C900 - Rust

I'm looking at a C900 in the morning. Is rust on the front wings normal (seller said there's some on the phone) or is it indicative that there'll be rust everywhere else?

Reply to
Doki
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The wing arches around the (front and rear) wheels tend to collect dirt and salt and moisture and indeed do rust faster than other parts of the car.

-- MH '87 900T8 with rusted out wing arches

Reply to
MH

In my experience, if you find rust in one place you'll surely find it in others. I personally wouldn't buy a car with any sort of rust-through other than as a parts car but in some areas of the world you don't have much choice.

Reply to
James Sweet

Agreed. I have just spent the last few days completely dismantling the back section of my 1982/83 900S (normal 4-door sedan - not hatchback), and found rust in interesting places due to water leaks, etc.

The car appears to have a lot of gunk which looks like BlueTac filling some spaces that look like they'd be common water ingress points, and as I put the back of the car together again I will be replacing all that gunk with neutral-cure black silicone sealant since none of it is in any place where it's directly visible against the white-painted bodywork.

I never realised until attempting the job that the black back section above the bumper is actually a fancy aluminium extrusion! Neat for a car that's

20+ years old now and still running strong (I had to change the battery recently too - last one was just over 12 months old and I am trying to work out why it has failed)...

One problem I have found is that the sealing strip running around the metal lip of the body which the rear boot closes down on is capturing and holding water, especially along the top of the boot opening and at the left/right corners. Is this a common place for rust to occur? I'll need to eventually pull all the sealing strip off and give the whole of the metal lip a thorough clean and rust treatment.

The other points where I've found a lot of surface rust are the front ends of the left and right main chassis members, the metalwork holding the radiator just behind the front bumper, and along the bottom lip and all metal edges of the bonnet (presumably related to the heat in the engine bay). I saw it when I had the bumper off for fitting of the foglights and associated extra wiring (self-amalgamating butyl rubber tape is wonderful stuff for sealing up cable looms coming out of the fuse/relay panel!), and will need to have a good look next time I lift up the front of the car to make sure there isn't any underneath.

Regards,

Craig.

Reply to
Craig's C900 Site

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