Rear hatches out west.

[stevrock]

Just out of curiosity, who here from a place where they don't use salt on the roads have a hatch that need to be replaced because of salt.

I was having an argument from a buddy that just moved back here and said they are a dime a dozen out west and I should take my car there to get all of the work done to it.

Thanks for any and all help.

[CJSREDPRA]

Depends WHERE in the "West". Since you are in Eastern Canada, I'll use this as a example.

If you are "West" as in British Columbia, or even Washington State & Oregon, you will still run into rusty hatches. Northern - Central California, it gets borderline. SoCal, you'll hardly find any rusty hatches.

So it basically depends how far north or south you are.

[pdupler]

Even in Texas, hatchs through 1984 are prone to rust on any car that has been parked outdoors. Garaged cars don't seem to have the problem near as bad. It stems from what is essentially a design flaw and is only accelerated by salty conditions. After a rain, the lower corners of the window glass hold water. Over the years, the window gasket shrinks and allows water to seep in. Here is where the design flaw rears its ugly head. The two halves of the hatch shell are pinch-welded together around the perimeter of the window opening under that gasket and the welding process destroyed what little rustproofing primer that was applied to the backsides of the metal. The pinch-welds are spaced about 2 inches apart allowing the water which has passed through the deteriorated gasket to enter between the halves of the hatch shell where there is no drainage or air circulation and thus it sits in there eating away at the unprotected pinch-welds. Like cancer, it spreads like wildfire from there and by the time you see it bubbling under the paint somewhere, its too late to do much about it. 85s had a superior gasket design as they did not have to accomodate the metal trim plus the gasket was protected from UV exposure by the fiberglass spoiler surround. In general, if you can find an 85-86 hatch, regardless of where, you are going to be in much better shape.

[SilverMk2]

I'd say they are 99-99.9% rust free here. The only thing I usually see rusted are sunroofs. Most aren't visible, but when you remove them you see a little bit starting. For some wierd reason my car has an abnormal amount of sunroof rust. Oh well, I've got about 5 completely rust free ones up in the attic :D . Hardest part to find at yards here are nice interior parts. Most Mk2s you see have 250k+ miles and are completely trashed. I've been kind of planning on getting maybe 5-10 hatches and maybe sending them out to one spot to get distributed from there. Unfortunately, I've been absolutely pegged for time this year.

[stevrock]

I shall rephrase then.

Anybody have trouble with their hatches, make sure you say if salt is used in the roads, or if you live around salt water etc.

It's kinda funny, my car's hatch is fine and the spoiler had been removed while it sat outside for 2 years. There's a littlee bit of bubbling on the underside of it but nothing at can't be fixed.

[ren0]

heh, well lets see. i run into supras at the local tear-a-part and it seems two out of five have a good hatches. no rust, exterior or when lifted.

my hatch, on the other hand has minimal rust. i am starting to get some around the edge of my wing.. but that is it, inside and out.

alas, i don't think my car is originally a utah car. and if you ask about using salt on the roads i'm gonna have to smack you because i live in a state known for our salty lake.

[TOYMAN321]

I live in so cal, my supra has seen the snow once since it rolled off the lot in 84. I dont live close enough to the ocean for the salt to effect things and I still had to replace my hatch due to rust.

[stevrock]

and if you ask about using salt on the roads i'm gonna have to smack you because i live in a state known for our salty lake.

I didn't know there's salt water down in utah :P :wink: