Hey all - first post here. So my dad bought an '03 S2K (GPW, tan) brand new... drove it for 4 years, got sick, parked it behind his house for 15 years. This summer he asked me to come pick it up. A great find for me, 40K miles, but what a mess... new tires, new top, new trunk liner (thanks to mice), fluids, 3 weeks of scrubbing. I've finally got it in decent shape... and I saw this rust, which is under the little slide out panel between the top and the trunk lid.

How bad is this? I don't see evidence of rust anywhere else, none inside the trunk or underside of this panel. Can I stop this myself or are we looking at a proper body shop, God forbid, new quarter panel situation? Any tips appreciated.

 

Parked outside? This thing runs?

May not be deep rust. Keep scrubbing and try touchup paint. Hopefully it's more like discoloration than deep rust.

-- Chuck

 

If you’re by chance close to Seattle I can fix it for you.

Have you checked the underside of the area?
There is rust killing agent that can be applied, but it’s made more for paint prep on bare metal. If it were mine I would grind out that channel, rust kill it, prime, prep, paint and clear it. You do have great edges where you can tape off.
If you have a Wesco (auto body supply) near you they can guide you through the process.
The lessor fix is to chip out the bad stuff, rust kill, touch up paint with little brush, but it will look bad.

 

I"ve had this before on my last EM1 civic. I removed all the old seam sealer, cleaned up the rust, used some POR, then resealed with seam sealer (available at my local body shop supply company). then, it can be repainted if you like...but the trip piece covers it.

darcy

 

Thanks Chuck - I'm amazed it ran, but after spending 6K to replace anything made of rubber... plus all the fluids, drain the gas, tires, top, etc etc it fired up and runs like a watch. My dad lives in a mild place without much rainfall, and it was partially covered. Fun project.

 

[QUOTE=turbojonn;24967364]If you’re by chance close to Seattle I can fix it for you.

Have you checked the underside of the area?
There is rust killing agent that can be applied, but it’s made more for paint prep on bare metal. If it were mine I would grind out that channel, rust kill it, prime, prep, paint and clear it. You do have great edges where you can tape off.
If you have a Wesco (auto body supply) near you they can guide you through the process.
The lessor fix is to chip out the bad stuff, rust kill, touch up paint with little brush, but it will look bad.

Thanks Turbojonn - I'll strip it down to metal, rust kill, prime, paint and clear. As far as I can tell there's no rust on the underside. Fingers crossed.