Hey, I'm new to cars and I recently picked up a 1974 mercury comet that I want to fix up. Most of it seems pretty straight forward only there's a little rust on the front clip and my uncle says it could be affecting the integrity of the car and the engine could fall out while driving if its not fixed. Does anybody have any experience with this or tips they could give me for what to do? Thanks in advance, I'd really appreciate it.
While it should be repaired, that little bit of rust ain't gonna cause the engine to fall out. It it's rotted out at the frame rails/lower shock towers, could be a different story.
I’m looking at a lot of rust, what’s more concerning, rust I can’t see. My opinion, maybe more of a challenge someone new to cars is up for. Rust repair, very expensive, time consuming and takes someone who knows what they’re doing to get it right.
Rust is like an iceberg. You see 10% and 90% may be there where you can't see it. The car looks really clean outside, so that hopefully means the bodywork and repaint were done well. I am an unstoppable optimist. With the rust around the shock towers, that tells me you need to cut them out and do a modern front suspension and brakes and gain a whole lot of room for a 5.0 Coyote motor. Definitely check the under side of the car, especially around frame rails and suspension points to see how much good/bad is there.
What are your intentions with the car? Is it is more of a daily driver or are you looking to make a show car out of it? How is the rust in the rest of the car? Has it been fixed, or just covered up? In looking at the rust pictured....it is not that severe. If this is more of a daily driver car, I would not worry about it. It can be repaired. Most of the rust in that are is going to be under the front fenders.
probably will be driveable until some suspension part releases before engine looks to take some serious but non-cosmetic welding repair after disassembly... and I'm also an optomist. check the frame rails bend under steer box and idler '76 VIN GT 200 ! (RIP - parts) . . my early Comet had al ittle rust in front clip also : . - - - hav efun
