Hi

Looking in through the front wheel well, towards the anti sway bar on my SS SC, I see serious rust on a non supportive area. RIght through the hole caused from the rust, I can see a nut on a bolt going upwards, and the nut screws downwards, but it doesn't seem to be hold the sway bar. The metal under the nut is good, but the metal shielding the nut is rusted out - notably, the car had the plastic material ripped away - this material is the stuff that prevents water from soaking up from the road into the frame - unfortunately it looks like I'm a bit too late.

I've been waffling back and forth on whether to swap chassis, like has been suggested, or fix up the SS SC - this seems to be the only really bad damage to the car, and none of the body issues were mentioned by the certifying mechanic. I haven't been able to find any swap threads that deal with an SS SC engine into an SS NA body. The NA is copper, the SSC is silver.




Anyways, is this rust, on the shielding that prevents this nut and bolt from being rusted, terminal, and should I get rid of the body? It looks to me like this can be cleaned and a new shielding welded up. It was a drift car - not hard to tell eh?


The front valence etc is shot - cracked, bad fix jobs, 1st and 2nd radiators (intercooler or air con) are bent but functioning, apparently - it was winter when I drove it so not sure, but they're bent up a bit. I'm hoping to swap new rad/air con radiator.
On this side it's excellent, not quite mint, but the door handle needs replacing. Other side is mint.

The SSC requires I swap the passenger doors, swap in the steering rack from the NA (mint), new drive shaft (either way, whether I swap the motor or not), swap the front valence, clean up all the brakes, replace carpet, steering wheel, interconnecting steering shaft, subwoofer, then repaint. I'm hoping I can use the bearings from either car (i.e., that the splines are the same), the spindles 'might' need swapping but they look ok so far.

Yes the SSC will require a paint job but I'm willing to do it. Any thoughts?

 

Depending on how bad it is/how easily accessible, you could sand the rust down and use Bondo to resurface the area. If the rust is underneath everything (not visible outside) I would spray some rubber compound on it as well.

Edit: that picture is blurry but that looks like a new plate job. If the door was rusting, that would be the bond job.

 

Ok gotcha thanks. So it's not unreasonable to try to fix up this SSC eh? Wholesale market value SSC=$3000; NA = $1000, so financially it makes some sense, plus, swapping the engine and then making it run again, might be beyond my pay grade.

Maybe if I swap enough copper body parts, I can try a copper ghost flame paint job that I've been planning out, with silver at the back end of the car.

 

The SC looks really rough and not worth putting money into. The rust looks bad. I'm willing to bet the rockers are gone under the moldings.

It's also not worth doing anything custom when it comes to paint. Make it match without spending way too much.

There really isn't any room to make money here unless you could do the paint yourself and then the results might not be great.

Edit.

Don't just cover under body rust. That's super unsafe and I'd feel like a dirt bag selling it to someone. People die from exhaust fumes.

 

What I meant was that if it's a body panel underneath like a wheel well, you can use steel meshing with fibreglass filler - which is what they do in body shops. I found a few YouTube videos on it as well. You obviously has to common sense observe the damage and where/what it is. If it's really bad, then you're correct that it's not worth sinking money into. I can't tell the body damage outside of that front bumper from the lack of quality images.

 

No worries man - you nailed a serious issue. The SSC....below - you're right about the quality of the pictures, but even with bad quality pics, you can see it's not good, and it's certainly not mint.



Lemme show you now pics of the SS NA...back in a second.



So you can see my dilemma. I'd like to take folks advice and swap the SS SC engine with 120K on it, but I'm concerned, since I've actually never seen a thread where someone has done it. I'm off for the summer so I can work full time on it.

I'll need a gantry crane setup to lower both engines, which is fine, I can get the engines out of the car, and I have the tools, and space, I just don't want to find myself half way through, and find out that GM has put a glitch somewhere that won't allow me to do it. Am I using the wrong search terms, or has anyone seen an LSJ engine swapped into the LE5 chassis? Maybe it's impossible?

I really love the chassis on that copper 'balt.

Thanks for the discussion guys it helps me think things through more fully.

 

Ya that thing is a parts car. Would require a ton of work.

Depending on the mechanical condition it might not even be worth swapping over the drivetrain from the SC.

Just fix the NA.

 

Ok thanks - So the supercharger will fit on the NA if I do fix the short block and there are no valves bent, is that right?

 

Wow that rust is bad! Yeah 2nd on fixing the NA. Most of the parts are swappable although there are a few bits, like the MAF (need a 2.5 bar), the wiring adapter for the TB to go 8 pin... Pretty sure there are a couple other parts from what I read, and of course a tune.

Also the search on this site is.... Lackluster at best. Google search using the term site:cobaltss.net "swap lsj to LE5". I've referenced Beck's 2.4l supercharger build a few occasions as well.

Most of the people here are smarter than I am with this stuff.

Edit: Got a good thread for you. It's ongoing -> https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-4l-le5-performance-tech-46/help-please-lsj-supercharger-kit-2-4l-326062/

 

I meant just use the 2.4 and don't swap the supercharger.

The sc looks so rough I wouldn't want mechanical parts from it. You could run into trouble trying to build something with broken parts.

I also don't suggest "building" a car that's not.gonna be worth a ton unless you're capable of doing it all yourself and you understand/ value your time. It wouldn't be a money saving route either.

 

The first picture you posted looks like the body is rotted really bad in the area where the front subframe attaches. If that is actually the case, please do not drive that car.

 

Thank you Gentlemen for good advice (and giving a darn). Two rules for buying a car - I've learned my lesson:

1. Never buy a car in winter if you can't access to look underneath and
2. Never take the word of a seller until you look over the car.

The seller said the car only needed maybe brakes and said the smell wasn't dangerous and it was an hour to drive the car home with the windows open.

 

A $1400 lesson - deals are often deals, for a reason.

I'll take the seats, and relish tearing the car apart with my bare hands. You're both right, that was a dangerous thing for me to do. Oh, and rule #3:

3. Don't move or think fast, take your time, and there's always another car.

 

Learned #3 the hard way before.

 

I've been seeing Cobalts with rusted out rockers a lot here lately. Last winter must've done them in.

 

Knock on wood I've been super lucky on very minimal rust with my car, but I wonder if it has something to do with the anti-rust system that was installed by the previous owner. Honestly most people say it's a scam (mostly because it's goddamn expensive) but I dunno. The only "rust" I have is the patch where the water comes out on the driver's side door, which will only take a couple hours to patch.

 

Oil spray is the only thing that works. If it's a sacrificial anode then that works on metal submerged in water, but not on cars. Anything else is a waste of money.

 

Sacrificial anodes only work in submerged systems, unless you're full time off roading in rivers it's pointless on a car.

If you can get a quality epoxy coating before any dirt or rust starts it works very well, but it's all dependent on the installers ability to remove surface contaminates and make sure it bonds well.

 

Keep it clean underneath and don't drive fast on gravel or any surface that'll throw stones.

My car off in surprisingly good shape underneath for being used year round in a harsh Canadian climate.