RUST Modular Cars Guide

The RUST Modular Cars Guide

RUST Modular cars made their debut in the Modular Vehicles Update on July 2, 2020. These vehicles are capable of being modified to suit the needs of a player or group of players inside of the game. Along with the addition of this new vehicle type, road topology has been modified to be wider and smoother in order to make driving cars easier.

This guide will cover the following topics:

  • What are modular cars?
  • Where do I find modular cars?
  • How do I use a modular car?
  • How do I get engine components for my modular car?
  • How do I customize a modular car?
  • How do I lock a modular car?

What are RUST Modular Cars

RUST modular cars are a type of vehicle that allows players the ability to customize a vehicle to suit their needs. Players can customize their vehicles by adding and swapping out modules that provide a variety of functions, such as extra storage for loot or increase player-carrying capacity.

Where to Find RUST Modular Cars

The rust-bucket chassis of modular cars can be found around roadsides. They may initially be confused for the chassis of junk pile cars, but they can be recognized via the sparks and smoke shooting forth out of their nearly-destroyed frames.

The chassis will have a somewhat random assortment of modules attached to them, to begin with, such as an extra row of seats or a flatbed for a truck. These modules will be in varying states of decay and need to be repaired using a combination of resources depending on the module: metal frags, high-quality metal, and wood.

Although RUST modular cars use low-grade fuel to run, a player is able to push the vehicle much like pushing a rowboat. Be warned, when pushing the vehicle up or down hills, you can and will get hurt if the car rolls back onto yourself or other players.

How to Use a Modular Car in RUST

Before you are able to drive a modular vehicle off into the sunset, you must first equip the vehicle’s engine with 5 components that can found as loot, crafted, or bought from certain vendors. Each component has 3 levels of quality: low, medium, and high, that increase the effectiveness of the vehicle’s stats.

RUST Modular Cars 5 Engine Block Components
Engine block components

RUST Vehicle Engine Components

  • Spark plugs
  • Valves
  • Carburetor
  • Crankshaft
  • Pistons

Once these five components are placed in the engine block portion of the vehicle, then the car will be ready to drive.

Where to Get Engine Parts

Every engine block needs 5 different engine components in order to operate and missing just one makes the entire vehicle useless. Add in the fact that engine components also have durability and you may find yourself playing mechanic more often than you’d like.

Low-quality components can be found as loot in boxes, barrels, and crates. They can be blueprinted for 75 scrap each and crafted by players. These can be useful for bringing vehicles back to your team’s vehicle lift for pulling off desirable modules.

Medium quality components can be purchased at the new Air Wolf vendor in Bandit camp. This vendor can be found on the second floor of Air Wolf and will sell engine components and car lifts for scrap. Players are then able to blueprint the medium quality engine components for 125 scrap a piece.

the engine component vendor
The engine components vendor at the Air Wolf bandit camp vendor.

High-quality components can be purchased at vending machines inside of the outpost but they cannot be researched.

How to Customize a RUST Vehicle with Modules

A variety of vehicle modules are available to create the perfect death mobile. These modules include:

  • Cockpit modules to contain the driver
  • Passenger modules to hold your team
  • Storage modules to hold all your loot
  • Flatbed and tankard modules for carrying objects and fluids
screenshot of a car with two storage modules
A modular car with two storage modules

To begin vehicle customization, first, you will need a vehicle lift and a source of power to power it up. Drive your vehicle onto the powered lift and use the power station off to the side of the lift to begin editing the vehicle. You will see the available vehicle sockets with the current modules that are being used by your vehicle.

Drag modules to and from the sockets to your inventory to swap out modules depending on the type of vehicle you are aiming to build.

Vehicle modules can be found on modular cars as they spawn throughout the game world. Once you’ve found a car that has socketed the module that you want, fill the engine block with the necessary components, and drive the vehicle back to your powered vehicle lift. You will then be able to remove the desired module and add it to your preferred vehicle.

How to Lock a Modular Car

To lock your car and prevent unauthorized players from driving it, you will again need the vehicle lift. The vehicle edit screen will require that you have a cockpit module installed before you are able to see the controls to add a lock. To create your key and lock your vehicle, click the “craft key” button on the lift control panel.

This will create a metal key for your vehicle at a cost of 15 scrap. This key must be on your person when attempting to enter the locked vehicle. The same goes for the members of your team; they will each need a key in order to enter the locked vehicle.

how to create a lock for a modular car
Creating a lock for a modular car

We hope you found the RUST Modular Cars Guide to be helpful and that you are now on your way to creating interesting and terrifying modes of transportation to enjoy.

Squishface's avatar

About Squishface

Squishface is the co-founder and owner of Corrosion Hour; a RUST community and website dedicated to helping server owners with the administration and navigation of the ever-changing landscape of RUST. As a tech professional with over a decade in the field and a deep love of gaming, she spends much of her time in code researching and developing ways to bring meaningful content to players and readers.

View all posts by Squishface →

Leave a Reply