I told myself not to buy any more cars that are rusted out, it's just not worth the time to fix them. And that was the plan...... until the phone rang. It was a good friend letting me know of a car for sale by one of his customers. It was a rusty one for sure but with the 2012 Economy Run season coming up I could not resist the opportunity to own the Holy Grail of fuel economy, a 3 cylinder Geo Metro. The price was right too, at exactly it's scrap value. The prior owner kindly left a note in the car listing all of the problems that needed attention. At the end of the note he said that they called the car Fred.
I brought Fred home and put him in the air to take a look. OMG, what was I thinking?
I came very close to taking Fred to the scrap yard several times, but because it ran perfectly, had a full new exhaust system and brakes all around, I started sorting it out one problem at a time.
The rust extended beyond the rocker panel and into the floor board as well. I had to lift up the carpet and wiring harnes inside to keep from melting them while welding.
So I got to work with cutting out and shaping new rocker/floor patch panels.
I didn't have a piece of sheet metal 36" long so I had to make it a two piece repair panel.
Ready to grind down and smooth out for paint.
Underside of floorboard.
The fuel tank also leaked when it was filled up. Neglecting this repair was not an option because of the top ups used to check how much fuel was used at Economy Run events. Used ones were simply not available from yards around here. So I ordered a new tank for $256 [which more than doubled my investment in this car.]
I also scrubbed out the filthy interior, replaced some bad rear wheel bearings, and repainted the used green hood to white. It's not quite ready yet but I'm getting there.