Need some advice frame rust

[240sx_brett]

Well I recently picked up a 89 240sx hatch my long awaited project car. It had some visible rust on the rear quarter panels but i was willing to work with that. Everything else on the car looked to be okay frame looked okay. All i really wanted was a good body cause i want to swap out the engine brakes suspension etc. Anyway I got the car home jacked it up took off the wheels and see a crack in the frame and i say oh s***, so i gridded away to see how bad it was. Welp about a 4" section was rusted out and covered up with looks like bondo and painted. FML.

Thats my story. my question is, is it worth fixing? I know a guy who is willing to patch it back up for a couple hundred and im willing to pay to get it fixed but will it be able to withstand abuse? I plan on tracking the car and drifting it. I see they actually make patches for it so im hoping it can be fixed and be good as new.

Input?

[nissangirl74]

I don't think it is worth fixing and I definitely don't think it would be safe to track or drift. If there is rust on the frame, there is rust in a lot of other places as well.

[GrilledCheese33]

^Word. Solid project 240s are still generally easy to find, so i'd say dump it and pick up another.

Welcome to Nico!

[240sx_brett]

I been searching around and actually found out they sell the frame rail for 55 bucks. got me a little confused now

its kind of hard to just dump it when i dropped a grand on it ya know.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Its repairable unless, and very common on 89-92 models

[Fenris]

Same thing on my '89. Its being worked on now.

Best bet is do what i did, strip the car down. Clear out the interior, fenders, wheels, all of it.
Then start tapping around with a hammer and see what you find. I disagree a bit with grilled cheese on the fact that decent project 240's (S13) are easy to find.

They fall into 3 categorys: No engine, rust, drift tax.

Its possible to find a decent shell, but with a blown motor or other trashed running gear.
Decent engine, but no body left.
Or pay $3k+ for a 20 year old car.

So, like i said, strip it down, see what you are working with. All else fails, its ready to part out and recoup your money at that point.

(Keep in mind, this is in the north east)

[OutToWinPAHC]

My frame rail was the same way. When the engine was out it was cut out and replaced. Not hard to do by a decent welder

[240sx_brett]

Same thing on my '89. Its being worked on now.

Best bet is do what i did, strip the car down. Clear out the interior, fenders, wheels, all of it.
Then start tapping around with a hammer and see what you find. I disagree a bit with grilled cheese on the fact that decent project 240's (S13) are easy to find.

They fall into 3 categorys: No engine, rust, drift tax.

Its possible to find a decent shell, but with a blown motor or other trashed running gear.
Decent engine, but no body left.
Or pay $3k+ for a 20 year old car.

So, like i said, strip it down, see what you are working with. All else fails, its ready to part out and recoup your money at that point.

(Keep in mind, this is in the north east)

totally agree. I have been looking for some time for a project 240sx cant really find much. I actually found a car that was rust free for 1500 right after i bought this one. isnt that how it always works? The good thing is the more I look at the rail the easier and cheaper it looks to replace than a lot of the other rusted areas.

I guess ill just have to see what a welder will charge to fix it then go from there. the thing that bothers me is like you guys said before, the parts that cant be seen.

how much can i really get from parting out?

thanks for the replies

[troskinatior]

Same exact thing happened to me today. Can you post a link of that $55 frame rail?

[240sx_brett]

Same exact thing happened to me today. Can you post a link of that $55 frame rail?

certainly. 171-53F00 for drivers side and 170-53F00 for the passenger side.

http://www.nissanpartszone.com/Page_Pro ... tsIndex=20

[bigbadberry3]

When parting out, you'll recoup your money as long as you have the time to part it and don't try to fool anybody.

[240sx_brett]

When parting out, you'll recoup your money as long as you have the time to part it and don't try to fool anybody.

even with the rusted s***?

[sly240]

It can be repaired the only problem is that there is probably more rust somewhere else. That being said if you look for the cheapest fix you will get just that the cheapest fix not the right fix. So the way I see it you have 3 options 1) part it out and try and find a good rolling chassis 2) do the cheap fix and pray there is no more rust and it is fixed good enough. 3) find a qualified shop that is familiar with the work that needs to be done and let them know what you want and have them fix it the right way.
If you just try and “weld “in a new patch you will probably not get what you are looking for. There are steps that need to be done to insure a proper job is done the least of which are, making sure all the suspension, track width and wheel base to name a few are correct, then it has to be braced so when you cut out all the rusted s*** everything stays where it is supposed to, then there’s what type of weld through primer to use what type of weld and where it should be. These are just a few considerations of a properly thought out repair to ANY structural member.
But if you are not worried about everything being perfect then a cheap repair could be the way to go. But if you want a solid base to build off of you might want to try a different car just because it would probably be cheaper in the long run.

[troskinatior]

Dont part it out just fix the rust. if you live in the north east then you wont find a rust free car

[GrilledCheese33]

Best bet is do what i did, strip the car down. Clear out the interior, fenders, wheels, all of it.
Then start tapping around with a hammer and see what you find. I disagree a bit with grilled cheese on the fact that decent project 240's (S13) are easy to find.

I guess i'm spoiled by rust free cars here in FL. Solid project cars are everywhere around here...

[bigbadberry3]

When parting out, you'll recoup your money as long as you have the time to part it and don't try to fool anybody.

even with the rusted s***?

It's always there as a last resort. My first 240sx had rust on the frame and strut tower so I ended up parting it. Bought it with a knock for 900. Parted it out over about 4 months and got about 1400 back and I gave a soldier the shell, that still had good parts, for free.

See if you can get it fixed cheap, I would advertise on craislist.

[240sx_brett]

well after reading all the replies im starting to feel a little better. seems if all fails i can part it out and recoup my money.

Yeah a welder is gonna come look at it and give me an estimate this week. I dont mind putting 900 into getting all the rust fixed cause the cars ive been seeing around here are 2000+ for some rust anyway. I need to find a junkyard that has some parts. there arent many junkyards even around me. i thought the 1/4 panels would be a pretty easy fix but i cant find them anywhere. and i dont want to spend 500$ a piece from nissan.

the frame in my eyes is a simple fix. im probably wrong but it looks like if you cut out the old and weld in the new its all good.