Fixing the rust question

[mracer2001]

OK, I was enjoying the cool weather of this weekend and decided to do a small project of painting my wheels - the black paint on fuchs was very dull and in need of some refreshment. Well, to my surprise, I noticed that I am having soem rust problems on the bottom of the wheel cavity in the front of the car. it's on both front and rear corners of the front wheels - lieft and right. Needless to say it got me upset. After a few moments I said to myself that being sad about it won't fix the problem and so I decided to tackle it with all the energy in the world.
2 options that I have so far is to
1. do it myself in my garage - no welding machine there or...
2. take it to my mechanic and try to patch it there.
If I stay at home - what are my choices - what can be done? The rust is on the sides of the tub and so it's not a body panel that cn simply be changed... So what do i do?

[mracer2001]

Oh.. sorry for not clarifying but there are holes on each side of the front cavity - both left and right fronts. So it's not just surface rust.

[svandamme]

like this?

[irl]

I have been doing some extensive rust repair on a 74. I have some great before and after photos that I need to scan and post because there is not enough rust repair articles here. I was a beginner 6 months ago and now I'm not scared of anything. The scary part is that you may have more rust than you realize once you start looking around. The first step is to get a small grinder and a wire cup brush and see how bad the areas are. I purchased a small 400.00 lincoln welder and several sheets of 18 and 20 guage steel and its been going real easy. And I must tell you I am a advertising exec not a mechanic. Also go to www.POR15.com and read about their products. Feel free to ask me any questions. Good Luck.

[Zeke]

Pictures! please.

[1973911s]

My car goes in Monday for rust repair in the drivers door jambs

Michael

[mracer2001]

svandamme - yeap, very simmilar... It looked like someone was trying to cover it/repair it with just bondo and underbody spray, but we all know how "helpfull" that usually is. Got me pretty upset, but i guess it's a lesson on a few levels here. Do a better pre sale inspection and it will teach me how to fight rust
I will post pics tomorrow, well, today in the morning as it is 2 am already! Hope to hear some good advises.

[mracer2001]

irl, i see we have simmilar tastes in cars - I got bmws and Porsche as well. As much as i love the 911, i really love the E30 M3.

[svandamme]

i took it to a body shop ( two old fella's with a passion for cars, they do full restaurations of cars , even ones from before the second World War), he had it welded with stainless steel
took him no less than half a day per side ( i did all the stripping) not counting the lifting of the car and stuff
he did cut everything out, and make new supports on the inside..drain holes,new edge , beating the stuff in to a form that fits the car... magic stuff




finished work :


don't have a better pic of the round part with me, but you can't see it was ever welded...the only thing i can see is the thick welds from the PO on the floor pan

[mracer2001]

wow, i can't even imagine how much that job cost!

[svandamme]

eeh , the biggest cost was for the painting

the guy charged something like 25 bucks an hour
but he did the welding in 16 hours
so 400 bucks for the welding ...
maybe another 100 for the new undercoating

all things considered, i don't think that's much for a job well done

but i did all the stripping myself,
spent 2-3 months of dissassembling and stripping
only in weekends since the car was in a garage 30 miles from my house...that saved me a lot of money...

[mracer2001]

Well, i thought it was going to be much more then that.
Sounds like a great deal!
Here are pics of what I am facing, or atleast what I found so far.

[svandamme]

step 1

stripper, and like Steve Wilkinson says in his book
"not the female kind"

eat the coating away , and see what you got

could be more , could be less than what you see

2

get it welded ( and cut away liberally , a bigger patch is better+ it allows inspection of what is behind it )

from the looks of it , it's going to be pretty doable , it doesn't seem to be in a spot where different panels join, but you won't know for sure till you've done step 1

mine was mainly at the edges, and right in the round part... all the way right up to the brake line

step 3

new antirust stuff, and coating

if you're not going to do the welding yourself , i would suggest taking it to a shop (or several) first, ask them what they think , if they can weld with the fender in place

i took everything off, because i didn't know what else i had , rust wise
but mine is older , and the rust signs where more obvious...

yours migt be doable witht the rust in place, dunno , depends on whoever does the welding

if they can tilt the car sideways enough, they can probably access those spot pretty good...

[mracer2001]

how hard is it to remove the panel? it's bolted, right?

[mracer2001]

Hey Ed, I sent you an email but not sure if you got it or not. So here is my question again. I went to the POR site and their products sound great. Which ones did you use and how do you feel about it?

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Rust Never Sleeps.

You can delay it, you can cover it up, you can hide it, and POR products are wonderful at all the above, but if you don't replace it with new metal, it's like having prostrate cancer and choosing a "watchful waiting" strategy.

Stephan

[mracer2001]

yes, of course, new metal is a sure way to go. I will do some clean up and see how much of it i really need.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Did I actually write "prostrate" cancer? And I've had it. Shows you how much writers know about spelling...

Stephan

[Zeke]

Well, you might get prostrate cancer from lying on the floor and working on that part of the car.

The rust on racer's car looks minor comparably speaking. I wouldn't fret about it. If ou can get it fixed reasonably, great. Otherwise, wait for a slow time at the bodyshop.

[irl]

I don't know guys, but the front well piece could be the front pan and support going under the battery. What does it look like from the inside. I would get a cup brush and start ripping offf the coating. The good part is these are all the usual spots and many on this board can give you advice on them. The bottom line is, they must be cleaned out and new metal welded back on.

The POR products are for once the repairs are done. They have a gunky anti rust product that is just like the POR15 paint but its thicker and covers weld seams before you spray rubber coating back on to give it a smoother finish. I use them to protect the new welded area, not cover up rust.