Kick Panel Rust

[seasquatch]

I am looking into a 73 with rust on the drivers side kick panel. The rust has gone all the way through but I haven't seen a picture as I am not local to the car. The shop where I had the car inspected told me there was rust there.

Is this a structural issue or fairly easy to fix?

I have read a lot on mounting speakers in the kick panels so they can't be overly structural if there are holes cut into them.

Thanks

[canadapierre]

If there is rust in the kick panels, I'm betting that the whole rocker area is rusty also. Seems many owners start repairing a small area of rust and in the next breath you are into a 5 year resto.

Is it the squarie in local craig's list? Check also the rear shock towers...

The FAQ has a darn good list on what to look for 02 wise.

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/content/view/80/32/

Which garage did the pre-purchase inspection?

P

[Mike Self]

driver's side the hood release handle is mounted) it's not uncommon to have rust down at the bottom where the toeboard (the angled floorboard where the pedal box is bolted), floorboard and cowl side meet. My '73, which has had minimal rust over the years had a spot there.

I suspect it was the result of wet driver's feet, a possible windshield leak some years ago and possibly some brake fluid leaking from a long ago bad clutch master cylinder. The rust was under the seam sealer where the three panels meet, so old seam sealer was probably a contributing factor

I spent a couple of hours making a cardboard template, then a steel patch panel in three planes to repair the rusted joint, then MIG welding it in place, primering, sealing the outside with roofing cement and the inside with enamel paint.

Bottom line--that may be an isolated rust spot resulting from some of the above situations, or has been pointed out, indicative of further, more general rust on the car...so check all the usual suspect spots.

cheers

mike

[seasquatch]

Thanks

The car is in the LA area and i had a shop down there check it out and the rust had not spread to the rockers. In fact he said it was the only spot of rust he could see. Of course that doesn't mean everything.

I will have to get some pictures today of the rusty area.

I checked out the local '75 on cl. The care is pretty sound, the dealer is pretty sketchy.

Thanks, I will try and get some photos up.

[canadapierre]

Ah! A good dryer climate car. Do your homework before importing an American licensed car here. You should export it from the US first and then import it into Canada at the Pacific border crossing. Really just a little paperwork. The US side needs 72 hours advance to process the paperwork that you faxed in and there is little to no cost. Be prepared to explain that the car is a MODEL 2002 from 197x to both sides.... Been there done that quite happily.

Also check out the local BC 02 site hosted by Zenon.

Cheers,

P