Michigan winters take their toll

Michigan winters, and the salt that they bring, can do quick damage to an aging car in regards to rust. I bought my Formula 6 years ago, with 70,000 miles on her, and little more than a little paint flake on the hood. Since then, cancerous rust has found its way into nooks and crannies and caused more damage than I had initially thought. Yesterday, while changing the oil, I did a thorough inspection of the car from bumper to bumper. What I discovered is hardly enough to warrant not restoring the car, but more metal work will be instore than anticipated. Step by step, I'll walk through each area of the car.

The hood really isn't bad at all. Aside from some paint peel and a few dings, its in near perfect condition.

Rust in the driver side wheel well lip is fairly minor, nothing to be overly concerned about. Strange, considering that you'd think that lip would be most effected, catching/retaining salt from the road.

The driver side door hasn't faired nearly as well. Though the bottom of the door is still solid, a portion of the skin near the back of the door appears paper thin. Some blasting, welding, and fill will be needed to get it back into shape. Also, the door rubs the fender slightly on the edge, something a new alignment/pins would solve.

Oddly enough, the passenger side door hasn't experienced the same rust as the other side. You'd think being closer to the shoulder of the road would cause more encounters with debris, causing paint chips, in turn leading to rust. That however is not the case.


The passenger lip, much like the other side, has relatively minor damage and will be easy to fix.

Though a little hard to see, the spoiler is literally coming apart. Rust from the skeleton bleeds out, and the structure is becoming very fragile. Luckily, they replace the material used with fiberglass on the aftermarket spoilers. I imagine they are considerably lighter too.


Here is the worst of the worst. This is the top of the passenger side wheel well. For whatever reason, the top has deteriorated to the point where some major work will be needed, and essentailly new wheel wells/fabricated wheel wells will need to be installed. The bracket you see in the middle of that hole is actually the attachment for the seat belt. It has rotted away and is no longer anchored.

The passenger fender and door took a good beating from shopping carts at Meijer a few years ago. They will need some straightening, though easily salvagible.

Door damage from the same shopping car encounter.

The Passenger side floor pan has faired fairly well, I'm sure mostly thanks to the aluminum heat shield which offers added protection. Add to that the exhaust heat which keeps that side dryer than the other side, and you have another bonus. The area near the rockers will need replaced, as is true for both sides. The majority of what you see though is surface rust, thankfully.


The driver side wheel well top is also soft, but nowhere near as bad as the passenger side. I'll likely rebuild/replace the same as I do for the passenger side. Especially after discovering the seatbelt attachment.

The driver side floor pan has a few more soft spots than the passenger. It also suffers the same major rust in the rocker panel area of the floor pan. Some metal strips will need to be welded in on both sides.

Though very little effort has been put into underhood detail over the years, it has remained fairly clean and presentable. Someday, another powerplant will find it's way under the hood. Most likely, something of the LS series of engines.