ok my friend has a 92 si his gram gave him. it has alot ALOT of rust. i have pics below to help. also were do you guys recommend him to get panels? ok i will let the pics do the talking.

 

can you fix it is the question. If you are able to fix this on your own then do it. The was essentially a gift.

and for parts:

Honda-tech marketplace
craigslist
ebay (be very very careful)
scrap/junk yards

there are others, but these are a good start to search from

 

dude i dont wanna sound like an ******* but i hate questions like these because ithink before you ask ppl here at h-t he needs to ask his self "could i afford to fix this" and "how much of this can i fix myself" get back to us once he's answered this to himself and goodluck with whatever yourguys choice is

 

hes not concerned about money he just wants it done right. if he does choose to repair it, it will be done at a reputable body shop. he was thinking of finding a clean shell since the si interior is mint and the engine a tranny also work great, but the problem is trying to find a clean shell without the problems his have.

 

well to get it repaired at reputable shop is gonna be astronomical for that work.

does he have any goals for this build, is this a dd or is this a project?

 

when i bought my shell i dropped in the motor and took it to a body shop since the panel was crashed... the body shop told me it will cost about 200 in labor without the panel and no paint job... the panel alone is gonna cost you between 200-250 just for 1... and the labor add another 200 so if you change both your gonna be looking at about 1000 without the paint job so for that i suggest for you to get all that changed and just repaint the whole car in any color you want!!!

 

Yikes!

It must seriously suck to live on the East Coast.

 

i have a 95 eg that has way more rust than that, do the repair yourself, if you cant just leave it and keep using touch up paint

 

yea east coast shops charge an arm and a leg... thing is my hatchback is a 92 and theres no rust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the winter snow is what helps rust build up thank god im in florida well if you want to go cheap... buy a grinder, fiberglass resin bondo(about 35 a gallon) buy 2 gallons just to be safe and grind off all the rust... let it sit and dry for 2 days then sand it down with a sander buy primer and touch it up

 

That's almost exactly how my '92 CX looked...just before I got rid of it.

Technically it's the road salt, snow is just water.



.

 

yeah but they throw the salt for the snow....

 

For the money you are going to spend you can find a rust free Si in California the South West part of the country, even in Georgia, Florida and Texas.

Salvage what you can and dump the car.

 

the car was given to him.... look man just strip the car completely... interior, harness,plastics headliner... everything even the disc brakes... car a junk tow truck that buys cars and tell them your car was stolen and the insurance doesnt wanna pay for it after weeks of having the car and money you put into it you'd just rather junk it... go on craigslist.com and find a clean hatchback shell and swap everything onto that new clean hatch and the old parts sell it!!!

 

the outer rear quarters are one thing, but that door sill is structural. It is fixable for sure but I would take the nice stuff off the car and look for a shell that would be a nicer starting point. This is what happens when people arent proactive when the rust starts, it spreads fast.

My 94 eg started out fine and 2 yrs later it has the quarter rust full blown. My 95 which was a nj and co car for its whole life doesn't have any yet, although on one side its just beginning on the inside of one rear quarter...POR15 is gonna happen real soon before it takes off. I still can't believe how fast it progressed on my 94.

 

since it was a gift i would just leave it be, beat it until it dies. thats a lot of work for oneself(pending tools and resources of course) or a body shop to do, spending the money for a shop to do you can easily find one in better shape for close to the same price. if he really wants it fixed pick up a decent running vehicle and start a project on it. like most have already said strip it and pick up another shell. GL!

 

Every part you need is available, the problem is you will have to strip it down to a bare shell removing any bolt on part. Then the affected panels need to have their respective spot welds drilled out and the new parts spot welded back in. This would be worth while if you were doing a ground up restoration with something serious under the hood. The best tool to rebuild your car would be on a Celette fixture bench.

 

I would say take off the good parts off of the car, sell the parts you don't need... and get a clean shell....

 

How are the floorboards/under carriage? Or the rest of the car that needs to be structurally reinforced?

Its too much work/ money to invest into an 18 year old car..... just to get it back to stock.

 

I am wondering what happened on the 5th gen civics, rust is such a horrible issue.

 

well you could always take it in for estimate.. see if u really wanna spend what they want to doit if not part out junk the shell.

 

Thats whats interesting to me as well, I remember reading somewhere that for 1995 honda did something to help the problem, which has held true for my 95 and 99 civics but definately not my 94.
The main thing I can see off the top of my head is the fact that the rear quarters are basically two ply steel with a space in between for condensation to occur, which obviously promotes moisture and promotes rust, the salt in the snowbelt being a catalyst.

 

this is a 5th generation

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, my mistake.

 

nice project....

 

I would just get a new shell. IMO it is not worth the time and money to repair it.