TL;DR: 87 Samurai with known rust under the rear fender flares. Scared to pull carpet.
Ok my samurai only has 2 spots of rust and that is on the drivers side rear fender well under the factory/dealer add on flares. I would like to pull carpet as its a 4x4 and the carpet will only trap water.
I dont want to because that would force me to fix it where as not pulling carpet lets me ignore it until i buy the Auqalu aluminum tub when the rust gets to bad.
afraid to find this 
My Sidekick was way worse than that. The front frame cross-tube was rusted in half. The one that keeps both wheels pointing the same direction. I ended up fixing it all - it required replacing the entire rear seat/cargo area with a 1"x1" frame and new sheetmetal, new front floors from the firewall to the turn-up for the rear seat, and from inner-rockers to the tunnel on both sides, as well as new outer rockers. It's amazing how well Herculiner will cover up E36 M3ty welds... 
In reply to petegossett:
main thing is to do it properly would require a welder which i dont have.
A welder is only a Craigslist away.
In reply to Stampie:
the only budget would be for a flux core welder from harbor freight or tractor supply.
The rust is there whether you see it or not, the carpet only holds in moisture to allow it to worsen. Bite the bullet and pull it, seeing it will serve as a constant reminder to deal with it sooner as opposed to later.
Define "properly"
In reply to TRoglodyte:
not a street sign, pop rivets and seam sealer/silicon
Wait ... You're in Asheville? I'm about to send a PM.
OK tried to but got this?
Email me if you want. My nickname @ my nickname. com.
Just pull the carpet. I was the same way with my Z. Ended up being alot less worse than I feared.
MrChaos wrote: In reply to Stampie: the only budget would be for a flux core welder from harbor freight or tractor supply.
That's exactly what I used to fix my Sidekick.
Pull carpet, fix rust, spray w/ bed liner, and be done with it. Ignoring the problem will only make it exponentially worse when you eventually HAVE to deal with it.
Also, I bought one of the $99 HF special flux core welders for the very purpose of replacing the floor pans in my XJ. I threw the HF wire out immediately and put a spool of Lincoln .030 flux core from Home Depot in. It worked very well, never had a single issue with wire jamming or anything like that. Only complaint is the low duty cycle, but that just means you get to drink more beer while you're welding .
I'll also second the comment about bed liner hiding E36 M3ty welds.
I guess I can pull the carpet from the back I still need to figure out how to get the gun rack out from between the seats so I can get a center console for it. I hope it isnt welded to the floor.
MrChaos wrote: I still need to figure out how to get the gun rack out... I hope it isnt welded to the floor.
An angle grinder will make short work of that, if it is. 
So you have $100 or so for a welding rig? And you need to do sheet metal work... Get an oxy ace set up!
Craigslist has bottles regs, torches, hose, and all for chumpchange. People cant give this stuff away half the time and even less know how to fire up the torch. With sheet metal you just need shade 5 or 7 glasses, no gloves no helmet no full leather... (although that stuff is good if you are grinding)
I have bought 3 multistage harris regs, a full size acetylene bottle full, 3 oxygen tanks (one full the other two empty but sold them for $100 a piece empty to a welding supplier ) , a cart, a few lbs of mild steel rod and brazing, strikers, tips for $50. Picked up 5 or 6 torches for $5-10 a piece if they don't get thrown in for free. (The cheapest stuff isnt always advertised as such, look for shops closing, and stock piles of mechanics tool in garage ads).
Find a small lightweight torch with "brazing tips" (which weld too but 99% of the populous doesn't understand that). Watch some youtube videos on how to weld and test the for leaks with soapy water.
Stampie wrote: A welder is only a Craigslist away.
The Eastwood 115v welder is only $279 right now, you couldn't touch a decent CL welder for twice that.
Just tack it, drive to a pro welder, have him Seam it. Done.
Pulled the carpet and found this....
The top pic shows the only interior hole and that is mostly dirt around it not more rust. The main issue is the rust in the "valley". In the top pic and the bottom pic you can see where the rust converer that I sprayed on/in one of the holes that is in the fender well under the flair. there are 2 holes about the size of a golf ball as is the one in the samurai.
Any tips of how to fix the valley portion properly?
Thats really not bad. Sadly I cant really offer tips on how to fix it but doesnt look like it should be that hard.
Fitzauto wrote: Thats really not bad. Sadly I cant really offer tips on how to fix it but doesnt look like it should be that hard.
waiting on those who live in the rust belt to comment/be salty. But I know it isnt that bad. I still need to pull the second battery box out of the back but the po use 4 different sized screws/bolts to hold the battery box down and now i have to pop the heads off of 2 screws.
The definitive answer to rust is cut it out, but that's pretty extreme for where things are now and lack of welder. Without pulling it apart - wire wheel it or wire brush the valley - get rid of as much as possible, hit it with a rust converter or something along the lines of a POR 15 (follow instructions exactly). Prime over the POR while it's still tacky. May want to seam seal it to keep dirt out in the future - dirt holds moisture. Should keep it at bay for a while.
MrChaos wrote: waiting on those who live in the rust belt to comment/be salty.
Still waiting on pictures of rust.
In reply to oldtin:
that valley seems like a really stupid design imo.
Pretty common where the inner tub is spot welded to the outer skin. Cost savings to not cover it in seam sealer from the factory. As a rust belter - most sammies have long disappeared from these parts. Still qualifies as nearly rust-free around here.
This would be "a little rust in the usual spots"
You'll need to log in to post.
