sac_town

hi i bought this car for 700 and wondering if anyone thinks its worth fixing up. i need some advice on how to remove the rust and that one nasty door dent. The last owner didnt really car for the car which is very dissaponting.. i have fallen in love with this car. i love driving it.. it has power locks, windows mirrors, tilt wheel, 5.0 tb. 205,000 miles. please i just want some honest advice.

1985 russetbird

let me start by saying you have a beautiful car on your hands, for 700 it was a complete steal. I just have questions

How does it drive?
Is it rusted through anywhere?
Is it just that one door thats in bad condition?

sac_town

it runs pretty rough in my opinion (maybe new shocks)? i can feels Everything i go under.. it squeeks when i take the car out of gear and roll here are some more pics to answer the question.. its really dirty i need to wash.

88KARRV6

iTrader: (1)

looks great to me, reminds me of my bird when i brought it home.
most definitely a steal for the money! It always makes me Po'ed to see these cars abused and uncared for, so it's nice to see guys like you rescuing one

I'm sure you can find a way of smoothing those dents out, but it may require alot of work so you might want to consider replacing the door completely, it may be less work in the long run, I know I have to do that with my passenger side door (some moron tried to adjust the door with a jack, (yes, a jack ) and it got all screwed up. luckily used doors arent usually too much at a junkyard, my local one sells doors for pretty cheap (less than $50)

Good luck with your new car, and have fun!

sac_town

thanks. its kinda funny cause the lady who i bought it from, her husband is a mechanic and works for GM...but hes a ford guy... so he didnt give a rats *** bout the car... told me this himself.. that made me mad.. i told him i would look around a bit then get back to him.. i looked for months but could only find ones with Auto or no ttops and 5-speed is a must for me.. being only 18. im looking for a door but cant find a white one for anything.. looks like im going to have to go to san jose.. they have a pick and pull only for firebirds and camaros.

1985 russetbird

yeah i was just going to suggest getting a junkyard door. They are easier to come across than you would think. As long as the car isnt leaking right now, and it runs good hell you can keep it just the way it is, or just replace the door. As for the suspension however you're going to want to replace that soon, if you ride too long on bad shocks/struts it can result in some bad chassis damage or other more serious complications.

88KARRV6

iTrader: (1)

It's always hard to find what your looking for when you want to buy it, when I went Fbody hunting I wanted a T-top car with auto, would you believe I could only find 5 spd hardtops . I finally found my car after looking for several months.
good luck with that door hunt, if you found a specialty auto-wrecker you have a very good chance of finding what you need there.

This isn't the only time I heard about a mechanic who hated what he worked on, I knew a mechanic once who worked at a honda dealership, he drove a 78 z28 and hated his wife's civic he was always telling me how overbuilt the vacuum system was in hondas, always said his GM was built better.... he never got an argument from me

sac_town

thanks for the advice. does anyone know how much shocks could cost? and what type i should get?

1985 russetbird

I suggest starting a thread on the suspension section of this forum, they have always given good advice

johnnyboy

iTrader: (3)

a pick and pull of just camaros and firebirds?!!
that's like heaven!

sac_town

i know i havent seen it yet but alot of people are telling me about it.. so any advice on what i should do about my rust and dent?

johnnyboy

iTrader: (3)

well the dent in the door... you're better off just getting a new door, you don't want to have a bunch of body filler on a door and rust... just grind ir down and cover with rust protectant spot putty low spots and then repaint
that's what i would do or i would just repaint the whole car but that's expensive

knightrider2278

if your looking to save money do it all yourself that crease in the door there im pretty sure if you take off your door panel and maybe some stuff out of it you can get to that crease.ive done this to a 98 cavalier you just get a board like a 2x2 or 2x4 place it along the edge from the insede where the crease is and just lightly tap the board you should see it push that crease back out.or also if you have access to tools try to use a porta power