I was replacing the gas lid latch cable and discovered this underneath the carpet for the driver foot-space. I've not assembled everything yet because I'm thinking if I should do something about this before putting everything back together.

I'm thinking I could wipe on some rust converter, or maybe sand that area down, vacuum it, then primer and paint.

I'm wanting this EM1 to last at least another 5 years, and quite possibly another 10. What do you think I should do about this rust?

 

I'd really appreciate some advice on this. I'm no professional at cars, and don't know what the good judgment here is. I have a few days of sun before it starts raining (and it's rainy and cold all winter long here in Vancouver).

What I'm wondering is if that rust likely to do anything serious over the next 5 - 10 years if I leave it.

 

Yes, rust will always continue over time.

You can wait until next year, scrape the paint down to metal, sand, spray with rust converter, prime and paint.

What you don't know is if the fluid that caused that rust absorbed into the sound deadening material and got to the paint/metal under it and needs treatment too. It's a lot of work lifting that material and then replacing it after you are done.

Really, if you are out to correct this, you should strip the full interior and do a full restore.

 

x2. Dry ice and a rubber mallet will help remove the stock sound deadening. I did it to my 90 HB when it started getting sticky. You will likely need to wire wheel, rust convert, spray a self etching primer, then repaint, as said before. Good news is you don't really have to worry about color matching since it's not usually visible. You can also take the time to install Dynamat or Quickroof strips from home depot to help replace the sound deadening.

Might want to double check if your car has any actual water leaks too, to prevent any issues in the future. Does the car have a sunroof? Sunroof drains will eventually clog, and another common source for a leak of cars this vintage is failing seam sealer along the roof channels.

 

Thanks for the information. I decided to start working on the patch of rust that's visible. Removed paint and applied rust converter.




The car used to be leaking from every component in the trunk: the sunroof drain valves, the trunk vent, the bumper mounting clips, the fuel door latch cable seal, and a couple of seams at the bottom of the rear windshield. I replaced all those parts and applied some seam sealer to the seam. That stopped my trunk from becoming a swimming pool each time that it rained.

I should look into the sunroof and roof channels, too. The sunroof drains appeared clear when I checked them, but I suspect there might be another leak because I was getting a slight bit of water seeping into the trunk from the top of the wheel well mounds. I applied rust converter to those seams the leaking has stopped since then, but the source where that water was coming from is still unknown to me. I uploaded pictures of those leaks to this post: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-.../#post51418483

I want to make sure I solve those leaks at their source. Do you think that could be coming from the the roof channels?

BTW, what is meant by the roof channels - are they where this roof moulding sits, and should I put seam sealer in the corners circled with blue, and is there anything needing sealing along the green line underneath the moulding?:

 

I removed the roof moulding and found some cracks in the seams underneath it, basically at each of the 4 corners that I circled in blue in the above photos.

I've washed the track out thoroughly and I'm going to put some touch-up paint on the things that the roof moulding hooks onto, then I'll apply some seam sealant.

I think I should make a leak guide thread showing all the things I've had to replace and address. I'm pretty sure I've had leaks coming from almost every possible place and fixed them all. I haven't done anything with the sunroof yet, though.

Here's an example of one of the cracks that I found under the roof moulding. I cleaned the roof channel out with a sponge and soap and used q-tips to get as much of the area around and under the nail head as possible.

 

Sandblast, epoxy primer and paint.