Got rust?

[Ozarker]

I bought my 89 Raider about 250 miles away from home. Worst car buying expeience of my life, not with the truck but communicating with the guy and waiting for hime to make repairs he claimed he was doing. Yes the guy lied, saying the sub frame had a little rust and that he was welding new sheet metal along the frame. I got there and looked at it, it had been spot welded along the drivers rear wheel, above the springs and shock. I went ahead and bought since he threw inanother parts car with no title and a rebuilt lower end engine.

But now I have a rust problem, additional I have some rust that punched through the front fender just forawrd of the rocker panel.

Option 1. Buy new fenders and inner fender and replace and swap frames (huge job) as the parts car has a solid frame.

Option 2. Hope the guy didn't really lie his tail off and the spot weld job will hold, accept it as it is and replace fenders.

Option 3. Take Option 2, but cut out rust and cover with rocker plates, like diamond plate, maybe add some flaes to go over the bad looking area. Paint it with some rust stop.

Option 4. Leave the frame alone and bondo it and paint it. Maybe add a little flare to the fenders and glass or bondo smooth and paint it.

I'd like to slick it up as the rest of the truck is nice and 110K miles. It will be my daily driver. I'm not going to get into extreme conditions or rock crawling, but will do some milder off roading camping. I also plan to pull a a small trailer.

Any suggestions?

[off-roader]

Any pictures of...
- the amount of rust?
- the weld job?
- the spare parts rig frame?

I helped a buddy with a gen II swap the engine from one to another. Swapping frames wouldn't be that much harder I would imagine (assuming it has the same setup).

[AmericaOverland]

Did you buy the truck from someone in Dallas? I had a similar experience that is still not resolved two years later. It was supposed to be delivered Sept '09, but isn't even done now, though I have seen it and it's closer to being done, but he has DRAGGED his butt on it.

Everybody, listen up. DO NOT ALLOW A LONE SELLER OF A VEHICLE TO BE THE ONE BUILDING YOUR TRUCK IN HIS GARAGE!!!!!!!!!!! Yank it out of his hands, don't tell him where you're having it restored, and go to a professional fabrication/4X4/restoration shop to have it done. Never EVER again will I ever let the builder be the seller of the vehicle unless it's one of these shops.

[Ozarker]

AmericanOverland, I agree, but not really in my case, he was in Guthery OK, he had it on Ebay and it expired and I called him. He told me he was in the process of fixing it before I agreed to buy it. He told me he had another car with an auto and offered to switch it out, but after much conversation and seeing he was dragging and hard to call, he was a guard at a prison, I told him to stop. Then I got there to pick up both vehicles witha trailer behind my F-150. So, after that was hard to say no and go home empty handed. Then had title problems as it was not signed properly. But I agree, never let a seller build your car, never know what's behind some patch and I told him I would rather see it than have it patched, but he assured me, up and down, that his dad had a muffler shop and would do the welding.....here I am!

I'll try to get some pics, it's raining today. I talked to a body guy yesterday and he said patch it and get a new fender, paint it. It would be a ton of work (that I couldn't do) to swap bodies to the parts car, I don't have a title for it, but swaping the frame is too much for me.

I really like the truck, I guess another option is to sell both and start over before I get in over my head too. But I don't think it's that bad, don't think there is a real safty threat there, even if it came apart and I doubt that. I use to build formula cars long ago and buggies, just don't have the tools, place, time or money for that matter to do a frame up rebuild. As long as I don't go jumping river banks I'm sure it will work, but I'd like to have it stronger for my peace of mind.

[AmericaOverland]

Then had title problems as it was not signed properly.


Aww, man... I had the SAME problem, too. The title was never signed over to the seller I bought it from. I had to threaten to take him to court to get him to transfer the title to HIS name before it could be transferred to MINE. A MAJOR pain in the butt! I lost a few hairs over it.

Always ask if the title is clean, ask to see it, make sure the VIN matches, and run the VIN through the DMV to make sure that it really does belong to the seller. You could also contact the police department to make sure it's not stolen, either. Now, all these memories are coming back...

Next time, I'm buying a vehicle that is restored already.

[BigAl]

I.

Option 1. Buy new fenders and inner fender and replace and swap frames (huge job) as the parts car has a solid frame.

Any suggestions?

I would swap VIN plates instead of frames. No one will ever look twice at an 89 Raider title.

[Ozarker]

Hmmm, good idea, lol. There are some dealers down I-44 that know all about that, LOL. It's the parts car I don't have a title to, but going that direction would be taking the interior, dash everything from my driver, putting my engine in (the other is in pieces) put the tranny in, drive shafts, and the whole front end clip, radiatorand who knows what else. Actually, I was thinking of cutting the front off at the windshield put a panel on the firewall and making a trailer out of it to pull behind the other one.....LOL