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is this a good or bad deal?

1K views 22 replies 6 participants last post by  luzer 
#1 ·
#5 ·
i'm going to try to look at it on saturday.

here are 2 bad spots he sent me pics of



You'll need a new fender to fix the latter, the former can be fixed by cutting the rust out and using bondo, sand paper and touch up paint.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I haven't seen rust there but a very rusty worse then that Hawaiian lude onhere years ago. You would have to take off the window moulding there and the other side of the car and the doors to make sure you get it all. The area will have to be cut out and a patch welded in then if the job is done well a little body filler and resray/ area panel. I would look at the rocker panels closely under the doors all the way on either side from wheel well to wheel well. Also inspect underneath and the sheet metal subframe. A general rule of thumb is if you try pushing a screwdriver through it and it goes through the metal or the metal crumbles all that is affected has to be replaced. If the subframe was crumbling which is a welded on part of the car I would not buy it to keep for anytime what so ever. The other typical rust spots is the bottom of the gas tank filler opening on the rear quarter behind or at the bottom of the gas filler door. Also rear wheel lip openings and the quarter behind the rear wheel opening under the bumper cover and where the bumpers mount to the body. You can take pics of anything you see as far as rust and post it here and I and others could give you a fairly good idea how much work is involved. Most body panels have long been discontinued.

That fender dent is pretty strong dent. It took some force to make that. If the fender was removed you might be able to hammer it out with a body hammer and body dolly tool. You might be able to get away with having a shop with a pin stud welder and slide puller be able to pull it out most of the way then use body filler to finish it.

I have one of these stud welders. I bought it used and it works fine. New they are around $200. There used to be aftermarket fenders but they have long been discontinued like the oem Honda ones.

You can also check the area around the bottom of the cowl behind the fender with the door open directly below the door hinges for rust.

As far as touch up paint I would need the name which I could get from one of my brochures but if you want me to look for it for you, when you look at the car there should be a sticker about 1" to 1 1/2" wide by 1/2" tall with the paint code on the door jamb driver's side. Referred to as the b-post. Write it down and I will look for you. Duplicolor makes some touch up spray paint and so does plasti-kote. Plastikote makes the grenada black pearl for my 3rd gen and I have some of that. Some of these touch up sprays are discontinued or soon will be more then likely due to the car being 25 years old.

Otherwise depending on how big the city is you have access to their might be a automotive paint supply store with the capability to make it in a spray can if they still do that anymore. Might be $18 a can or so though if they even offer it.
 
#8 ·
Maybe your too young Tony but it is just common place despite being your pet-pieve. The answer is the same why most usa people ask for a Kleenex instead of a facial tissue. Oh yeah either you type slow or you should refresh before posting. I beat you to it those some of your explanation was more detailed in the proper ways of repair.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I figure most people use the term "Bondo" for all body filler simply because they are not shopping at auto body supply stores. And every auto parts supply store carries the 3M Bondo so that's just what they are used to seeing. Correct, I do call flying disks frizbee's.

Oh, and also I didn't want to arouse any misconceptions, it was just a simple question. I often question human behavior and it often comes across wrong.
 
#11 ·
well i went and saw this thing saturday and the body wasn't in as great of condition as i had hope. several little dents and imperfections. the paint was starting to crack in some places. that usually means there is rust underneath right? power steering wasn't working nor was the ac. interior was pretty dirty too, but wasn't in bad shape. my search continues...
 
#12 ·
I would have to see it. Paint can crack by itself. If it is kind of deep looking crack the paint isn't super thick so that is usually a sign that somebody has put body filler on that panel from an accident/ding and moisture from behind the body filler has got in and caused the crack. The fact that moisture got into the body filler usually means there is rust behind the filler or that they didn't properly replace the sheet metal where it has rusted out with welding in a patch of sheet metal and just body filler over the hole as bozo above suggested for patching that hole below the window. We always try to tell people the proper way to do things here and be all inclusive as we can for people just starting out learning how to do stuff themselves. It might not be cheapest way but at least then you know the way it should be done and it is up to you to determine if you can afford to do it or able to learn and have time to learn. Or to have it professionally done.
 
#13 ·
There's ways to fill a rust hole with filler that won't have that happen. Namely, there's a number of products that use fiberglass and other fibers to make a stronger bond, and of course, you're supposed to cut and sand away all the old rust so that the filler has something clean and dry to attach to.

The thing is with the method I described, is that such a thing is more likely to be undertaken by an owner like us than spending thousands at a body shop, or for someone to machine new metal to be welded, sanded and filled in.


My advice to the OP is to look at every 3rd-gen Prelude, and find one with a good body - regardless if its automatic or manual - an automatic can be changed over with less money and effort than going in and fixing a rusted-ass body.
 
#14 ·
well the guy said it was original paint and there had never been any body work done to it. and from what i could tell i'd say he was right, so it could just be old cracking paint. regardless i'm looking for the nicest, cleanest body i can. i've got an 89 right now, but the body just needs too much work and i don't think its worth it to try and fix it. i'm sure it work cost thousands to get to where i'd want it.
 
#16 ·
That looks like a nice unmolested car with what little info there is. I think it is an a.l.b. car because it has the lower dash covers behind the radio/console. Those covers only came on a.l.b. cars also know as abs. The '91 version did not have the badging on the bpillar door. You can convert to non abs if want but it is pretty big job. As far as I know you can still get the a.l.b. wheel sensors from places like http://rockauto.com you can check to confirm. However the actual a.l.b. pump is discontinued from Honda and not available aftermarket. There are two or three members onhere that are currently trying to figure out what it would take and if it is even possible to rebuild. One of them I told him about a used pump for $20 free shipping for him to play with and try to rebuild.
 
#17 ·
However the actual a.l.b. pump is discontinued from Honda and not available aftermarket. There are two or three members onhere that are currently trying to figure out what it would take and if it is even possible to rebuild. One of them I told him about a used pump for $20 free shipping for him to play with and try to rebuild.
If mine breaks, or I decide to rip it out, I'll donate the parts.
 
#19 ·
Well I got these used off an alb lude and I had never noticed them before that or after that in junkyard. I bought a new set of these for my lude many many years ago to tidy up behind the radio with all my extra bus cable and modules. I looked these up not too long ago. Last 3 or 4 years and I was pretty certain the only way you could get a part number to pop up in the list of part numbers in 90-91 ludes was to select alb as it's model variation. Maybe I remember wrong.

Anyway they are discontinued now. So only remove them if have to and with a autobody panel remover tool.
 
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