| Tracker Alert [message #63953] |
Wed, 11 November 2009 21:40  |
Gary Mau
Messages: 152
Registered: February 2004
Location: Davenport, Iowa
Karma: 0
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For all you rust belt folks who tow a mid nineties Tracker. If your Tracker has the vinyl moldings over the rocker panels, you might want to remove it and check for rust. When I bought mine a few years ago I paid a pretty good price because it was low milage and body and paint looked great. Lately I started to notice bubbling paint at a couple of places along the top of the molding on the driver's side. When I removed the moulding and bracket I discovered a lot of rust and an area about 3" by 6" rusted through. Also, the bottoms of both front fenders are rusted off. The passenger side rocker only has the beginnings of the problem. You might want check yours as soon as possible if it isn't already too late. As I said before, before removing the moldings, everything looked great.
Now I'm looking at a repair bill almost as high as the car is worth. In fact of the three body shops I took it to for estimates, only one seemed to be interested in repairing it ($1500). The other two would only say that to repair it properly would cost thousands and wouldn't even write estimates.
Gary Mau
Former 76 Royale owner
Davenport, IA
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| Re: Tracker Alert [message #63990 is a reply to message #63953] |
Thu, 12 November 2009 08:53  |
Rusty
Messages: 197
Registered: October 2005
Location: Philadelphia Pa
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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I found my 95 Geo Tracker toad on craigslist a couple months ago. After a few days I found the rear mat was damp. I yanked it up and found rust around the rear seat belt anchors and discovered severe corrosion in the wheel wells, at that location. It was actually underneath the undercoating. I peeled the undercoating off removed maybe a square foot of corroded sheet metal on each side. The plastic interior wall was still intact so all I did was smear Dow Corning 791 very thickly and it hardened quite well and will probably hold. Now wheel well water wont splash inside. I also had corrosion on some of the suspension parts and the frame was a bit flaky but I caught it all in time I believe. There was a frame cross member in the rear, just a piece of 1 inch pipe serving as a mount for the gas tank and fuel filter, that was totally rusted and gone in the center about 12 inches. I just cut that part off and the tank supports are still intact.
So thanks for this heads up, I will actually go out there when the nor easter blows thru over this weekend and check out the rocker panels. In my opinion these little trucks are perfect as gmc toads and are worth some reasonable rust restoration or engine - trans replacemnents in the future. I looked at at least 10 before I bought this 2 door hard top, the more common ragtops are ok but seemed less preferential to me.
Rusty
75 Glenbrook
Philadelphia Pa
[Updated on: Thu, 12 November 2009 08:59] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Tracker Alert [message #64145 is a reply to message #63994] |
Fri, 13 November 2009 12:02 |
Larry C
Messages: 1168
Registered: July 2004
Location: NE Illinois by the Illino...
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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The appearance of the body is great and I had inspected it for corrosion and found a few problems
______________________________________________________________
My early experience with rust has a varied history.
If you only have surface rust, I have had the best luck with POR15.
STORY...
A friend went on vacation and left his older faded Red Nisson at my place. It had rust here and there and a couple rust spots with the paint falling off in the middle of the door, body panel and around the seams.
I was just introduced to POR15 and wanted to test its effectiveness. I kept eyeing that Nisson. Well my curiousity got the best of me. I told myself I would just touch up a small spot, then I saw another small spot just on the next panel. I kept scraping loose paint and applying the POR15 ( black ) until I had more or less covered all the rust spots.
Imagine what a faded Red Nissan looks with Black POR15 protecting the rusted areas. I decided to paint the POR15 repair areas so I bought the correct color Red Nisson paint and sprayed the repairs. OOPS, now it looks like it had measles. If he decided to wax the car it would match so I let it go.
Well other than his co workers teasing him about the car with measles, the rust was stopped. He had that car for quite a few years after that until the tranny failed.
Many other rust projects have had a similar end so I suggest you consider POR15 to save what metal is left.
Gatsbys' CRUISER  08-18-04
74 GLACIER X, 260/455-APC-4 Bagg'r
Remflex Manifold gaskets
CampGrounds needed, Add yours to "PLACES" />
http://www.gmceast.com/travel
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