Rust Ahoy!

As many of you know, I am the "winner" of that 96 DGGM RMW that was on ebay the other day. I picked it up tonight after spending a whole 2 minutes looking at it in the 20 degree dark and proceeded to sit in my 1A2 and waited for AAA to tow it back for me. I bought it on ebay so I owned it regardless of what it looked like. I had bought this with the intention of it being a winter beater, after a good look over when it got home, I'm not even sure its good for that. Some of you may remeber Lynol's Caprust, well, I think I have a challenger for title of rust bucket.
At any rate, its a 96 DGGM WB4 Roadie with tan cloth guts, 150k. Supposedly has a bad fuel pump. I don't hear the pump when I key it on. More pics to come tomorrow, but for now enjoy these. Southerners may want to view these pics with extreme caution, northerners might think this is a great car.

That receiver is permanently rusted into the hitch


The least of its problems, the spar well


Paint? I we don't need paint!


Wrong year, good tires though


The other side is the same


Flapping in the breeze


Yeah, those will support a fuel tank!


D-pillar rust, only one side


What's going on here?


Rad support delete mod!



Not too bad



Tow pack!


What do you guys think? I see a possible winter beater with some rigging and then a part out.

And for laughs, here's the Craigslist ad he listed this car under.
http://newlondon.craigslist.org/cto/2696578775.html

Wow. Makes my Caprices look pretty darn good. I say put some beefy tires on it and make it a woods wagon. hmmmm? hmmmm????

Think you can interest Lynol in it?

Tom

Doesn't look too bad. Strap that radiator back up and maybe some beefier gas tank straps. Should be good for a winter or 2.

Yeah, what Matt said.

Send me your address and I will send you a pack of super long, strong zip ties.

Harbor Freight ratchet straps held up 30 gallons of diesel in my truck for a while real good.

They did a good job of hiding the rust with those 2 pictures they posted! In the pics it looks kinda solid! lol
My 96 RMW is like that, but not as bad and I already parked it because I was afraid of getting in an accident with it. I don't think mine is strong enough to take a big hit anymore. The seatbelts n stuff all rusted free from the floor/mounts, so consider the value of your life before you look at the cheapness of the winter beater.

David,after hearing about Pats accident I am with deadmanonduty.If the rust has effected the
chassis rigidity,its simply not worth the risk.Sorry about the car by the way.
Jim

Pull the interior and the motor/tranny. and take it to the yard. If you get $450 at the scrap yard you did ok.

And now some day pics. Doesn't look too bad

I have a beat up rad support if you want something that actually supports the radiator.

Looks pretty good in these shots.Damn salt!
Jim

Looks a lot better in the light! Rust can be a funny thing, as I've been finding. Don't assume just because of the rust you see on the outside that it's "unsafe". Take a real good look at the important parts before determining if it's road worthy or not. I thought the floor in my Caprice would be a mess, but it was solid, as were the mounts to the frame. Don't get discouraged until you look at everything real thoroughly and asses the situation. And hey, even in a rusty Roadmaster you're still probably better off than in a perfect Civic of the same vintage.

Lynol wrote:

Looks a lot better in the light! Rust can be a funny thing, as I've been finding. Don't assume just because of the rust you see on the outside that it's "unsafe". Take a real good look at the important parts before determining if it's road worthy or not. I thought the floor in my Caprice would be a mess, but it was solid, as were the mounts to the frame. Don't get discouraged until you look at everything real thoroughly and asses the situation. And hey, even in a rusty Roadmaster you're still probably better off than in a perfect Civic of the same vintage.

What he said...

I love the color and the wood delete. Damn salt. How's the interior?

nice Riv. Join rivperformance.editboard.com if you haven't already.

DBeaSSt wrote:

I have a beat up rad support if you want something that actually supports the radiator.

Thanks Mike, someone up here is suppose to be hooking me up with one.

81X11 wrote:

Lynol wrote:

Looks a lot better in the light! Rust can be a funny thing, as I've been finding. Don't assume just because of the rust you see on the outside that it's "unsafe". Take a real good look at the important parts before determining if it's road worthy or not. I thought the floor in my Caprice would be a mess, but it was solid, as were the mounts to the frame. Don't get discouraged until you look at everything real thoroughly and asses the situation. And hey, even in a rusty Roadmaster you're still probably better off than in a perfect Civic of the same vintage.

What he said...

I love the color and the wood delete. Damn salt. How's the interior?

Interior is nice, I'll get some pics of that later. Its tan cloth and is pretty clean. The DS door panel is falling off (no surprise). I really like the color without the wood myself, unless you look under the car it doesn't look too bad.

jasonlachapelle wrote:

nice Riv. Join rivperformance.editboard.com if you haven't already.

I'm already on there, username is moldymac.

Made a little progress tonight. Got the tank down and fuel pump out. The sending unit broke as I took the tank out due to tons of rust on the lines. Good thing I have a spare one out of a TBI car. The hose connections look the same, just gotta mount a pump on it. I got some scrap strips of steel from my work, going to try to make some new tank straps out of them. Looks like the PO or some chop shop went to change the pump, cut the straps off, saw the rusted lines and rigged it back into place. The goal is to spend as little as possible to get this thing driveable. Its a real shame that this car is so rusted out, it looks to be pretty decent inside and out unless you look where the salt got to it. Check out some new pics below.


My tank draining contraption made out of a pump from my old custom cruiser. Worked well to drain the 16 gallons of gas out of this thing



The half-ass straps that held the tank on. The eye hook was slipped over the stud of the original tank strap screws



Look, no rust!


This is actually the only part of the frame that looks at all compromised


Relatively clean interior







Messy cargo area, lots of gravel in it



Rust: the ever lasting bond


Not sure how this thing gets this rusty

OMG, your pics look just like my 96 RMW. The rust is horrible on the rear window latch, underside, my fuel lines rotted off 6 years ago already. Its sad, but really familiar.
BUT, other than the rear pillars being repaired on my RMW, there is Absolutely NO rust on the body panels at all! Its all underneath, and you can step thru the floor under the second row of seats. My body panels are all perfect, weird how different the rust treats different cars!

Does your car have holes rotted thru the inner body like when you open the doors down at the bottom? Mine has had holes you can reach thru there for years, but the doors don't have any rust on them, or the rear quarters!

wow, that sure does make my old blue Caprice look good. Funny though, the blue Caprice's underbody and frame looked rustier than yours yet was not rusted through in any places. You should pull up the carpet somewhat and check the floor pans from the inside, also check the body mounts.

Deadmanonduty wrote:

OMG, your pics look just like my 96 RMW. The rust is horrible on the rear window latch, underside, my fuel lines rotted off 6 years ago already. Its sad, but really familiar.
BUT, other than the rear pillars being repaired on my RMW, there is Absolutely NO rust on the body panels at all! Its all underneath, and you can step thru the floor under the second row of seats. My body panels are all perfect, weird how different the rust treats different cars!

Does your car have holes rotted thru the inner body like when you open the doors down at the bottom? Mine has had holes you can reach thru there for years, but the doors don't have any rust on them, or the rear quarters!

No holes under the doors, just bubbling paint and it feels solid. The worst body rust (as of yet) is the DS rear quarter. Judging from the marks inside the quarter behind the storage box it looks like the rusted started as a window/roof leak. The Spare well only has the small hole in it. Rear floors looks really crusty under the car but feel solid. Haven't gotten under the front yet.

Lynol wrote:

wow, that sure does make my old blue Caprice look good. Funny though, the blue Caprice's underbody and frame looked rustier than yours yet was not rusted through in any places. You should pull up the carpet somewhat and check the floor pans from the inside, also check the body mounts.

Yeah, I don't get it. The bolts on the diff are still bolt shaped where as yours need to be taken out with a bolt out kit and an impact gun. The rad support is gone on mine yet the oil pan still has paint, yours had a rusty oil pan and an intact rad. I'm gonna pull the carpet up once I get done rigging up a gas tank system

I heard a thud. I think it was Texas Mike falling out of his chair having a heart attack looking at these pics.

I thought my NYSP 1A2 was rusty.......I have seen worse though. Definitely wanna check the important areas so I'll ditto those sentiments....

I had a rusty K-5 Blazer everytime a his a bump rust fell in my lap from the windshield frame, lol.

That trailer hitch....wow....just wow...

I'd find somebody with a good welder, get some good scrap steel and start patching her up.

When it begins to erode faster than you can weld, part it out.

The frame needs some attention but other than that I don't see any dealbreakers. Probably want to look over the brake lines pretty well. Make sure you replicate the diagonal piece of the tank straps, too.

There is a set of nice looking tank straps on a RMW in my local JY. I can see what they'd charge for them and send 'em your way?

I'm going back there tomorrow. Let me know here or via PM. (Or if anyone else wants them....)

power steering lines will be rotted off next if they have not already been replaced. Thats when I decided to park mine.

Actually, I may have to retract my offer of tank straps.

For the good of the community. Stay tuned.

TylerW wrote:

I'd find somebody with a good welder, get some good scrap steel and start patching her up.

When it begins to erode faster than you can weld, part it out.

Already have that planned. one of my co-workers is a welder and owes me a favor or two for some computer work I did for him.

matthimself456 wrote:

The frame needs some attention but other than that I don't see any dealbreakers. Probably want to look over the brake lines pretty well. Make sure you replicate the diagonal piece of the tank straps, too.

The lines look like they were replaced not too long ago, gotta find the hidden lines and see what they look like. I made some straps up for it and still have to do the diagonal one. What does that one do anyways? My old Lesabre only has 2 separate straps.

Deadmanonduty wrote:

power steering lines will be rotted off next if they have not already been replaced. Thats when I decided to park mine.

Time will tell I guess, no leaks as of yet.

Stingroo wrote:

Actually, I may have to retract my offer of tank straps.

For the good of the community. Stay tuned.

No problem, I think I'm ok with them for now.

Its alive!

Got my fancy new airtex pump in (cars I know I will be keeping get Delco). The TBI sending units are very similar to LT1 ones, the way the pump mounts on is different, buts it a bolt in replacement otherwise. With some help from a co-worker, I got some straps made up for the tank out of scrap. And they are made out of stainless steel as a bonus! Got it all mounted up, fed it a few gallons and she fired right up, idles smooth. Took it out for a trip around the block and everything seems ok, so the drivetrain is at least good. Now with a little rad rigging and some shocks up front this thing should be good for the winter.





Terrible video of it starting in the dark

And another little cool but about the car. Fred mentioned on my Facebook post about this car that this was one he sold back when it had 99k on it (150k now). So indirectly I have a Fred sourced wagon. Too bad its previous owner never heard of a car wash

Glad it runs well! Straps look good too. Homemade engineering at it's best.