray everything with something like fluid film. You'll still have the rust here but it will slow its progress down; and the penetrating oil might reduce the number of broken bolts you encounter at a later date.

Do the fluid film over the grass or somewhere not next to windows you open on your house for fresh air...and wear cloths you can throw away along with some PPE. Unless you don't mind smelling like a wet sheep for a week.

 

[AlpineAccess]

I should specify that I only used the wasting your time part of the comment as you asked that directly. It's not a lost cause by any means, but just have to keep perspective that while you're slowing the rust down considerably - its there and will continue in some form. The good news is the frame on the 100 is robust and you don't have a lot of perforation yet.

 

[Jfcol]

Does living in Memphis now where they don’t salt the roads essentially mean that OP won’t get much, if any, more rust? Mine came out of Maryland and I’m in Atlanta so I’m in similar situation. I have less rust than shown here but I do have some. I just haven’t gotten around to doing anything about it yet. Again, part of me is wondering if I really need to since I’m in a southern state.

 

[RND1]

That is pretty typical of a salt-belt rig. Assuming Memphis doesn't put salt on the roads in Winter, you have a fighting chance to improve what you have and slow down the spread dramatically. If you can find a shop willing to sandblast that would be the way to go to remove the bulk of it. If not, buy a tyvek suit, safety glasses, and lots of wire wheels and go to town.

POR-15 only works on pristine clean surfaces. Don't bother with POR-15 or any undercoatings for that matter. Use a lanolin based product such as Fluid Film or Woolwax and spray it liberally everywhere. It will stay wet and prevent further rust.

 

[Formerjeeper]

Check out dry ice blasting. I was quoted about 1000-1500 which makes sense for a vehicle you plan to keep. Here's a place local to me with some impressive before/after images. They do a lot of auto restorations. Home | Yeti Ice Blasting - https://yetiblasting.com/

 

[RND1]

Check out dry ice blasting. I was quoted about 1000-1500 which makes sense for a vehicle you plan to keep. Here's a place local to me with some impressive before/after images. They do a lot of auto restorations. Home | Yeti Ice Blasting - https://yetiblasting.com/

Dry Ice cleaning does wonders at removing cosmoline from your vintage Porsche (their target audience), but does NOT remove rust (but may make the rust look prettier)

 

[JunkCrzr89]

Do you guys think it’s too far gone to be my daily driver? What can I do to mitigate the problem?

No, it’s not too far gone. Get a wire wheel and some flap discs and go to town on it. Then Spray on a rust converter (the cheap Rustoleum Rust Reformer works good for the cost), then coat the hell out of it with Fluid Film once a year and it’ll be fine. You don’t need $2500 to have a professional do this. $50 and some elbow grease and time is all you need.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Does living in Memphis now where they don’t salt the roads essentially mean that OP won’t get much, if any, more rust? Mine came out of Maryland and I’m in Atlanta so I’m in similar situation. I have less rust than shown here but I do have some. I just haven’t gotten around to doing anything about it yet. Again, part of me is wondering if I really need to since I’m in a southern state.

It will definitely continue, albeit probably not at the same rate. Rust only needs water and oxygen and there will be plenty of water in Tennessee. The salt allows access for water/oxygen through the thin paint manufacturers use to coat undercarriages and accelerates the reaction.

 

[bhsdriller]

I wouldn't have bought it to begin with but now that you have it i'd probably just spray it down with some fluid film and send it, I bet that thing just how it is would have no problem the rest of it's life

 

[zipdoa]

Get it resurfaced with Dry Ice blasting. This is the best way to eliminate rust from an undercarriage, MUCH better than wire wheel/sand blasting. Then treat with Honey Wax.

I post this in every rust thread. I'm having my truck treated in October, will post a new thread then.

This is an 80 series local to me:

BEFORE



AFTER

 

[imdek]

Mine looks same and I'd say it was a big mistake to buy it.
It still drives well, but whenever I need to do something under the car - 4 of 5 screws break. Yeah, it's possible to sandblast etc, to make it look good - but the problem would still exist.
Also the problem would be with AHC - I've bought already the spheres, but was unable to unscrew the old ones, the risk of damaging the mounts is too high.
Changed the tank, because it was rusty and leaked.
Changed the tank armor, because it was like paper.
Changed the motor armor, it was rusty and started to fall apart at mounting points.

Better search for a car with less rust, even if it has more miles.

 

[2020 Rocks]

Get it resurfaced with Dry Ice blasting. This is the best way to eliminate rust from an undercarriage, MUCH better than wire wheel/sand blasting. Then treat with Honey Wax.

I post this in every rust thread. I'm having my truck treated in October, will post a new thread then.

This is an 80 series local to me:

BEFORE



AFTER

What did you pay for the dry ice blasting out of curiosity? I called one place, need to call a couple more, but was told it would be to the tune of 3-4k to have it done. That seemed outrageous.

 

[RND1]

Get it resurfaced with Dry Ice blasting. This is the best way to eliminate rust from an undercarriage, MUCH better than wire wheel/sand blasting. Then treat with Honey Wax.

I post this in every rust thread. I'm having my truck treated in October, will post a new thread then.

Please let us know how it works. Was the 80 painted after the dry ice treatment? This is what I've seen dry ice being able to do with rust.

Before:


After:

 

[AlpineAccess]

Please let us know how it works. Was the 80 painted after the dry ice treatment? This is what I've seen dry ice being able to do with rust.

Before:


After:

I'm going to guess that is a big-three product. That steering linkage looks so clean because of all of the rust-inhibitor the motor has been leaking onto it over the years!

 

[RND1]

I pulled the pics above from this Hagerty article. Dry ice cleaning: It does look like Dry Ice can remove the flaky rust, but as you can see it's not like the before and after on the 80 series above. Article states $275/hr.