Hey all. I'm a seasoned Maxima owner and I recently moved to the east coast after selling my 6MT A33. I own a few cars, and i ended up finding a Sherwood Green 96 5MT A32 4th gen, for pretty cheap. It has 300k on the body and 100k on the motor. Trans is unknown but clutch feels good. Shifter is very aged and jiggly. Makes a weird nose when the car is steering/in the direction of right. Rear Bose's are blown to crap. Overall, I'm hyped to get into another Maxima once again in my life.
Before i tackle anything cool obviously I want to address maintenance and safety, while the car passed inspection in both NH and MA even for rust, i still don't like rust (duh.) and want to explore what my options are for replacing these panels. I was going to do prep work, wire brushing, cutting and sanding, before i give it to a shop for the big stuff/welding. I'm aware there was a sunroof drain that causes this kind of rust. Is that fixable, or mod-able? is this preventable in the future after this work? It seems the core support, and frame bars are in tact and just surface rusted.
Also how about that noise? Yet to jack it up to check for bearing/axle play but i suspect either one.

 

You're going to pay far more than what the car is worth to get all that repaired properly. And frankly that rust is so bad you're going to find even more once you cut it open. Even if you were to do 100% of the work yourself, I'd say it isn't worth the effort. Run it into the ground then find one in better condition. BTW, most shops won't even do work like this anymore, they just want easy insurance work.