I need bodywork Expertise!

[s4m_da]

I have a 92 integra ls 2 door. The front of the car is in good condition but the rest of the car has some form of rust literally on every panel. I got the car for 400 bucks and it runs and drives perfectly. So thats why I have been holding on to it. I want to keep it for about 5 to 6 years at least. I posted 5 of the worse pictures I had. So really what I'm asking is should I keep the car, do the work myself, or take it to a shop.(I'm a student still so taking it to a shop is alot of money but is do able just will take awhile.) And how much money am i looking at for doing any of those options?

[pigeon]

This car may seem familiar to Hanif or Wes & Sonia :)

[HBomb]

Haha - I loved that car! Fix it, fix it!!! :)

[MilesM]

Raj @ Discovery Auto Collision is the go to body guy for this club. You can get a basic paint and body deal for about 2K I would imagine, but you'll have to add to that welding, doors and body panels if you want a perfect job.

Personally, if I were you, I'd just tint the windows dark enough so no one you know will recognize you, then just let the thing rust. Then use the money you save on body work to bang as many college girls as you can. Tick tock buddy, time's ticking and one day you'll be too old for college girls so ... get banging! Hell, with tinted windows, you can just bang'm in the car. :D And always use performance rubber.

[nrg3k]

wow - miles' ability to pervert a topic is astounding! Rusty 'Teg to Girls Gone Wild...

DJM:>

[pigeon]

lol, Jeri's now nodding his head in dissapproval with his half-smile at the unintentional racist joke... haha :p

[engsr]

one day you'll be too old for college girls

"I love school girls. The older I get, the stay the same age." (Dazed and Confused)

My opinion, don't do body work unless you want to keep the car for years or drive it until it falls a part again. I did my Civic's body work when I got it 4 years ago, and some times I think it wasn't worth it, even though it's a keeper now. I would have started off with a better condition car. I saw a lot of them out in Vancouver last week. ;)

[Taylor]

Actually it's:

"That's what I love about these High School Girls. I get older, they stay the same age."

That's just about the only good acting job McConaughey has done. :p

-------
Mis-quote Nazi!

[TomL]

He was acting in that? I thought he just wandered into the shots...

[Taylor]

Quite possibly.

Lets try this... it was the only time I found him entertaining!

Well that and the time he gave this passed out woman mouth-to-mouth in the Elgin during the 02? TIFF.

While wearing a sarong.

I shit you not.

[s4m_da]

HAHAHA Miles! College girls don't have STD's anymore they have STI'S. But I rather have a NSX so I will work on saving for that:p

Nice job Chris picking up the racism 5 points.

I want to make this car last 5 years so that I can afford something newer and I won't feel so bad ending a 3rd gen hada car. As long as the car stays fairly rust free for 5 years I will be happy. If I can sell it to someone in hada after I will be even better

So I guess i should have given a budget. Right now I would say 1,500. I know the word bondo makes most grind their teeth but is that an option for the little amount of time I'm going to have the car?

[TAO]

With that much visible rust, there is as much or more, lurking elsewhere, so it is not worth spending a bunch to fix the car up permantently.

Cheap and dirty is the way to go

-Wire brush to knock off the worse of the loose stuff
-sander to scuff and clean up the (remaining) paint arrond the area's you want to repair
-Fiberglass mat and epoxy to seal / stabilise the rusted area's
-Do most of your build up and repair with fiberglass - it stronger and stable
-Top with Bondo to smooth things out
-Block sand and prime
-Rattle can to finish

Figure a wekend to prep and fiberglass, aweekend to bondo/sand/prime and a couple of hours to mask and paint.


Moose

[Wes]

I have done what Moose pointed out to three of my cars in the past. After you sand/grind down the old metal there is some rust stuff that acts as it turns the rust to a usable primer. Make sure you get both sides of the metal.

It will likely take a weekend to do the intial work but then a few days more to use bondo to get it just nice. Just remember to stop sanding before you get down into the fibreglass as if you bring up the mess you will have to bondo over it again to cover it up.

Make sure there are no oil residues (from rust treatment sprays for example). I did the 92 Civic in 2003 and it is JUST starting to show some spots after five years....

BTW the spray bombs at CTC NEVER match the colour due to fading of existing paint and just bad colour matching.

[Taylor]

Yeah bondo.

The problem with rust is you have to be on top of it when it first shows, otherwise like a virus it lurks in the dark,places you can't see.

When the rust started on Bryans ITR (previously mine) I tackled the worst corner. I sanded it down, put down a rust neutralizer, primed it, and rattle canned it (paint code match from a Carquest/NAPA). This was about 5 years ago and last I looked at the job it seemed to be holding up.

But unfortunately you sound to be way past that point. Just make sure you let the materials fully dry and keep them away from the elements (including a lot of humidty).. then again, it's an old car and badly rusted to show-room isn't quite the goal I guess.

[Slowpoke]

Cawthra Automotive and some of the UAP Napa stores can custom match faded paint for you. Just take your cas cap cover in and they paint match.

[MilesM]

Cawthra Automotive and some of the UAP Napa stores can custom match faded paint for you. Just take your cas cap cover in and they paint match.

Yo, Aryan dude. Not sure what a cas cap is, but I'm pretty sure it's racist. :eek:

[pigeon]

I'm just screwing with you Miles :)

[MilesM]

I'm just screwing with you Miles :)

Dude, you made me google 'tinted windows and racist' to see wtf the connection is. :D Aside from a few articles on police profiling people with tinted windows, there's no connection. Jebus.

[pigeon]

LOL
Next time everyones having a beer and chilling, i'll tell you the story how Gerald passed out in my backseat at Mosport when I was on the grid to go out... lol, and even though everyone was standing next to the car nobody saw him because of the tinted windows..hahaha, so when he opend the door to get out, he scared the shit out of everyone..lol

[s4m_da]

It's not my fault you have a limo tint on a protege!

So it looks like fiberglass and bondo win.

Thanks for the help guys. If anyone has more ideas let me know because I want this to be the best looking bondo car ever!

[s4m_da]

So all the advice everyone gave me had me pumped up and ready to get some work done on the car. So I open the door and turn the car to the on position and try to roll down my windows. Nothing happened. I looked at the dash and none of the lights are on. Before that I left the car sitting for awhile(2 months) but I drove the car 24 hours before that for about 5 minutes with a battery boost. The car started fine but had a bad misfire when i gave it gas at a normal rate, I had to go slow or else it would stall. So naturally I'm just think the battery is completely dead. I got another boost but this time as i was stating the car it started to back fire pretty badly as it was cranking and never actually started. All the light on the dash came on and I had full power you the wipers, radio and what not but just didn't start. Chris told me he smelt gas so this is a ignition type problem. My problem is without a fully charged battery and can't do any testing. Any ideas or heard of such a thing before?

[Taylor]

Wonder if your gas tank is rusting out and clogging the filter.

You'll also generally get backfire if you're pumping the gas pedal in hopes to get it started. Or repeated cranking without a start too.

Clogged cat perhaps? When was the last time you had it e-tested?

Have you checked for Engine Codes (sure your CEL light is still good.. it should light up briefly when turning the ignition to "On")

[pigeon]

Geralds studying to be a mechanic right now, he has the Chiltons book as well as an electronic copy of the Helms service manual. I'm also 6-7 houses down the street from him with any tool or anything else that he'll need. I'm making him do all the correct tests and checks to figure out this problem himself, instead of doing it for him or watching his aimless shooting in the dark technique :) He thought he'd be clever and have you guys help him shoot in the dark, in order to bypass me making him actually do it properly.

He doesn't need any HADA help just yet. He's far from stumped, he actually didn't check anything yet...lol. All he did was try to crank it and it didn't start... I said I smelled gas, and then I took off to go watch UFC.. lol

What he needs is to walk over here and pick up my battery charger, and complete his diagnosis in a systematic manner :) Its sitting here waiting for you little buddy

[Wes]

ECM! That is exactly what happened to the car about two years ago. Swapped out the ECM and all was good in the world.

I will run like crap, lose all power then quit. It won't start for a few minutes and when it does it sputters and coughs (smelling gas) then suddenly it is running fine again.

If Gerald has a spare distributor, swap it.

[HBomb]

Could just be a bad wire or connection somewhere and the action of swapping ECU's caused the fix. I don't think I've ever heard of a Honda ECU kicking the bucket...

Hanif

[Taylor]

Yeah I will say that my BMW did this exact thing when the battery was dying because the alternator belt was slipping and could never keep a charge in the battery. So I needed to charge it up a bit with the (unbeknownst to me) slipping alternator while jumped. It would chug chug chug and then just die (from all the cranking flooding the engine or me when it's chuging giving it more gas in hopes to keep it alive).. usually I'd get a nice loud backfire and some smoke from around the airflow sensor. .. that's when I'd walk away for a bit. :)

Once I clued in the belt was slipping and fixed it, I never had that starting problem ever again.

[s4m_da]

In the winter the car was doing the same thing. Backfired, wanted to stall if I wasn't gentle on the gas. I went through all the ignition test and realized the rotor in the distributor was pretty well beaten up. I got a new one and it was like night and day with the car. I checked the rotor again and it is fine now.

[HBomb]

There is a central fuel injector ground point near the thermostat housing - I'd check to make sure that ground is still intact. Also check all other engine grounds...

Hanif

[TAO]

If the car still acts up with a fully charged battery and good Alternator (test it at CDN Tire) then have a close look at the PGMFI relay (Main fuel injection relay) - they are a known issue in older cars - the internal solder joint's dry out and become intermitant - you can either buy a new one, or you can pull it apart, reheat and add a dab of fresh solder to all the connections - there is a thread on Honda Tech covering this

Moose

[s4m_da]

I was able to get the car running well enough to get it into my garage today. Chris let me use his battery charger and i had it going for about 4 hours. I started the car 30 mins ago, it seemed to be fighting just a bit to be stable. I did some voltage test while the car was on and everything seemed fine. then it begun, the horrible backfire. I was so frustrated I stared and the car and let the car still run while it's backfiring just to see if i can figure out what made it start happening out of nowhere. The two things i realized is the thermostat just opened and a gas leak! I was going to the tailpipe to make sure nothing funky was coming out. And I smelt some strong gas. I look under the car and this was a wet gas stain in the concrete. So i turned off the car and looked to see where the gas was coming from and there is nothing! So here I am now. Frustrated. And shouldn't the massive backfire the car has throw on a light? I know the light works but it still hasn't come on.

[SiRJL]

Geri...

Leave the car the way it is.. The rusted car thing is in nowadays.......

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2823/222/32055110956_large.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2823/222/32055110953_large.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/3/2823/222/32055110944_large.jpg

Good Luck!

[Taylor]

Ghetto Fabulous!

[MilesM]

Maybe the car has a secret make-out point stall setting. It's a button you push when you're at make-out point with a girl and she wants to go home because you're coming on too strong, she's a virgin, she's not ready, yada yada. Whatever. Anyway, so you make like you're going to take her home then hit the stall button and the car backfires and stalls. Now you can go back to making out with her in a place where no one can hear her screaming for help. I saw it in a movie once though I've never actually heard of a real person doing it though. Might be the problem with the car. Look for unexplained buttons or extra wiring near electrical buttons. ;)

[Matt]

I want to punch anybody that intentionally rusts their car, or thinks that it is cool.

[s4m_da]

Jay I guarantee those are old men that had to sell their rat rods!

Miles I gotta say that button idea is by far the most spectacular idea I ever heard. Are you sure this is from a movie?

And Matt I'm with you on that. I will get my buddy chuck Norris to help.

[s4m_da]

Oh and i have some semi good news. I found some almost mint quarter panels and trunk locally. The problem is just looking at the car i don't know how i would get it off that car and on to mine without welding. I guess that is something im going to have to learn or is there a place/way to get it done right and cheap.