Can this B-post be saved?

[tdskip]

Good news - passenger side looks good.

Bad news - the drivers side looks like this.

I was able to grind / wire brush the rust out and there are no actual holes or perforation.

What do you think?

 

[tr6lover]

sure, why not? nobody will see that anyway since it will be hiddne behind a fender and painted. unless of course you would like to pull it apart and start welding... try some por 15 or other rust inhibiting paint.
Randy

 

[Got_All_4]

Ya piece of cake. Wish mine was that good. Use a good metal prep first and follow the directions. Then use 2 coats ofPOR 15. Put the 2nd coat on just befor it's cured. Same when you top coat it. Should have a slight tack to the surface. Do the same with a enamal top coat after the second coat of POR 15.

 

[TR6oldtimer]

Some of those deeper pits have probably rusted through and bet if you hit it with a media blaster it it would hole. If so, no matter what rust inhibitor you use on the outside, rust will continue on the other side.

The good thing is you do not have to make a decision at this point. Once the rocker is off, a visual inspect of the inside of that post is possible, as is the ability to apply rust inhibitors. Worse case the cost of this part of the B post is only about $40 so not a project buster.

For now, I would just put on some Picklex20 to stop it from rusting until you are comfortable with what you want to do, and get on with the rest of your inspection.

 

[Andrew Mace]

It's a fairly important structural part of the car. With that much pitting visible, I kinda wonder how much strength it still has. As much as we all dislike thinking about worst case scenarios, I have to wonder what might happen if the car were to be hit on that side: would that B post hold up at all?