MChester

Looking at the photo, I think I have to agree this will be tough to make right again. The impact was high enough that the floor pan MAY be OK, but the bulkhead behind the doors that gives this car the bulk of its structural integrity has almost surely been compromised. The base of the A pillar structure may be OK as well. You have to cave the fender in pretty far to tweak that beyond repair. Replacing the door and front fender are relatively easy, but that B pillar/bulkhead are in BAD shape. I hate to see another rare 97 go to the crusher, but I think this car is worth the value of its components removed and parted out. If it were a rust free car, someone might want to spend the kind of time it would take to cut a B pillar from a donor car and put it in this one, but they would probably have to get the car dirt cheap to be worth it.

I'll bet you are correct, though I've not seen that in a Sol yet. For example, mine had some rust on the bottom of the outboard drivers side bracket, like you mentioned, but the floor is solid. No rust at all. I'm thinking in my case, given the wear of the carpet I am replacing, the PO used the car in winter without floor mats and the carpet got wet from snow/rain directly on the carpet and soaked up into the bracket. Just a thought, but it's the only thing I can think of to explain my slightly rusted seat bracket bottom. I can't understand how the PO took such good care of the car in every other way, but wore holes in the carpet due to a lack of floor mats. Crazy...

I agee it'd be great to check footwells but most folks are going to get upset if you start pulling up their carpets.

During the process of searching for and buying my car, I found several somewhat to very common issues among Del Sols. Let's face it, these cars are getting up in years and as such can display some common "undesired features". Rust on the rear quarters above the rocker panel and/or above the wheel well lip on both sides. Rust on the door jamb at the spot welds for the door striker. Center console doors don't operate and/or parts are missing. (Radio door, ashtray door, cup holder door, rear console doors/lock) Drivers seat outside bolsters broken down and/or badly worn depending on how a person gets in/out. Door armrest vinyl has shrunk and pulled away or cracked where people arms naturally rest on the door panels. Both sides. Roof panel and door seals/rubbers are often not maintained well. They will show cracks, chunks missing, etc... Trunk water leaks due to the seals on the rear sail panels or tail lights going bad. Pull the trunk liner aside if you can and look for signs of water sitting or a musty smell. Similar issues can happen with the 3rd brake light trim panel and water can leak into the rear cabin. You'll notice a smell if this has been happening long. Check under the trunk spare tire cover for rust while you are in the trunk. Pull the cover all the way out if you can. Pay close attention to the most forward part of the trunk floor where the cab meets the trunk floor. Rust here can be a big issue if allowed to get bad. Antennas broken off seem to be common and it's a bit of a bear to replace because it's in a tight spot in the body, although not expensive through DS Tuning. Power antenna was an accessory that seems to be rare. Power masts are available seperately from the motor drive and can usually be replaced seperately if your motor still clicks when the radio is powered up/down. Paint faded on Red and Black seems to be common and obvious to see. 3rd gear grind especially when cold is somewhat common on 5 spd cars where the transmission is either old or mistreated. Shift forks get bent from abuse. It's an expensive fix due to the labor involved. Door triangle window frames, the black painted parts, seem to rust out from the bottom up on some cars. Door lock mechanisms can get stiff and in need of lubrication and possibly rebending some rods that have "stretched" over time. You'll see the door lock pivot doesn't move easily and/or gets stuck partially closed/open when operating the locks via the power switch. Door and trunk lock rod clips can get brittle and break causing the trunk lock cylinder or door handle to not open the trunk/door. Clips are very inexpensive and not very difficult to replace. Fuel door and trunk open cables stretch over time and may not work consistently. I know the trunk cable has adjustment notches than can be used to tighten up the cable just a little. There are 3 notches. Mine is on the last and next step is a replaced cable. Fuel door MIGHT have the same adjustment, but I have not confirmed this. CV joints go bad eventually on all FWD cars. If you can drive in a tight circle very slowly in a parking lot first to the left then the right, making a couple circles each way with the steering wheel turned all the ay to lock, you want to listen for clicking coming from the front wheel area. If it clicks when doing this, then the CV joints are on their way out. Might last for many more months or might go the next day. Instrument panel or switch bulbs being blown is also common. These are pretty old cars. But relacing them is cheap and fairly easy if you are mechanicallly inclined at all. Caution, some switch bulbs have been discontinued BUT your local dealer parts person should be able to match up a similar bulb from another application. I will elaborate on this list as I get information including photos and part numbers/diagrams where applicable. If anyone has additional information, corrections, contributions, etc... Please post up. The goal is to build something worthy of Pinning to the top of this Forum for the Del Sol owner or perspective owner to use as reference. It's not intended as a slam in ANY way of our cars. I love my Del Sol. It is intended only to inform and assist.