[T3] A Rust Story...

[J. Jonik]

71 Sqbk FI Std shift.

  Half a block from my house it sounded like someone hit my right front fender with a big snowball, with a rock in it.  Bam!
  Went around the corner back home and found right front drooping. No snow.  I knew, from experience, it was a busted torsion bar....the lower one.  No problem...I have spares. First one I found was, fortunately stamped "R" (right) in the proper place as the book describes.   So, easy removal...no need to remove brake disk etc.

BUT, tapping out the other end proved impossible. Usually, it's back off the bolt on the left side a little and do some tapping, and it's tapped out, into the axle tube...where you fish it out with some coiled heavy wire, or push it out with some  wire rod from the left side.  Then Replace the torsion bar.

 No luck.  No amount of tapping worked. And, the adjacent (side) rusted part of the axle beam, with holes in that area as well, began to open wider as rust poured out.  By and by, it was clear that the axle beam was beat...not enough metal to support a new torsion bar even if I could get the spline end out.  (Later, after removing the beam and seeing behind the heavy rubber, a bigger rust hole was unveiled.   The torsion bar, at that point, was in Rust City.  And it gave up.)

So...parts car to the rescue.  Removed axle beam from the 73 parts car...seeing no such rust holes etc...removed axle beam from the 71...and all set to do the exchange...changing brake disks and steering damper etc etc.

BUT...what do we find when removing the gas tank but a swath of rusted out metal, from left side to right,  just below the rear of the gas tank, out of view , apparently victim of leaks in the air vent slots just below windshield.  Where else did the water come from?

Question: How the heck to check, and repair, any rust and leaks inside those air vents?  The area is inaccessible.  

Or...are the leaks maybe from bad windshield seal?

This goes further.   Apparently (not sure) some bad rust (unforgivably unnoticed) appeared under the car, at the curve that makes room for the wheel-well. Serious metal damage...that MAY have been result of any air vent or windshield seal leaks dripping down, behind the rug in front of front passenger side floor.   I worry that this is early stage of failure of the big metal arms that hold the axle beam...meaning the end of the car.

  If this prompts some to do earlier, and more frequent inspection of these sites for water leaks and rust....I've done my job.    Question now is....how to fix and stop the problems?

  It's relatively possible to get new parts, but where to shop for a new chassis?
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