Hi all. In August I upgraded from a K11 Micra to a 1997 MK1 Eunos Roadster and I’ve been having an absolute blast - up until a few days ago. When climbing out I noticed some rust below the driver’s side A-pillar just above the door hinge:
I’ve read about the sills and arches (made sure to check these before buying) and seen the A-pillar/windscreen surround corrosion on Wheeler Dealers but haven’t been able to find anything like what I have. What are your thoughts? From what I can see having pulled the top of the fender back it seems as if it’s confined to the area around the factory(?) sealant below the paint and hasn’t penetrated much deeper than the surface.
I was planning on taking the area back to bare metal and repairing it myself over Christmas when I have access to a garage and tools (just started a PhD) but in the mean time I’ll have to park it outside as there’s no undercover parking. I was planning on spraying GT85 into the area to try and slow the process as much as possible until then but wanted to see what people thought about this plan before going ahead with it.
As the weather is still OK ish. Rub it down and put on some rust converter. Then put on a few thin coats of primer.
That can be done outside without a problem if it is not raining.
Then when you have it under cover do a job under better conditions but as the temperature will be lower at that time of year you have to get the the temperature increased for the paint to cure.
Thanks for the advice - are there any brands of rust converter that you recommend? It looks like the hardest part is going to be taking the front wing off with the bolt hiding underneath the sodding bumper…
There will be one bolt or screw hidding, rusty and not wanting to move, there always is. I like the Bilthamber Hydrate 80 but with postage it is £20 and far to large a quantity for that one job but if you have not been underneath the car then you may find lots more areas to protect.
Otherwise just go into the local motor factors or Halfords or ebay and buy another smaller quantity of another similar rust convertor.
I can’t see the picture you have put up - there is just an X but…sounds very similar to my 1997 MK1 where a small area of rust appeared on the drivers side just above the top door hinge where the pillar joins the inner wing/bulkhead. This area is not known for causing real problems on the MK1 although I can remember being a bit perplexed when I saw the issue on my car about 8 years ago.
The area affected was small but difficult to get to without removing the wing. Very glad I didn’t need to go to those lengths as the simple repair I did - scrape corrosion away, smoothrite paint and then liberally coat in hammerite waxoyl underseal(black car) has not needed touching since.
Rust killer as Drumtochty has suggested would have made a better job. Would also recommend Hydrate 80 as used a lot recently under our Eunos and an old VW Golf but if only for this job buy a small amount of something else similar - they all likely have a common ingredient, phosphoric acid?
Thanks all, I’ll start getting everything together but in the mean time would it be worth going for the daily GT85 squirt to slow the rust?
rhino666 - I’ve updated the original image, and it sounds to me like the exact problem. Could have been an issue on that year of car? Your fix sounds good but if I get the chance I’d be keen to go the whole hog. The underside of the car was in fantastic condition - I had it up on a ramp before buying it, and had it waxoyled before picking it up.
Good picture and nothing to be worried about in my opinion.
I would do as advised but don’t use waxoyl or GT85 if you intend to get on with this. It has been a gradual process throughout the life of the car and still only looks to me like surface rust, easily remedied without going over the top:-)
Even cheaper than when I bought it and a very good seller.
Start by clearing off loose material, brass brushing the rust and simply brush on the rust killer. I used black smoothrite paint and black hammerite underseal with waxoyl to finish which is easy on a black car. A tidy cosmetic finish may need a little more thought for a green car.
Use the rest of the hydrate 80 to properly sort the underside of your car next summer or sell it on ebay - someone like me will grab it for sure.
Brilliant, I’ll try and get something sorted soon then.
As a temporary fix until next summer when I’ll have the space to do a better job I’ll take the majority of the rust away with a wire wheel and then give it a couple of coats of Hammerite:
Next weekend, I’ll wire brush as much as I can, clean down the surface (what’s best for this, washing up liquid or white spirit?), dry with a hairdrier, let cool and then apply a few coats of the hammerite. I’ll aim to get all of this done in a single day as the car is being kept outside due to a lack of a garage.
