Frame rust woes

[Curt_DMC]

I’m a fairly new owner and I need some advice on some frame rust, which seems to be present on only back of the car. From what I can tell the rest of the frame looks good.

I’m afraid I know what the answer is (new frame), but I’ll ask anyway… Is this something that can be spot repaired? It does look there's one place, where the rust is perforated.

Here are some pics. Any advice would be appreciated.

Frame1.jpgFrame2.jpgFrame3.jpgFrame4.jpgFrame5.jpg

[andyo]

I just dealt with this area on my frame, i would say its minor and can be repaired. Depending on what you’re ok with looks wise. You should investigate the inside of that cavity above it, you could have more problems lurking.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[andyo]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[David T]

This damage does not rise to the level of requiring another frame. Besides, any frame you get will have *some* need of rust repair, maybe even more than what you already have! Reframing a Delorean is no small job, figure you will be replacing a lot of bolts, bushings, clips, hoses, etc.

[er1c]

In my view the answer is far from a new frame, I had similar and bit the bullet and decided frame off now and had it fixed it up by a competent welder.

I will share my experience below, not to try and sway you as its your choice to make but it will help you at least see what happened with me.

Once the epoxy is breached and water is under it will eat itself inside out and can look good in some sections and terrible in others, so if it has breached at a few points that would be the worry. The front extensions section is always a prone spot for water/rust and VERY difficult if not impossible to take care of properly with lousy access to the Chassis. I had a look at all these pre-post treatments for paint on solutions and they all needed washing off with water which was the last thing I wanted.

Worst case is actually not that bad should you need to take the Chassis off to get some elements looked at.

Before (look similar)
7XWrf8Lm.jpg
xMTrc10m.jpg

Once scraped back a bit.
FTUCxbrm.jpg


That same bit will full access once the bottom plate was removed, you can see how bad it was. The bottom of the first pics is the top of these on the vertical plate.
NuUfxNmm.jpg

With the frame off you can get it all welded up properly. Any frame can be fixed.

LVeAKFpm.jpg


I will be honest my frame looked ok but I took it off in less than 3 weeks (weekends) and the learning doing it and the access to other things to replace which is SOOO much easier with the frame off, it has been a pleasurable task.

I looked at it as, I could have tried to fix with the frame on but the next 5 years would be me fixing niceties, bolting on new bits, getting her running and getting to REALLY awkward spots to have to take the frame off and undo it all in the next 5 years. So why not do it now and hopefully the only time I will ever need to.

FYI I was planning on driving to EuroFest next year before it was cancelled, whilst I was taking the frame off I found Trailing Arm bolts (I undid with my hands) and were terribly bent

ZhzpbNJm.jpg

all of which I didn't know about and would have driven like that. Now I have had a chance to rectify (sort master cylinder, steering rack, clutch, shocks, LCA's) all of which are high on the prone to failure list but quite problematic to get to and do.

I have never done a transmission/engine out clutch before, but doing it sat on a chair in the shed is so much easier than laying under it waiting for a face plant from a various tool

yCOg0Jom.jpg

So number 1, don't worry its all fixable, you just need to decide how and when. My mindset was in the "I am keeping the car forever so its worth it" but you may well not have that view.

PS, you dont need expensive lifts.....
EV1doDxm.jpg

[Curt_DMC]

Thanks for all your feedback. I don’t have that doom and gloom I had yesterday.

My car was originally from Maine, but is now in Arizona. The dry climate here should (hopefully) help slow down the rust.

Maybe in 5-10 years I’ll remove the frame and properly fix it, like er1c did (btw awesome 'lift' er1c). Until then, what can I do?...

Should I try to get the spots down to bare metal and repaint? Seems a bit tuff with the fame still on the car. …or coat it with something like Corrosion-X?

[er1c]

You need to get rid of flakes, back to bare metal as much as possible, treat, de-grease and paint.....

I will let others with more US friendly products comment on what with but scrapers on a stick and someone with small hands should help. Its hard to tell but some of your spots not sure how you will get both sides.

I am a pragmatic person, you are either delaying the inevitable or fixing it proper... If its the former anything you can do will be better than it was.

One thing I would say is Chassis have so much more metal in than is needed and although it may look bad it usually isn't from a structural point of view..... 70 Mph Impact does a lot more damage than a little rust and that's what its made for.

[Drive Stainless]

Thanks for all your feedback. I don’t have that doom and gloom I had yesterday.

My car was originally from Maine, but is now in Arizona. The dry climate here should (hopefully) help slow down the rust.

Maybe in 5-10 years I’ll remove the frame and properly fix it, like er1c did (btw awesome 'lift' er1c). Until then, what can I do?...

Should I try to get the spots down to bare metal and repaint? Seems a bit tuff with the fame still on the car. …or coat it with something like Corrosion-X?

You would be astonished at how well simply spraying "Fluid Film" on a piece of bare steel will make it weather the elements. Hose down the frame every year with it, and you should not see any rust. Cheap, easy to apply, easy to remove, will not harm plastic or rubber, no need to mask anything off. It's probably the easiest way to keep your frame form further rusting.

There are many YouTube videos reviewing Fluid Film.

[cdrusn]

I am much more worried about what you can't see, the areas that are visible are not really that bad and a grinder, dremel tool and POR 15 will do wonders. A mobile craigslist welder can easily fix the holes. The area that sorely needs attention is the areas inside the frame that aren't visible. Buy a cheap inspection camera from Harbor Freight and go inside the frame in the engine cradle area, the front crush section, steering box area, and especially the area under the brake and clutch master cylinders. You will be amazed how badly it is cracked and rusted there. Take off the fuel tank closing panel and check in the left front under the clutch master. I dremel tooled those rusty areas and then used Eastwood internal frame coating to stop the rust but you have to find it first. Don't be complacent and just fix those areas that are easy to get to, the worst areas are those you can't see without the camera.

[David T]

A camera is nice but a small hammer is all you really need. That and an ear for what thin, rusted metal sounds like. The main areas to worry about are the front crumple zone and the engine cradle. If you find a lot of rust then you should remove the fuel tank for a more through inspection of that area too. There are other signs of a car that saw a lot of weather and you can expect a lot of rust, especially if it was outside on dirt for a long time. Cars like that also have rodent damage too. And if it leaked, the carpet is all moldy.