Rusted and busted

[stephenw22]

My '86 Subaru finally gave out today. Not the drivetrain, but the body. Time for a little memorial service tomorrow as I park it in a field tomorrow.

 

The drivers' side axle is completely worn out, so I had jacked up the car to change the axle, and tried to set it down on a jack stand. Apparently, the frame on my car is a little rustier than I originally thought. The jack stand decided to go through the frame, through the car's sheetmetal, and into the car. After I got the car stabilized, I took a look at the underside, and this winter hasn't been kind to the car. Maybe it was just paint holding the rust together before, but now there isn't much of anything left of the frame.

 

At least I wasn't under the car when it gave out. Anyways, it was worth the $250 I paid for it (lasted 6 months). I'll be able to transplant the drivetrain into another body.

[Wasteland]

I'm sorry for your loss. I just put one of mine down a few months ago, so I know how you feel. Did it have a name?

[SuperRallyRoo]

Sorry to hear about that! Here in seattle we rarely have to worry about cars literally falling apart. Good luck finding a good body! Hope it serves u good again. When ever one of my cars die, I take its shift knob and use it on the next car.

[stephenw22]

I think that a lot of the drivetrain of this dearly departed car (5-sp D/R, a.k.a. 'The Red Rocket') will be transplanted into the turbo wagon, which has a 3-sp autoslushbox. It will take me a while to find a nice donor body around here

[MorganM]

when you say it punched through the frame; where are you talking exactly?

 

I have to be VERY carefull where I jack mine up. 90% of the time I put the stands under key points in the main crossmembers or suspension. This stuff is SOLID despite surface rust. If I must jack it up on the unibody somewhere wood is a necessity! The jackstands would surely punch through the unibody and I would end up with similar results as you mentioned.

 

Often times when comparing how rusty vehicles are my wagon becomes a reference point as to just how rusted out a body can get. Only thing worse I've seen is that BRAT archemetis had!

[Stupidru]

Only a Subaru could perform a stunt like that, it's not funny but ya gotta laugh. My first Subaru shot a shock tower right into the trunk. I was like what the h*ll was that, after I hit a pot hole & my car was limping. After I patched that up, it wouldn't pass inspection anyway, cause the frame was toast. Patched frame, to pass inspection, then engine took a dump a couple of months later. Still got 200 for it as a parts car, only cuz interior was immaculate & rare alloys. It still sits in his yard, he bought it in 97. I miss that car, it's my favorite Subaru, 84 4wd auto sedan.

[stephenw22]

I had jacked the car up using a crossmember, but I was setting it down on the front left jacking point (just a little bit behind the front wheel). The metal just completely gave out.

 

I drove the car up on some ramps next, so I could get a good look at the underside of the car (I hadn't done it in the 6 months I'd had it so far.) The frame rails are nasty, there are a few holes starting to get through the underside sheet metal, a few more in the wheel wells, going through to the interior.

 

Overall, I think that if I jumped it, the front would snap off, and the rear wheels might end up in the back of the wagon.

 

Is the car still able to drive? Sure.

Is the car very safe to drive? Definitely not. That's why it's not coming back any time soon.

[AKIRA]

my family has had some rust stories too, like the van, the exhaust rusted off midway through, even ideling it sounded way too loud, driving produced a helluva roar.

 

the van eventually burnt up in the parking lot of a chinese food restraunt - at 147,000 miles. thats american made cars for ya.

 

xt - I forget what rusted but it made the rear right wheel tilt at almost a 35 degree angle inwards.