Skidplate on old, rusty wagon

[xcgates]

Has anyone put a skidplate on a rusty car?

I ask as I have put aside a bit of money for Primitive's skidplates (I've had a few adventures where I realized just how vulnerable I was in the middle of nowhere.) , but I'm a bit annoyed with all the rusty bolts I've had to deal with. Do you use bolts that are already in there, new bolts, or some combination? Okay, I know you use some new bolts, as the Primitive website said he provides 13mm head bolts, which I may see if its possible to get in 14mm head, as I'd like to avoid yet another size of wrench to remember to grab on my way out the door. (It gets pretty confusing between the bike and the car. )

I've made an appointment to get a U-haul hitch (finally!), and now really want to get skidplates. Cheap insurance, and whatnot.

And yes, I will be utilizing anti-seize, the most amazing compound ever invented in my book!

[OutbacKen2]

The rear of the skidplate attaches at the jack plate which is the small plate(its pretty solid) at the bottom of the front crossmember.The jack plate has prethreaded holes, it is a bolt on piece so if damaged easy replacement, my Primitive plate came with a new Subaru part jack plate in the box.
For the front it bolts into existing holes that have a nut tack welded in the lower radiator core support. I have removed mine probably 10-15 times for oil changes and such since I got it. just recently the center nut decided to break the tack weld and pull through.(probably my fault, I use a snap-on 18v cordless impact to tighten,I dont really crank on them but looking at the welds on the nut, I will be hand tightening them from now on. I am thinking this may be the only issue for a rusty ride is those welds on the nuts being pretty rusty and weak, and breaking loose. I think there should be a reasonably easy fix for it though.
I am working on a fix and strengthening fix for it. Other than that I love my Primitive skidplate. I have pics on my profile, I went with the 3/16" no access holes. It is a bit tricky to bolt on at first but after a couple times I got it down, its pretty heavy but it sure feels good when you hit something and know your ok.
I may have a pic of the front mounting points I will see if I can get posted.
And yes getting 14mm head bolts was the first thing I did. It uses 5 bolts 2 short in the rear and 3 longer ones in the front.
And the last thing I can think of is if you plan on running a Borla header or already are running one let Paul know and they can put longer spacers on(they are welded to the plate) it will hit with the regular spacers, just fyi

[xcgates]

Yeah, no special headers here, the hitch and skidplates are the only things I've added to the car (fun things, that is). Everything I've done to the car so far has been just keeping her running.

I'll check out the front nuts this coming week, but as long as it isn't completely corroded, it sounds like it should be fine. I don't own a single power tool, so I should be safe there.

I'm thinking I'll go with deleting access holes as well, and I am settled on 3/16, as I really am looking at this as insurance on a car I'm planning on keeping for a long time.