Beater advice
 

So I'm looking for a winter beater.

There is a 92 Civic hatch for sale near my home. Original body and paint, so it's rusted around the rear wheels, 214000ks, runs and drives good, clean interior. It is at a small garage and the owner of the shop said it was a customers that left the car there for him to sell. $400 obo and apparently all it needs is a muffler and 2 tires to safety. Recnt t-belt and tune-up too. showed me the receipt.

I don't mind spending a few hundred to make it mechanically sound and road worthy, but how cheap/expensive would the rust be to fix? Will it safety with the rusted out fenders?

Seems kinda cheap, so it might be junk. But then again 400 isnt too much to lose if its crap.

Thoughts, advice?

you can probably get both fenderes re-metaled for $250ish with a crappy paint job

prob 300 to fix up the rust .

mufler probaly 250

so maybe around a 1000 to have it on the road looking decent.

also i like the way the 92 hatchback looks , a lot more than the gen after it

Thanks guys. Im not to worried about how it looks. Im more concerned about prolonging the rust for getting any worse.

here is a pic for reference

ask the shop owner if he'll safety it for you.

it wont pass safety with that rust legally so it would have to be taken care of before certifying the car

Thats the answer I was looking for. Exactly why though? I was told that as long as the holes do not go through to the passenger compartment, it will pass. Is it worht getting for 400 if I can get the rust fixed for a few hundred? T-R what would you charge for such a job?

You can always temp-fix the rust for like $20 bondo can from crappy tire for safety till you get one of the replacement qtr panels welded in.

very true. also if you jump on it before the price goes up, then get quotes for the body work, if it seems to much you could likely part it out and make more then $400 from it even if you sold parts cheaper and made the buyer pull the parts - rather then losing $400 bucks

replacement panels are $20.... If you can do the work then hell yeah, even if you just pick up the panel then take it to a body shop, team rukus will install it for 200/side I think.

There is a place that i go to for my paint work. The guy does custom and stock work. He won't charge you much and does an awsome job. I will get his address if you want. Doesn't hurt to check.

$400 bucks.. go for it, even if you cant get it safetied, you can make your money back parting it.

is it actually possible to order new qtr panels?

PM me and I can hook it up.