Twenty-eight years and 110,000 miles takes a toll. I’m fortunate that the miles were so low, relatively speaking, but Suzuko was undoubtedly driven through many midwest winters. Because of this, there was rust nearly everywhere.
The good news was that most of it was “surface” rust. That is, the metal had not begun flaking apart yet. Rust makes more rust, so even this will need to be dealt with eventually. The bad news is that some of the body and nearly all of the suspension components and fasteners were badly rusted.
The Chassis Seems Okay
I think most of the important stuff has survived well enough. The suspension attachment points are solid, the frame rails and sills are in good shape, and the brake lines seem to be in good condition, apart from surface rust on the fittings.
The worst rust is found on the driver’s side rear quarter panel and in the trunk. I think there might be some medium to serious rust behind the driver’s seat, but it has not come through to the underside of the floor pan yet. I discovered that the inside of the passenger side rear quarter panel was black instead of the original red, with a sheet taped to the inside of it. This side of the car was obviously replaced in the past. Too bad they didn’t do both sides.
You may look at these pictures and wonder how I consider something like this to be in “good” condition. Or at least “decent” condition. Perhaps this is because you live in a relatively dry climate, or some place that does not get harsh winters. But here in the midwestern United States, we get snow and ice for a sizeable portion of the year. This means our road crews are constantly laying down salt, which accelerates metal corrosion. Depending on how neglected the car is, it’s typical to see a lot of rust after just ten years. If driven regularly, cars as old as mine are usually falling apart in salvage yards or just entirely gone. By comparison, this del Sol is doing pretty well.
The Suspension was Crusty
All of the control arms, the trailing arms, and the steering knuckles were heavily rusted. This wasn’t such a big deal since control arms are readily available and not too expensive. Knuckles and trailing arms are made of dense enough metal that they can be wire brushed and repainted. All of the bolts and nuts that hold the suspension together were badly rusted, and this posed a much bigger problem, especially because, at the time, I didn’t have power tools.
Even if all these components had not been badly rusted, they still needed replacing due to dry, cracked rubber bushings all around. Many of these components appeared to be the originals, including the shock absorbers, springs, and brake lines. Everything must go!
How Long will that Fuel Line Last?
Honda seems to have done a great job protecting the brake and fuel lines by applying some kind of rubber sheath or coating around most of them. But there are some points where this coating cannot be applied, such as fittings. There is a certain fitting just in front of the fuel tank that is flaking apart with excessive rust. I think this is the feed line, so it’s likely pressurized. I’m wondering just how long it can last before I start spraying fuel from here instead of the injectors.
Someone Ruined the Exhaust
Catalytic converters are a restriction, yes. Technically, this is true. But we have a non-VTEC D15B7 here. Removing an exhaust restriction is not going to turn this thing into a performance monster. Something compelled a previous owner to try anyway, and that left me with a huge problem to solve. Because they decided to chop the flange off of the front pipe and weld a straight pipe in, this would not be a simple matter of buying a standard catalytic converter and bolting things back together. The entire exhaust system would need to be replaced. Unfortunately, that means I will have to deal with extremely rusted manifold outlet studs.
To give the previous owners the benefit of the doubt, maybe their catalytic converter had been stolen in the most destructive way possible, and this was just a quick fix. Still, I could not tolerate getting carbon monoxide poisoning every time I drove it, and the noise was pretty harsh and raspy too. Everything must go!
Probably a Host of Other Issues
A car this old has a history. Things are neglected, repairs are made poorly because people don’t have the money to do things the best way, and stuff is generally messed with. The original stereo gets torn out and the hinge mechanism for the door that covers it is nowhere to be found. Parts of the interior vinyl get painted blue in some ill-conceived customization. Bolts and studs are just waiting for you to snap them off, creating an even bigger mess than when you started. And I had to do something about those awful wheels.
Still, I like a car that has a little history. It takes on a character of its own, unique from all the other cars like it. As I work through each problem, the car will get better and hopefully fight me less often.
Because Suzuko fights me every chance she gets.
Image Gallery
