Nissan S13 Silvia rust repairs - Our Shed

By: Kian Heagney - Words & Photos

Date: 26.02.2023

Kian gets some nasty rust fixed as he prepares his S13 Silvia for rego

Rust, it’s the four-letter word all us classic car tragics shudder at, and unfortunately my 1990 Nissan Silvia S13 was by no means free of the dreaded car cancer.

When I first got the Silvia in early 2020 I’d been assured by the seller that it didn’t have any substantial rust, and because of the way the car was stored I couldn’t duck my head under it and check for myself, so I took his word for it. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a white lie, as soon as I got the thing in the air just days after picking it up and had a good look at the rear section of the driver-side sill.

It turns out that area is a common rust spot on these S13s, and mine was no different. While the passenger side was fine, the driver’s side had around 30cm worth of crusty metal next to the rear wheel arch. Not only was it an eyesore and an issue that would only get worse, but I knew it’d be a big roadblock to me getting the little Silvia through a Victorian roadworthy inspection I needed to pass to get it registered.

After I spent a bunch of time and money getting the car running properly (which regular readers will know all about), I set about finding a local panel beater who could take on the job. Unlike your typical Aussie or American classic they don’t make patch panels for these things, and I’ve never held a welder in my life so I thought it’d be best to let a pro tackle this one – unfortunately Torrens lives a bit too far from me!

It’s times like this in which you really have to appreciate the automotive grapevine. I just happened to mention to a good friend and fellow Nissan fanatic that I was in need of a decent rust repair job, and he put me straight onto his good mate who is an A-grade panel beater.

He wasn’t at all phased by the job, and once he found space to take it on he barely had the car for a full working week and I got the call to come pick it up, painted and everything – he’d even given it a bath and vacuumed it! To top it off the bill was about half of what I’d budgeted for the repair, and he took photos of the step-by-step process so I knew exactly what’d gone into the job. Another point of note is that being a two-tone machine with a hard trim line defining between the gold and white made the painting side much easier when it came to blending.

What had started out as a very scary impasse to getting this car registered had unintentionally led me to a trustworthy contact I could use for specialist jobs like this, and while the bill was bloody cheap it’s those sorts of people you meet that you’ll get the real value out of in the long run. Now, time for that roadworthy inspection!

1. The nasty rust in the driver’s side sill, the Japanese know how to do swiss cheese!

2. Cutting into the cancer always finds more, lucky there was enough good metal left to work with

3. Welding new steel in, much nicer

4. Nobody wants to see this on their body

5. All finished, now I’ll have to get the rest of the car painted!

6. Time for a RWC and rego and then a long drive

From Unique Cars #474, January 2023

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here