I've been wanting to get a little bubble repaired on my rear quarter (97 UK Turbo) for a while now and decided to pop the bumper off for a better look at it. To my horror I keep finding more and more rust to the extent that I need to extensively repair or replace both quarters. Also the strut towers have rusted through to the boot. I'm honestly gutted..... Anyone else attempted this repair? I don't want to plough a stack of cash in to a 17 year old car. Saying that, I've spent a small fortune on Brembos, ESL and various other repairs and upgrades.

 

All classics are the same now. Get it repaired and you will have a rare non rusty classic. Solid ones that have been fixed properly are easy to sell.

 

It's gonna be a beast of a job and I'm sure it'll cost plenty too. I can do all welding myself as I have everything to do that. Are new quarters still available though?

 

If you get a couple of second hand front wings they have the correct shape needed.

 

Passenger front repairs drivers rear and visa versa.

 

Really? I'd have to cut a big hole though to get at the strut towers to repair them. Must check the wing thing out.

 

Can you not drop the shocks out and get at it from there?

 

Hmm, good point. I've organised a place to get it dry stored from the weekend onwards. Gonna strip it all out and see what the score is then. Hopefully I can get at it from inside the arch. I'd hate to be cutting the whole quarter out.

 

Just noticed your from belfast, join scoobyireland. Theres a fella on there that has just finished fixing his, maybe he can give you some pointers. Hes from belfast.

 

I think I signed up there ages ago. I'll check it out. Think you're on to a winner with dropping the struts out as well, looks like it might work!

 

You wouldn't happen to have a link to it by any chance?

 

New rear quarter panels are available, only from Subaru though. There's no pattern part available.

Someone on here said they were about £350 ish each recently.

 

Dont know how to do a link. Hes called scoobyride, his build thread is called my 99 sti.

 

Thanks mate, I'll have a search!!

 

Hi
There's a person on e&&&y that sells complete rust free rear quarters for£150 plus postage

Hope this helps

 

Just found them, might be an option indeed! Gonna make a start to it this weekend I think. Get a few parts stripped off and a few holes cut out. Grim!

 

If it's that deep will probably need to remove the quarters. Sad to see all these scoobies rusting away. Get some pics up.

 

Make sure you take loads of photos and make it a proper thread as there is a lot of people in the same postion as yourself

Mine is going into a specialist in the autumn for "phase two ""

My guy isn't convinced by he wing method and wants to do his traditional methods of cutting away and replacing with new metal so it would be great to see how you get in with it

 

classic wagon 1/4s are only £120, mine is being done this week hopefully, saloon but you only need below the petrol cap plus the dogleg

 

I was priced £380 per full rear quarter from Subaru
Have you got a link or part number for that price please as wings are only £47 so your price seems realistic

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUBARU-IMP...item1c40e6b444

 

ring ashburton subaru , ask for the stores, tell him paul a member of south west scoobies sent you, when i ordered mine there was only 3 left, drivers side 1/4 for a classic wagon cost me £126.00 the part no's have gone red meaning they are reduced

 

I am in the middle of sorting out some sill repairs on a 99 turbo 2000, once i get the car in the garage i am looking at stripping the back bumper and rear wheels off yo see the extent of my rust.

Looking in the boot the arches look in real good condition but unil i get underneath and have a good look i guess there is no twlling what the damage could be.

I am in the north east, if anyone local has or knows of any good business for sill/rust repair let me know. I have called R and A autobodies in blaydon as i have heard good things about them from people in my position so they are going to have a look at the kob.

But any pics you have would be a help so i can see what i am neesing to get a good look at.

 

Just got a price from Eastwood Motors here in Northern Ireland, £700+VAT for both new rear quarter panels. That being the worst case I suppose.

I'll take a few pictures of what I can once I start cleaning and cutting parts out. It's not gonna be an easy job by any means. I doubt £1500 would cover having new quarters fitted and painted. Not to mention all the other rusty parts that can't be seen.

Sick as a dog.......

 

Yea this is the sole main issue as I see it especially for us UK turbo owners in terms of keeping these cars going, from what I've read it's generally agreed that the main starting point is up in the strut tower due to lack of undersealing, eventually becoming visible on the arch lip, I'd of thought the vast majority of impreza's have only ever had the outer arch treated rather than the real roots of the issue being sorted which by now has very much come to the fore.

Of course sills are next and are often holed, along with bumper bars falling to bits, and front wings rusting if the cars been ran without mudguards. Really for any classic owner now removal of bumpers and sideskirts for inspection should be at least an annual job. And all wheel arch housings should be sanded right back and re-treated/sealed as preventive maintenance, inner wings should be treated as best as possible from inside the boot, and if your lucky enough to have solid outer strut towers then the rear shocks should be dropped and the area treated meticulously.

In your case although I know it's not great to hear as we all become attached to our cars (I'm also a 97' UK Turbo owner), I would have to say imo the best option for you has to be to take your nice bits off, sell the car on and start your search for a rust free one knowing what you know now, finding a UK car will be seriously hard but less so on an import, you can then refit your nice bits to your new solid base car.

Unfortunately UK turbos in many cases just aren't worth repairing, even repaired I doubt you could sell it for what the repairs would have actually cost you not to mention the price paid for the car in the first place, to add to this your always taking the gamble as with any bodywork that the job you pay for is a good one, especially with extensive repairs such as this so there's potential for a total nightmare.

I guess the bottom line is you could end up running around in a repaired UK turbo which owes you the same as what an original rust free STi/Type R would have set you back with nothing like the re-sale value.

However if of course money or future value doesn't concern you too much then you can ignore most of the above lol

 

Hence why I spend hours striping back the underside of my project car when it makes no financial sense to anybody... Then once that one is done I will do the same with my other classic. I won't let them die

 

328Isport: after reading the section in regards to the rear strut towers, like i mentioned when i pulled back the boot liner the acount arch as you see it in the boot is immaculate.

So i presume the actual top of the tower could potentially have rust issues once the strut is dropped out fo the tower? also not to say that the lip on the inner arch liner hasn't siffered with the water sitting in the lip over the years?

Sorry to sound a bit dim just want to make sure am getting this right as i will be having a good look over mine at the weeked.

Also i understand the inner and outer sills are an issue, on inspection of mine it seems the outer sills that are thye issue but again without a good look i am just guessing that they aren't from memory.

Any ideas on what i could be looking at to have this work done as once it is done i want the car waxoyl'd and undersealed too, and as alot of people have said i do not want to be hoying good mmkoney after bad as the car needs new brakes all round tax and MOT too so i am going tpo be into the car a good few hundred at that point which isn't a massive issue as the price i ahve paid for the car with the milege and overall condition etc.

Just want to make sure what i am doing is a good idea!

cheers again lads for any help it is greatly appreciated ... sorry i don't mean to hijack anyones thread :-)

 

Have a look at this thread here;

https://www.scoobynet.com/styling-36...ty-arches.html

I went over to H&G Bodyshop last week as I was working not far away, spoke to Guy (Kurt's father) , very nice chap, no bull and knew what he was talking about. I've got to forward him some more, detailed photos of my rust issues, and hopefully will get a price back and make a decision on when to do it. If I go ahead, ill photograph the process (with guys permission) and add it onto the thread.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I've decided to have a go at fixing it instead of breaking and scrapping it. I was seriously pissed off at it all before.

Started cutting a few rusty bits off tonight and started to make a piece to install.

I'm going to replace bad parts and treat any parts that are still reasonably intact with rust converter. Once that's all done, everything will get cleaned and a load of seam sealer applied. Everything then painted and that's it. If I get a year or 2 out of it then happy days. There's no point spending a load of cash on a UK Turbo as stated before.