Rust question

[72cut]

Going over my 88, pretty solid but found this rust under passenger side of bed. Is thus worrisom?

[pizzaman09]

I guess it comes down to standards.  When compared to my daily driver's, 99 BMW M3, 99 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight, that is a tiny amount of rust.  If you are concerned if there is more rust lurking, the answer is most probably.  From a structural standpoint, that appears to be nearly nothing.  Just about any rust can be repaired with the right skills, but can get expensive it's on the shiny painted bits that you see.

[72cut]

Thanks

[The86manche]

The long and short of it is no and yes. Actively and currently no it is not a problem. But give or take a year or two and then it will be a big problem. I would view that as a problem myself and want to have it addressed asap. But that's just me personally. I hate rust.

[ghetdjc320]

That’s one of the pinch welds for the frame. Each one of the bed support “risers” have a drain under them that can easily get clogged up and trap water. That may be what happened in your case. Unless you’re looking to restore or really dig into it, I’d just hit it with a wire brush, throughly clean it out then brush on some POR15. You can get that stuff down into the rust very well on those seams. That will probably stop it for a good while. 

[gogmorgo]

Compared to most of what I deal with that's not bad at all. But if you don't do anything about it, five years from now it might become a much bigger problem. Getting the bulk of the loose rust off and then treating it so it doesn't spread is your best bet.

It's tough to say, as it might just be dirty, but it looks like it maybe had a rubbery undercoating applied. This sort of thing tends to happen when you do that, as it plugs drain holes, and traps moisture right against the metal. Hopefully there aren't other spots where it's lurking.