Rusting frame members...

Nope no problems here. Had to repair some "flinstone" floors though....

None for me either. My first two engines leaked so much oil that there's a permanent coating of it on the bottom of my car

My first MX-6 came from Alberta, so there's no body rot to speak of. My second MX-6, on the other hand, came from Nova Scotia and suffered 18 years of salt.... and is beyond repair. I crawled under there while unhooking the shift linkage and got my first good look at the underside... it is baaaaaaaaaad.

Technically, this is a unibody car, there are no "frame rails" ...

Nitpicking aside, I have found the most rust prone area on these cars is the rear wheelwells/strut towers and fuel tank area. I have seen some 1Gs so bad that the entire rear strut towers needed to be changed. (Believe there was a scandanavian member here who actually changed them out) I would be most worried about this area more so than anything else. Also rear brake/fuel lines are problematic.

Strut towers are the worst on these cars. The 4 door I just bought from the west coast was spotless underneath. Then pealing back the carpet in the trunk and there was my barganing tool. Guess it was soo bad is due to the trunk area not being able to breath. My 5 doors have had a bit in there as well.

Sorry that I wasn't clear by saying "frame rails". I'm talking specifically about the box rails below the car. Not fenders, not roofs, not windshield frames, not strut towers. Thanks for trying though.

Well back onto topic, I was speaking with a guy who was trying to sell his MX6 GT in Toronto, he mentioned that he had the mechanic weld new 'rails'. AS well I have seen one in the junk yard with the side of the rail rusted out. Insides toward the exhaust were fine, just the outsides were toast, probably from road salt and gravel roads....

Fastest95PGT said:

Sorry that I wasn't clear by saying "frame rails". I'm talking specifically about the box rails below the car. Not fenders, not roofs, not windshield frames, not strut towers. Thanks for trying though.

Click to expand...

i would just fab my own. I would love to do that with the rockers i need...but they are too complex of a curve. I could do anything to strengthen the underside, cuz it doesn't matter what you see when you're under there, long as it is solid.

jphillips626 said:

i would just fab my own. I would love to do that with the rockers i need...but they are too complex of a curve. I could do anything to strengthen the underside, cuz it doesn't matter what you see when you're under there, long as it is solid.

Click to expand...

The question is not about fabricating new ones.

The topic is about anyone actually having adverse effects of the frame rails rusting through. If so, what were they.

As unsafe as it might seem to be, in reality, most people are probably not going to get the issue resolved. Having found out what happens when they rust to the point of failure will either help nudge people to getting it fixed or clue them in on what can happen if they continue to drive it instead of scrap it.

People, please keep on topic. This is about rusted rails and safety. Not floorboards, strut towers etc. If you have nothing to add about the posted topic, keep it to yourself.

I would say that rusted strut towers certainly effect safety, and are at least worth mentioning in this thread. I disagree with the deletion of posts with photos showing obvious safety issues resulting from rust, as they are relevant here.

My last GT had the rails pretty much all the way rotted through. That car also had ...erm, cut springs. So, anyway..when I would go over a bumpy patch or anything, you could feel flexing between the engine bay and cabin. The body was pretty much bending towards the ground at the point between the bay and cabin. I'm surprised it didn't break in half haha. So, yes...it is a very dangerous situation IMO.

I would have one nearly rusted away Hatch. The frame rails are extremely crispy (you can easily work your way through one with a screwdriver) and actually have a big crack running through them. The floor didn't fall to the ground because of the center tunnel and the roof will kept the shell somewhat in shape and the rocker panels kept the door jambs in order, but the rear of the car was very disconnected from the front and the car definitely wasn't safe to drive. It's the kind of 4WS no-one likes to have.

Looking at how the frame boxen are made, laminated from several sheets of steel, it's no wonder they're so eager to rust. A well made new box of 3mm sheet can't be worse in any way to the OEM.

magik8 said:

I would say that rusted strut towers certainly effect safety, and are at least worth mentioning in this thread. I disagree with the deletion of posts with photos showing obvious safety issues resulting from rust, as they are relevant here.

Click to expand...

This thread is about safety issues around rusting frame members. Not rust anywhere around the car.

Could a mod please split out the posts regarding rusting strut towers to another thread for discussion and link it here?

MazdaMan069 said:

My last GT had the rails pretty much all the way rotted through. That car also had ...erm, cut springs. So, anyway..when I would go over a bumpy patch or anything, you could feel flexing between the engine bay and cabin. The body was pretty much bending towards the ground at the point between the bay and cabin. I'm surprised it didn't break in half haha. So, yes...it is a very dangerous situation IMO.

Click to expand...

Good information. What was the symptom other than sagging that you noticed? I would imagine the doors would no longer close properly (assuming they did before).

the door hinges may be good and sound, but the doors won't line up with the hinge 100%.

this was due to a slight bend in the underside of the car frame, weakened due to rust (see removed pics). If it takes extra effort to properly latch the doors, be careful. I always had to slam the doors to get them to close even in the heat of summer.

Fastest95PGT said:

Good information. What was the symptom other than sagging that you noticed? I would imagine the doors would no longer close properly (assuming they did before).

Click to expand...

The doors closed mostly okay. No slamming involved here. But you could clearly notice that when you would slowly move the door towards the car, that it did not line up perfectly and that when you pushed it closed, the door would lift up and latch.

If the door was open, you could lift up on it. It had quite a bit of vertical play.

This GT is starting to rot underneath So how would you fix this? Just cut out the bad spots and weld in new sheet metal,then paint it / coat it with a protective sealer?

What exactly is going bad? Our cars don't have rails, basically stamped sheet metal and a subframe. If the subframe is rusting, wouldn't you want to just swap that out? If the pan is rusted, do you really want to repair that death trap?

I am sure most of us know that it is not a real "frame". We are referring to the squarish sections of sheet metal in which the fuel lines, etc run parallel to. (There is one "frame" on each side of the car - driver & passenger) This is the same spot where everybody places jack stands / jacks. (Unless it is the factory jack which slips over the pinch weld)

Rain and salt take a toll on these spots (as well as the rear of the car) and the rust just eats away at it.