Some pics of my 95 SLE (5/18 Update)

[95naSTA]

Haha. I would be all for a salt ban. The west coast seems to do ok without it and it's not exactly flat out here. The recent telework explosion would definitely help reduce people on the road.

Salt destroying cars helps perpetuate throw away society. Which, as mentioned is good for car manufactures.

I read an article recently that 'proved' buying a new car has less of a carbon footprint than keeping your old one on the road. It actually didn't prove anything because it assumed someone would keep a new car for 10 years.. The break even point for carbon footprint was 4 years.. Which is around when most people trade in. So at best I feel like most people break even.

[nos4blood70]

Ouch! That is rough, but it is awesome that you found those wheel wells for the price you did and are getting that repaired.

Rust makes me so sad. I get super attached to things and something that's been in my life since I was a kid and I've spent 100s of hours in. I envy you fixing that thing into basically brand new shape! Can't wait to see it done.

[95naSTA]

Thank you!

I hear you on the attachment. I've either been driven in or owned a 95 SLE all but 1 year since 1995. My seats are the same ones I sat in as a 5th grader.. The leather that came with this car wasn't as nice and actually got mailed to a Bonneville owner in Hungary.

Truth be told there's a fair amount of work to be done underneath yet but it's nothing I can't tackle after paint. My eventual plan is to drop the fuel tank, rear suspension, make a total mess with a media blaster and address whatever I need to for the long haul.

When I paid a whopping $800 for this car in '07, I knew I was going to keep it for as long as humanly possible.

[Sirius]

...The problem here where I live ( SE Wisconsin) is that there are so many bad,dumb,clueless stupid drivers...I still see something new or stupid everyday I drive. If they stopped using salt or that magnesium chloride (read what that does to metal) there would be accidents all over.

Those are the people that would get the SNOVID pass and stay home.

As I looked at your rust problem, Mike, I reflected on my 57 Chevy (which, due to lack of time, I have done almost nothing on since getting it ) and noted that, while it does have some rust issues, it's not nearly as invasive as what you have. The big difference is that I can buy just about new everything for the 57 since there's so many repro parts for it. Floor pans, rocker panels, lower front fenders, bumpers...it's all on line! Unfortunately the same can't be said about any Bonneville, so the challenge of keeping a Bonneville road worthy is much greater than that for a tri-five Chevy. But you're doing some fantastic work there!

[95naSTA]

Thank you. I agree some things will be more difficult. It does make sense that there's a ton of aftermarket on your 57 (which is awesome) and there's basically nothing for my car. There's probably like 6 people in North America who would spring for 92-99 H-body rust repair panels.

[Sirius]

Yeah, as much as we like our Bonnevilles they'll likely never be in the class of a tri-five Chevy, 1st Gen Camaro, early Mustang, AC Cobra, etc. So it's up to guys like you to keep the torch burning.

[95naSTA]

The shop cut out all the passenger rear wheel well rot from the inner panel and started grafting in a portion of the Cali wheel well.

[Sirius]

That's some nice work. Gonna be great when it's all done!

The weather is nice so I pulled the G8 off the lift and put the SSEi on. Walked around under it for the first time in a long time...meh, you probably don't want to see what mine looks like under there.

[95naSTA]

Haha. I have an idea from my 18 year old Cali car.

[Sirius]

Indeed! You're spending time and money replacing things like faded coolant surge tanks on the Bimmer instead of patching the body together. The rust belt is a whole different universe.

[95naSTA]

Yep. It's one of those things where you don't know how green the grass really is on the other side until you live there. The 92 I chopped into literally had zero rust. My 95 was already starting to rust when I got it 14 years ago. Also, from what I've seen in the Great Lakes area and New England, Philly isn't even that bad.

From my experience with the Bimmer and the junk yard out here, I would willingly pay more and travel to avoid a 5+ year old rust belt car in the future. On the flip side though, rust belt states are where it's at for low mileage bikes that aren't ridden to allhell. Which makes sense from a riding day standpoint.

[MattStrike]

I can't believe how clean the metal on your car is behind the rusting portion of that was cut out. What I've found around here is that by the time you can see it in the wheel well it's progressed into the secondary structure weld flanges, making a proper repair that much more difficult. It's just seems absolutely nuts to me that you had that big of a hole in the wheel well and no discernible problems with the frame rail/rocker corner.

I shudder at the thought of what a shop would charge for this..

[95naSTA]

I was also surprised that the inner wheel house to strut tower flange was in the shape its in. The rust rot is probably a little different than usual because when I did drive the car in the snow I would wash the wheel wells out with a garaged garden hose. Then it was basically in a garage for 9 years. Whatever corrosion that did start on the car before I got it wasn't agitated like it normally would be.

This whole body and repaint won't be cheap.. especially with the metal work and disassembly to do the jambs. Quality of work is way more important to me at this point with the car though. The good thing is that when I parted out my i30 I made way more than selling it outright and saved it all for this.

[95naSTA]

The wheel wells are done and they look better than new in my opinion. Once the metal work was complete they were POR15'd then undercoated.

A couple pics of the driver's



Passenger






And a before pic when the wheel well was stripped to see how bad it really was.

[nos4blood70]

Awesome, better than new is right! Quite a contrast with the last photo.

[Sirius]

Agreed. That there's some pretty nice work, that is.

[zuper8]

In awe of this wheel well repair!!

[95naSTA]

Haha. Def the nicest part of the car at the moment. Hope you're doing well Rachael!

I hope to see some progress on this over the winter.

[LeSabre]

Ouch you where not kidding about rust. Looks great on those repairs. Any updates?

[95naSTA]

Some of the car has been painted but it's still slow going. No complaints from me since I have no place to store to yet.