rear hatch help

[eddiec]

the hatch on my 240 has some serious issues with rust around the bottom of the spoiler. for those that have had this did you just replace the whole hatch or try and mend the rust by other means?

the spots in question are all the way through on my set-up so i was thinking total replacement may be necessary. but wanted to know if others had tried to fix it somehow.

[BomexS13]

I also have some hatch issues. The shop the painted the car never took out the rust, just painted over it. THe rust is by the frame of the rear window.

ANybody that has answers with both our(^^) questions are greatly appreciated.

[Philsnotfalling]

oh rust.... you should have someone that knows paint and body work on your car. Rust is a cars cancer. I did restorations for awhile and rust can be delt with in several ways, case sensitive. if you have rust on just the outside sanding it off and re-sealing the metal is all that is required. Looking at my s13 with spoiler and rust, I would say that its rusting from the inside out. I haven't cared too much about the body work end of it since I see enough everyday at work and I'm trying to get the car running first. But basic rule, if you can't see it you can't fix it. The rust may have spread to certain parts of the inside of the hatch to where you cannot see. You can try to get as much as you can but if not all is taken care of it will rust again, if other rust exsists. You can use a rust to primer "paint", which I found some at walmart (not sure of the quality). Treat this stuff as bare metal though, still etching it and primering on top of it, so on and so forth. If rust holes have developed.... going completely through the metal, makes sure both sides of the metal around the hole are completely clean. Depending on the size a small patch panel can be made out of sheet metal you buy at hardware stores. Weld through primer all areas front and back of all metal. Secure in place and slowly weld the area. Experience is highly recommended you can seriously warp the ell out the panel by getting it too hot. Good method is tacking it once at a time and cooling it with water and a rag or sponge untill all the area is welded. Grind the welds down till the area is flush, again not getting it too hot... will warp. Use alittle filler to smooth the area out and prime and bla bla bla. The inside of your welding can be covered with self-etching primer then some undercoating.

Or another option which I have never used but a friend thinks its soooo great, is Por 15 or something. Its a system that inhibits and converts all rust it come in contact with. Don't know much about it and don't care to. To me it sounds like just a quick fix, expensive quick fix.

Rust is some nasty stuff. Bomexs13 your rust will come back in the forms of bubbles and could possibly spread underneath the paint. My suggestion, talk sheet about the paint shop no matter how cheap they were. And then strip where you know there is rust and repaint your ride.

eddiec try to find a hatch with no spoiler (the ones with no spoiler seem to fair better than the ones with) and trash the one you have if there are that many holes. If you wanna put the spoiler back on drill your mounting locations and then have a paint shop etching pimer the holes drilled first then have them paint it.

Rust is like cancer it will keep spreading and spreading. If you can't see the whole area then you can't fix it all.

[BomexS13]

The rust is underneath the frame of the rear window hatch. I would like to sand it for the meantime since I need to replace my tension rod.

How do I sand it and what grit sand paper do i use? Thanks for the help.

[Japican]

I just made a post about a rusty hatch but my rust was a through whole and was like 3 inches in diameter so im gonna jus have to replave the entire hatch

[fiznat]

I made a DIY about replacing the hatch.. a used one at a junkyard cost me about $140 and it took like an hour to install. No big deal really... definetly better than taking the time to cut/weld/treat/primer and paint new metal.

[BomexS13]

fiznat, i did a search and saw your thread about replacing the hatch. I have to investigate to see how bad the rust is first, then I'll figure out if I have to replace the hatch or not.

[eddiec]

on my hatch there are two holes about 6-8 inches apart. one is slightly bigger than the other measuring about 2.5" in diameter. i may replace it outright though with a hatch with no spoiler since it could be affordable at the local yard. since this car will be carrying me around cones this season, the loss of the extra spoiler weight would be appreciated. it felt like a good ten pounds or so.

[Camel]

I can get you hatches for roughly 200 a piece with the window in it. not sure how many.

[eddiec]

checking carparts.com i've seen hatches a little cheaper.

thanks for the offer though.

[Camel]

that's cool, i just happen to have a great source for s13 parts. they hape 13 89-94's in the yard right now.

[Philsnotfalling]

Sorry I couldn't get back on sooner, my internet connection didn't allow me to get on nico.

bomexs13 use 80 grit all the way to bare metal or anything corser ie 24 grit is also fine. A die grinder with a purple 3m clean and strip wheel works well. This might make the metal weaker if the metal is bad but it may fix your problem. If you take it all the way to bare metal it must be sealed, primer isn't a sealer its too porous. water will seep through and bring the rust back.

eddiec, just a suggestion, buy a hatch w/o a glass and have the entire thing painted before the glass is removed from your hatch and installed on the new. Be careful if you do this alot of glass companies are "butchers" and will seriously mess the new hatch and glass up if too much urethane is used. What is desired is a 1/4"x1/4" bead of urethane after the glass is set down. This takes a good glass man to do.