Thought I would update this (been a while)
As of last week, I found a guy in Calgary that does rust repairs out of his home (its all he does). He only charges 45.00 per hour flat rate + parts currently which is a super duper deal and he seems to be good. Also, all the work is photographed so I will have a journal of repairs.
ANYONE who is thinking of buying a Supra in Canada, should read this!!
Here's what happened. If you are familiar with this thread, then you may have seen the pictures detailing rust repairs needed on my car. I searched long and hard and NOBODY would touch the car. All they want to do is accident repairs because insurance claims are gravy for them. (weinies!)
Anyway, I found this guy (Rust King is what he calls his company) and I saw pics of rust repair on a Mustang that looked similar to my problems.. here's what I found after he got the car and agreed to do the work...
The rear wheel wells were far worse than what I could see. The rust was actually behind the undercoating so you couldnt even tell there were huge holes in the wheel well on the passenger side. All that is now repaired with metal.. full seam welds too, no tacking and gluing and bondo. Very nice job there. The driver side was just flakes of metal left and those are now replaced with solid metal. The factory primer was good up to the rust areas so he cut back to that area and replace/reshaped them. (still ongoing btw)
There was also a hole from rust behind the rear seat on the passenger side which was quite an odd location for it. That also was replaced with metal and is being sealed. (starting to feel better about the car regardless of the $$ being thrown at it now)
The trim along the bottom of the car is all bolt on (I didn't know that) and is rusting in certain areas, so needs to be replaced (behind the front driver side tire is bubbling). that will have to wait as the single piece is 325.00, so I may just go with a body kit and forget replacing it. The rocker panel under the doors is solid metal, mine is in great shape luckily.
The quarter panels (i have pics earlier on in this thread) were "bubbling" along the top of the wheel wells. Why? Because the previous owner did the rust repair and rivited sheets of metal over top of the rust (didn't clean up the old rust) then put about 2-3 mm's of bondo over the whole thing just gluing the metal to the quarter panel. Now.. this may work okay in Texas.. but in Canada.. it wont work. Thats why my quarters were falling apart. (now it is solid metal again with just a very thin film of bondo for shaping). And to rebuild the quarter it has about a 1/2 inch flat area around the top of the tire which this guy has had to hand shape. I think this will look very sharp when its complete and I get it painted.
The warning? Open up the side panels of the hatch and stick your damn hand inside. Feel around... if you feel dirt.. the wheel wells are likely shot to hell. Press against the top of the wheel well (I did on mine a year after I bought it and my hand went right through!!) Check for flaking or breakage. Most people are aware of the spare tire compartment, but if you live in a wintery (snowy) area, it is very likely your rears are going to be like mine if they were ever done improperly or poorly maintainted. You can use that to lower the purchase price, or just walk away. I had no choice on my car. Do it or watch it fall apart. (I love my Supra.. so no real chioce..)
Total cost (not including a paint job) to repair both quarter panels, both wheel wells, the front edge of both wheel well areas (both rusting out beneath the ground effects flare near the rocker panel), the rust part on the front driver side fender, including him removing my interior and putting it back in.. will be about 2400.00. That may seem like a lot to the person who has not costed this out.. but i figger its about 1/2 what I expected..
the kicker is.. now I have to worry about my doors, because if the body work was this bad on the quarters.. I am guessing my door skins are going to present problems in a few years.
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