Thread: A MUST see for '97-'03 owners!!!

Rear sway bars,rotors,gas tank, filler neck, etc. , all underneath parts show rust to some degree. All the brake lines are badly rotted all the way through in more than one area. If I can't find a decent doner car that's no more than 250 miles away, maybe I can see if there is a badly smashed GP coupe that has a complete and almost rust free ass end from the door pillar back.I'll just tell the salvage yard I'll be down there and show them where to cut. I may indeed wind up fixing this poor car. I just don't look forward to welding while under a car on my back.That's a good way to get splatter burns , ouch! I guess it's no worse to fix the rot then to transfer the entire engine & trans, harness, etc. Especially since my small body shop dosen't have a lift. I'll figure something out.

or grass, grass is worse than water actually. leave a car in clean water with no road salt and other chemicals it can hold up for a decent time cus you have paint there and paint can hold up to plain water for a long time. leave a perfect car in grass for 6 months and watch what happens.

If the plastic panels cover up the rust put POR-15 on the rust and get rid of the car. POR-15 will hold it together for a while, probably longer than the rest of the car. I used that stuff on my '85 Chevy pickup. It was rusting the rockers out from running boards and now it's the only part of the truck that doesn't have rust. I just masked up the area with cardboard and duct tape then sand blasted all the rust holes then prepped with there cleaners and applied the POR-15 with a brush then filled the holes with bondo and painted. It's lasted almost 15 years like that.

Originally Posted by felonygtp

If the plastic panels cover up the rust put POR-15 on the rust and get rid of the car. POR-15 will hold it together for a while, probably longer than the rest of the car. I used that stuff on my '85 Chevy pickup. It was rusting the rockers out from running boards and now it's the only part of the truck that doesn't have rust. I just masked up the area with cardboard and duct tape then sand blasted all the rust holes then prepped with there cleaners and applied the POR-15 with a brush then filled the holes with bondo and painted. It's lasted almost 15 years like that.

I've had good success using POR15 to coat the inside of rusted motorcycle gas tanks. Been performing this service for customers over the last 5 years or so, it's good stuff. If I didn't have so much $ into the car already, I would have just parted it out. No way I'd stoop as low as some butt hole used car steelership and do a quicky patch job on it and sell it to some unknowing sucker, not my style. Plus, I've done long lasting professional fixes on rotted cars since I learned how back when I was an apprentice learning body work on antique and classic cars back when I was 21 years young ( 33 years ago). Sure , I know how to do a "quickie", but as they say on that TV show "My Classic Car" remember the timeless classics, or that other show about American muscle cars, I think it was something like......."don't junk 'em, restore 'em". I'm actually a bit of a rare breed of auto body mechanic in so much as I'm actually quite good at properly repairing rot with the making of cardboard templates transfered to 21 gauge steel, and either brazed or mig welded into place. It's almost a lost art these days and If you can actually find a body shop with a reputation for restoring rotted cars, it's not gonna be cheap because bigger "production" type shops won't even bother with a no money maker like a 12 year old rust bucket.
I just a week ago bought a doner car with a good undercaridge for most of what I need. It'll still be a major p.i.t.a. to fix as I don't have a lift in my small body shop . I'm just gonna have to explain to my wife why The inside of the house isn't gonna be done this winter
Who knows, a factory purple 2 door base model '98 GTP might just be a "classic" some day.

im sure it will be one day!!!! not many forced inducted cars came in such a color. In fact only 2 came close, the talon, eclipse, lazer had that almost purple but still maroon more so. And the starion/conquest with a dark purple/maroon color. Still not purple like this.