95 Pathfinder - low miles, rust - how to fix?

You gotta Love these old VG30E/i powered beasts, raw truck DNA to the core.

Moderator: volvite

bartine
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:58 am

95 Pathfinder - low miles, rust - how to fix?

Postby bartine » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:37 pm

Hi

Just picked up a 95 Pathfinder and I'm a Pathfinder newby. It was a 1 owner, and only has 95k miles on it. But - it has been a DC area truck, and it has some rust on it, but it didn't look bad.

Mechanically, all it needs is is a new water pump and a timing belt, and a couple of control arms - it runs beautifully.

It has a cloth interior, and the owners put covers over the seats the day they bought it. It looks like new.

Unfortunately, it has some rust. The front and rear bumpers need replaced, needs new running boards. But the paint looks great.

Initially the frame looked ok, but when I dug into it there was one area where it was more than surface rust - the rear passenger frame.

After poking it, there is a bad place a little bigger than a quarter. The metal around it is solid.

So - the question to the board - how bad is this really? How to treat it and how much would I be looking at to get it worked on?

I'm handy with tools, but don't weld. Any place in the Baltimore / DC / Virginia area I should take it to?

Any self help I should take on - if it was the body I'd sand it down a bit an spray it with stop rust then fill, prime and paint-I'm out of my league on this though.

Last - as it is now - does it pose a problem or a danger? I'm trying to put together a truck for my son to drive to high school and on to college. I'm willing to put some money into this. But - I only have $1,200 in it so far...

Thanks!


Image

Image


User avatar
smj999smj
Site Admin
Posts: 6060
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:13 pm
Location: Prospect, VA

Postby smj999smj » Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:42 pm

My suggestion would be to have a reputable body shop thoroughly inspect the frame and give you an assessment of it and a quote to repair it to make the vehicle safe, if they determine that's an issue.

bartine
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:58 am

Postby bartine » Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:56 pm

The rest of the frame looks either perfect, or has a little surface rust. This is by far the worst part of the entire body / frame. These pics go all the way down both sides, starting with the driver's side, and then moving to the passenger's side...

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Return to “1986-1995 Pathfinder (WD21)”