New and Clueless: looking for some advice on where to start!

[Flash Runner]

Hey all, I'm finally able to post my first thread and the title about says it all.
I've been lurking all over this forum since May, and finally got my rig late June. Proud and in love of my new ride, Natural White 07 V8 Limited! Definitely an upgrade/"Big" change from my previous Speed3.

I've lurked on the forums for awhile and I just get lost on the vast information available, also because I'm not wealthy in automotive knowledge myself. I'm looking on advice for some "Issues" I'm having with rig and to start making my build plans. Lets get down to business:

I'm the 4th owner and I picked it up at 165k miles. The PO's put on a bull bar (assumed to be westin), an aftermarket security/remote start system, and some sort of lift. Oh yeah somehow my Limited has the SR5 wheels on it too, oh well. It's spent it's entire life up in NY and now it's down in GA, so the rust is an unusual sight to everyone including myself. My questions that I'm looking for some answers too are as follows:

How would I identify the type (body or suspension) and amount (1,2,3"?) of my lift?
I feel like my suspension is VERY stiff, especially in the rear, what would some ways I could go about fixing this? or am I just not used to how rough it normally is?
Whenever I accelerate there's a clicking sound from the engine. It seems to drive fine, but what would this clicking be?
What should I do about the rust?
What's the mandatory maintenance I need to make sure is being done?

I unfortunately have no records on this thing (besides a carfax - whoop dee doo). I'm also a college kid whose capital dry since I put my cash into buying this (I wasn't interested in financing right now).So everything that's going to be done to it will be in the time to come, I just wanna address any issues first before I go spending money on unnecessary but wanted mods.

I'll continue to look for answers to these questions on here myself, but any advice is greatly welcomed! Hopefully in about a year or so I'll be able to outfit this thing to take it off road the way I intend it to be used!
Thanks in Advance!

 

[cloudrunner]

Take a few pictures of your front/rear suspension setup so we can tell you what your working with.

 

[ray k]

I would start with general maintenance first(timing belt, coolant, differential fluids, transfer case, spark plugs, check cv boots) and once that's taken care of have fun with mods.

 

[Flash Runner]

Take a few pictures of your front/rear suspension setup so we can tell you what your working with.

I wasn't sure exactly what pictures would be helpful so I took a few to try and cover it all, let me know if there's more needed! Once again, Thanks in advance!

(Sorry for the photo size! I wasn't sure how to put text in between the pics, so I tried to put them in order of the rear first then to the front. The 3rd, 4th, and 7th pics are also rotated sideways)

 

[Androo]

Old man emu lift by the looks of it. Looks like a lot of rust too

 

[Flash Runner]

Old man emu lift by the looks of it. Looks like a lot of rust too

Yeah every time I crawl under there I get alittle uneasy, however I did have a pre-purchase inspection and they said it's mostly just surface rust.

Any idea on the best way to go about remedying it?

 

[Beaumont67]

Yeah every time I crawl under there I get alittle uneasy, however I did have a pre-purchase inspection and they said it's mostly just surface rust.

Any idea on the best way to go about remedying it?

Good read below / Professional restoration shops, don't use POR15:
I'm also a fan of wax-oil undercoat spray (like Fluid Film), to drastically slow down rust.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By: sevt_chevelle
Inner fender rust protection - Chevelle Tech

Re: Inner fender rust protection

Stainless would wreck havoc on the stamping dies, which would increase the cost of manufacture. Stainless also costs a lot more too, how much money can the general public afford to shell out over stainless cars? Forget repairing collision damage, stainless is not friendly to work with.

As for the original question, do you know what the POR stands for in the POR15? Paint Over Rust. How do you prevent rust from just painting over it? In my travels working as a tech in some high end collision shops and a restoration shop I have NEVER seen POR15 being used. It's a band aid product marketed to people who don't know any better.

You simply can not have a piece of metal that has some amount of rust on it, apply some product over top of it and expect it to last.

When you go to install those rockers and cab corners you are gonna have to weld them in. You'll read and watch youtube videos of people grinding the seems down to bare metal and then applying weld thru primer claiming that protects the welded joint from future corrosion. Pure BS and weld thru sucks.

You are far better off to apply epoxy on the entire backside surfaces. When you are ready to make your plug welds take a spot blaster, flattened drill bit, burnishing wire bit whatever, and removing the epoxy from that hole.

Most people fail to address the welded area after the fact. No matter what product what brand, that weld will burn it away from the heat zone leaving you bare metal. BY FAR the most important thing to do after welding is to protect it or coat it. Mix up some epoxy, take a foam brush and brush it over the metal, pour it over a seam and basically saturate that seem with epoxy.

You can also buy something like this, load it with reduced epoxy.
TP Tools® Rustproofing Gun with Wand - TP Tools & Equipment
You slide the wand down into the rockers, cab corner, bedside etc and spray away. The tip has a 360 degree nozzle. Once the truck is painted you take that same gun, load it full of a rust prevent product like 3M's rust fighter I or something similar
Fluid Film Lubricant & Rustproofing Material - Gallon - TP Tools & Equipment

The insides of most German and some European cars are loaded with the above wax based products and they don't have any where near the same corrosion issues that American based vehicles face especially GM.
Currently working on How to videos and replacement sheetmetal panels.

 

[Jdog]

Yeah every time I crawl under there I get alittle uneasy, however I did have a pre-purchase inspection and they said it's mostly just surface rust.

Any idea on the best way to go about remedying it?

Get you some sand paper and a few beers, maybe less beer and more wire wheel. Then find you some good paint to make it look pretty.

 

[Juicy]

The insides of most German and some European cars are loaded with the above wax based products and they don't have any where near the same corrosion issues that American based vehicles face especially GM.

I don't understand why they don't do that in the U.S.

 

[Rodtheviking]

OME,. pull the little paper tags off the springs, there should be a number like 2895 etc. That will help identify the type of spring, if its an medium or HD.

On the rust issue, I use WAXOYL on my frames when I can get it.