I bought this original stocker yesterday 14/02/2007 for $700AUS. Im going to keep all my updates on this page for anyone interested to follow. Im not going to rush it, i want it to be a quality job. I will be doing as much as possible of the work myself also.
Basically what im going to concentrate on first is the body work/paint. Of course i will be cutting out all rust first
I havnt thought too far ahead as yet, all i no is it will be white again, maybe with a pearl??? Can anyone shed some light on pearls, are they in the top coat clear or base colour and how difficult compared to normal acrylic???
Anyway heres the before pics, any opinions or input welcome!

The rear bumper is bent in but not too bad




The left hand side is fairly straight!




Small amount of rear left quarter rust about the size of a 50c peice, other side is rust free




The sill is buggered towards the rear, lucky i got a new sill left somewere in the shed, also the door is bubbling at the bottom




Rear right damage, more bendige than rust only a couple of holes




View with door open





Interior perfect except carpet, dash oh and door locks!




Front view




Outside front view




There is no rust in the corners which was the main thing that would put me off as i no how damn hard it is to repair properally




Otherside




Original engine still, seems to run fine




The bad and the ugly, boot lip rust, going to chop whole section out and use my donor car for section




Small rear dent least the lights ok




Thats it for now, ill get stuck into it on the weekend and post results

Looks good bro, good luck with the rebuild.

Excellent project car, bro. There is one not far from my house that is full restored with a 13b engine, weld racing wheels, and a pearl white paint job. From right now, go with the pearl white, looks awsome.

Well i got stuck into cutting rust today, i hate it when they rust from the inside out, even a pinprick hole can end up needing major cutting/welding. Started with rear right damage, knocked the dents out and cut out rust, heres some pics

This was a tiny hole but when i cut it out it was really rusting from behind, i cut a large area to get all of it, water/dust sits in the foam thing that mounts to the pillar in the pic and rust begins




In this pic you can see ive cut out the rust in the door, a lot of gunk collects here hense the rust, no drain holes! Also ive began repairing the dents




This pic shows the two sections ive cut out, both the small sill drains were blocked and i scraped out 1/2 a cup of rust/dirt!




Managed to knock this out ok




A close up of what was cut out!




Thats all i got through today but hopefully ill do more tommorrow and post back. And im definatelly keen on the white with pearl!

how hard is it to cut the sill panels, mine are quite bad.

Depending how gone they are you may need to replace the entire sill, i have done it before and its a big job! When we did it my mate welded it and it warped massivelly, the key would be to just tack it gradually bit by bit to avoid overheating the metal. To just replace sections like im doin here isnt all that hard, just remember that they rust from the inside out and a pinprick is just the beginning so dont be afraid to cut a decent section out! dont bother unless you have a mig arcs are usless for this, think repcos got the small gas/gasless ones for $300 on sale, i might buy one

Well i quit my job this last week (sick of being treated like ####) so ive had plenty of time to work on the datto. Ive found a heap of rust under a ton of bog (about 20mm+ thick in the rear quarter so im replacing it!

Heres the section i cut out of the boot were the seal runs, ive got a good section from another car to weld in




Here is a pic of the doors inside, i coated it in rust convertor then primer and sound deadner, should do the trick




The door, new metal welded in now




Door progress, try the dent next




The $300 MIG, works great for thin stuff!




The sill repair was very involved in getting it to fit correctly but im stocked with how it turned out, mmm fresh non rusty metal




This was the old rear quarter, no rust had brocken through on the outside body panel, probably because the bog was soo thick




The inner quarter rust ...




And the beginnings of repairs, its a very involved area to repair




The outer rear quarter took a lot of trimming but eventually will fit like this




So i guess as far as rust goes, times what you can see by 10 and thats about how much there might probably be! Think i might wear pants when welding next time though my legs copped all the splatter, ill update when i get much further.

Wow, that's some inspired welding. Particularly with such a cheap arse welder....makes me think I should buy one too and just get into it.

Good work, your doing a nice job.

My sedans like this, but ive got it in the corners of the engine bay as well which isnt fun to fix.

cheers fellas, yea just attack little bits at a time i reckon. Im only just starting to realise how long this is going to take me but ive been wanting a nice clean 1200 sedan for a while now so why not ay.
Also when i cut out the rear quarter the drain hole had a frikin rubber plug in it, no wonder they rust out so bad!