That smell might be from your cam cover gasket failing. I just replaced mine myself last month. The rust I was told is not worth fixing unfortunately :(
I am however having issues with rust. The left side rear quarter panel has a couple of small rust bubbles and the bottom of the wheel well furthest to the rear has rusted away completely :( I took it to the body shop and was told it would cost more to fix than the car is worth.
Anyone else...
2001 Protege MP3 (blue) about turn 170K soon. I'm in shock! the thing won't die. The most work I've had done to it outside of routine maintenance is replace the original 9yr old clutch and fly wheel. Also a couple of weeks ago I replaced valve cover gasket.