IM chassis remidiation

They are well made, but they do have to be maintained.  Was this car winter driven, or submerged in water?

It looks like whoever owned it didn't really do anything in the way of looking after it.

I can't give any advice on this.  I've owned three IMs and have never seen anything such as this.  That car has had a rough 21 years.

Good luck.

Thanks for sharing your experience. The current owner hasn't had the Roadster very long. We're going to do a VIN search on it to see if we can't piece anything together from previous owners as to why it looks so rough. We've actually been in touch with IM and ours isn't the worst they've seen if you can believe it!

Jason

Having dealt with a few British and Italian cars, that doesn’t seem bad at all. The only issue I’d really be concerned with it that channel the looks like it’s rusted through in the middle @:09 seconds. Most of it looks like surface rust.
I’d start with a good dry ice blast and some rust converter.

It's not that it's "bad" as such, more that it's kinda impossible to do a proper job of cleaning and sealing the steel when its wrapped by crumbling fiberglass, so was fishing for tips there. Just an illusion at the 9s mark - thankfully nothing is rusted through.

RE: "I’d start with a good dry ice blast and some rust converter", we are working with a local chassis shop to do just that, followed by some sort of undercoat/bedliner to seal it up.

Jason

Of course, the worst problem is that you are converting it to electric.   

But, to each his own, as they say.  Some of us here will be interested in following your progress, and seeing how you rectify the rust issues.

All the best.

Those are great vids. None of that rust looks very bad at all, nothing you couldn't grind off with a flapper wheel in about 10 minutes. My advice: when it gets shiny go ahead and paint it, then figure out if you want to re-fiberglass it (if that is indeed what was originally encapsulating it).

Good luck with the conversion. I love me some Electramechanicals.