I hate to bring in some bad news and pop the hope balloon, but as you've found out, it's not the old engine that kills MK1 dreams - it's the rust. 80s cars were light because they were mostly made of thinner gauge everything.

IMO, frame rust (though it can be repaired, anything can), is very expensive to do properly. I don't know what your budget is, but if there's frame rust, the body panels are probably infected too. If you need to replace any body panels, then that's another 'Fuggedaboutit' moment since they're almost impossible to procure just about anywhere.

What about keeping it for a valuable parts car and hunting for another?

 

I may have a tough time finding a shell without a similar problem. Luckily I have a heavy work schedule for the next week or two, so I have time to think on it. I've seen frame restoration on truck rails before but this unibody is different and it not in a good spot.

 

You're gonna need a great fab guy with a lot of sheet metal tools and skills to rebuild that frame rail. This is not a project I suggest you learn these skills yourself on, this is certainly the type of project you'll need to pay someone for. And that maybe prohibitively expensive

The trans mount looks crusty, but I don't think its compromised like the frame rails/suspension mounts

It is not impossible to fix. It is very ugly, and therefore looks really bad, but if there is clean metal to be found within a couple inches of the cancer, she's savable

 

I'm more than starting to think this thing has parts car written all over it.

Anybody got a shell?

At worst I do have a couple hard to find quarter panels to sell. and an engine that probably needs minor work but is complete and isnt stuck.

She is done. The rust doesn't stop on the front end. Giant holes in the Frunk today. If anybody wants to pick up from VA by the Richmond airport, make an offer and let me know. Otherwise it's gonna be a parts car for my next project. I would like to break even on it but I can take a little hit just to learn a lesson.

That lesson would be don't buy a Mk1 unless you know how to fix a unibody from scratch or you get it in basically mint condition. F*ck this rust. I've never seen it this bad on anything.

I honestly thought these things had bad rust on the battery area and quarter panels. I expected some extensive body damage. Not major frame problems. Sheesh. Luckily it doesn't destroy me financially, but I can't afford 10k in frame repairs. Unless a a local fella wants to help or buy from me....parts car is the only way.

The wife will be pleased for sure. Basically total loss on day 2.

 

Glad you made the right (but difficult) decision. Cutting your losses is the way to go in this case.

80s Toyota designers unfortunately decided to keep things thin for not only performance & cost, but fuel economy too (it was the 80s after all). And of course, this strategy has the caveat of being susceptible to extreme rust. MK1s have been rusting since the early 90s whereas MKIIs are just barely starting now.

What hastens this rust is that these specific 80s cars (like Honda's CRX) never really got the indoor garage treatment they deserved. Owners almost always left them outside in harsh environments as second or even third cars. Given that, the elements take a heavy toll out of 80s thin-gauge body panels & barely-there sub-frames - especially after 35+ years. Garages for the win.

 

OMG, "terrible." Good luck!

 

Well fix it or parts car these parts have to come out to get anything out of it...Where to start?

these are tough to find cars too. It'll take awhile to find a replacement. Located in VA, and they are not easy to get around here, even the last two I had years ago were not easy to get.

I love these cars but working with this one would basically be like building one from scratch. I'm still going to get a welding setup because I'm tired of struggling with exaust pipes on my other old cars, but it won't be for this fella.

 

There is always the Red Green method.

 

 

The Energizer bunny of rust. It keeps going, and going, and going.... figured I might as well see how bad it really is.

 

Unless it was submerged in the Marianna Trench for a few months, there are still a lot of valuable parts on that heap. Source a decent MK1 and your current one will up itself in value quite a bit as a parts car.

 

A smal update:

Trying to start it to see if it will run today and find out what shape these parts are in before taking it all apart. No such luck. Acting like a fuel issue. I put a gallon in there but it still reads below empty. Likely an electrical problem or the gauge and pump themselves. With my luck so far, probably all three. Any advice there? I know to test it there is I believe a blue wire behind the shifter. but isn't there something I have to jump with a wire somewhere else?

Also contacted a body/frame shop that repairs this type of car rust issue and they might take a look at it for me next week to give me a professional opinion to see if it's even a feasible fix.

 

Snagged a shell today. Picking up this weekend. Back on track with this finally.

Even has the engine out already on the new one. But comes with 2 engines. In addition to what I have in the rusted one.

Once I can get everything in one place I'll start working on it and post some pics. Very little rust on the new one, just the frunk.

...might be longer than a summer project. But it's nice to have some light at the end of the tunnel to work towards now.

 

Way to dive in! I can relate to your situation because I bought a MK2 from salvage, and it was $10k. Yes, I know I am an idiot for doing that😬 but hey, I was only one bid higher than the other guy! It has what I consider minor front end damage..bumper not moved and radiator untouched. It took a while to find a body shop that would even look at it, and I still don't know what the cost is going to be. Anyway, I had a few moments of doubt where I was thinking I had just made a very expensive mistake. To my way of thinking, it was on my bucket list to have one of these cars as a project and you can't take it with you. Good luck on your project!

 

Ended up being a pretty good deal but lots of work to do. It comes with a 4age engine all taken apart, the trans, and a 7afe. Dude selling was going to do a 7age conversion. It needs a port and polish for sure and some new parts here and there but it all looks saveable to me. Pistons look pretty good actually. All for less than a grand.

Frame shop still has my rust bucket and has been skittish about talking about it. I think they are scared of it, lol. I was too. But now we get this guy as a solid base to work off of at least. I'll get some pics up once I shove it in my garage tonight.

No sunroof on this one, had never seen that before in person.

 

The rust bucket is getting fixed. Gave me a good price. So I'll have to diagnose the fuel problem once I get it back from the frame shop. And stop the oil and coolant leaks. But it might be up and running this summer after all. Hard to believe. I thought it was a goner.

And then I have a complete rebuild to tinker on in the meantime. But I'll need to get some tools first. Engine lift and stand is a must. Hauling two engine blocks from the truck into the garage by hand was fun. The previous owner was going to build a 7age. I'm going to just rebuild the 4age most likely, so I have a 7afe block and some other parts if anyone wants it for a similar project...or am I passing up on something I should'nt?

 

gawd damn thats a lot of rust. kudos to you for fixing it! hopefully your project goes well!!!

 

My 16yo son just bought an ‘86. We’re in Richmond, VA too. It’s got a few rust issues - specifically in the rear wheel well. Where is the shop you mentioned? Have they done the work and would you recommend them?

 

Capitol city collision. I just got my car back. They sat on it for 8 months, didnt repair it, and charged me for towing twice. All for nothing.

Would not recommend them obviously. I'll be looking around myself. Let me know if you find a good shop for this type of unibody rust repair.

Thankfully I got a shell that's in decent shape besides the typical frunk rust that I will need to work on.

I'd be willing to work on yours together with you and your son if your reasonably close. I now have my parts car, so I might even have a few things you need. I have worked on the 2nd gen but these two are my first deep dives on an aw11. Is his at least running?

 

Yes it’s running, but we haven’t really gotten to test drive it yet. (It was trailered to our street, so I only drove it from the street into the driveway) The tires were all worn, cracked and not holding air. My son was thinking of getting new rims as well (the ones on there are kinda cheesy), but we decided to just put new tires on them for now. Hopefully we can get the tires on and go for a ride while he’s on winter break.

Thanks for letting me know who NOT to go to for the rust repairs. Since this is a project car, we may try our hand at welding ourselves - time will tell how crazy we are.

We’re in the west end near regency square btw.