I found a 89 Sidekick for $400.  It runs and 4 wheel drive works great.  Only problem is some of the body mounts are rusted out and the front inner finders are in bad shape.  And where the seatbelts hook to the floor for the rear seat...(WHICH I NEED A REAR SEAT FOR CHILD SEAT)...are rusted out.  Can all of these panels be fixed?  And how much lift can be put on a sidekick without problems?

Is this a good deal and should i buy it?  NEED ANSWER QUICK.

ALSO...it is an automatic.... is that a problem, or is that good.  Or should I look for a 5 spd?  It is also fuel injected.


Clark

imo walk away. the rust can be fixed, but by the sounds of your description, i wouldn't waste the money. if you really want one keep looking foe one with no rust on the body mounts. seriously by the sounds of it, it probably has more problems.

The rust is actually the floor of the body, the body mounts on the frame are awesome.  The whole frame looks good for that matter.  Just the body is rusty.

Clark

well if it's not that bad then $400 is a cheap starting project.

The only real problem I have is all of the rust around the body mounts.  The motor is awesome...no leaks or anything.  Starts right up.  No hesitation.  I just want to be safe on the trail.  So I want to know for sure that I can fix the floor around where the body mounts to the frame.  If it is possible I will get it.

Clark

sounds good, you will have a hard time finding a trackick without rust under the rear seats.  You can put about 5" of lift on a sidekick safely.  3" bodylift and 1.5" coils spacers will let you clear 30's without trimming and possibly 31's.

sure anything can be fixed. if you could post pics then maybe everyone can get a visual idea, and give better advise. fixing rust is either time consuming doing it yourself or costly getting someone else to do it.

are you up for it ?

I hope you own a welder, cuz paying somebody to fix that will get to be $$$$$$$

Probably buy it and drive it. Put no money into it (yet). Maybe just the bare minimum to make it safe to haul a kid. Keep it and use it for parts when you find one with a bad drive train and good everything else. Seems like maybe worth it for parts. Assuming the engine and rest of drivetrain is tight and not leaking. For me it would be easier to swap parts around then to deal with an endless list of rust repairs. Adam

I do own a welder....but a welder I am not....at least YET anyway.  Is it possible to buy the pieces to weld in, or do you have to form them yourself.  How thick of metal would I need to use to fix it.  It is the body mount where teh floor behing the driver seat goes ___/-----.

I don't know what to do.  I know its a good price.  Are the automatics worth it, or should I hold out for a 5 speed?

Clark

Theres rust in WV ? George is my name, Rust is my game, Bring it to my house I'll show you my fame! For a price. LOL

hi,  having the same body mount rust issues with my '91.  not a welder either so i'm tackling it in stages.  found a good body shop with reasonable prices was the first thing.
then i had them do the ones in the back after i scraped off all the bed liner myself to save some labor time.  that was their suggestion... they're real helpful like that   .  cost me $250 and they did a real good job.  dropped the gas tank to get to all the rust so there won't be issues in the future.  undercoated the under body welds and top coated the patches inside.
this weekend i sprayed the rubberized undercoating all inside behind the body panels and then truck bed coated everything else including the back door.
next for the body shop in a few weeks will be the mounts behind the seats and in the front floor.  after that will be the rockers and the batttery tray.  i'm guessing should be about the same charge for each trip to them.  more than worth it to get a good professional job.  just my $.02.
 

Sounds good.  Do you know if you can buy inner door panels and track stuff to get the window working properly and a door handle for the inside so I can open the door?

Just wondering if there was someone out there that sells this stuff after market.

Clark

One other thing I have questions about.  The front hubs do not seem to turn.  They just look like hubs that would turn.  Is there a way to put turning hubs in them, or are the ones it has good to have?  Or do they suck?  Are they hard to replace if I need to, or if I just want to put a set of lock in/out hubs in it rather than keeping the auto hubs.

Clark

you can put in locking hubs from any samurai (please someone correct me if i am wrong) but one thing i would check is the frame brace in the rear that goes in front of the gas tank. if that is rusted through i would either pass it up or buy it and part it out and get more then you paid for it out of parting it. IMHO