Yet another rust problem - front suspension pan
 

Just found this problem in the front suspension pan on my 85. The sides of the channel seem to be solid with the rust limited to the bottom flat area. Can this be patched? Car is primarily a track car so will a patch job be able to take the strain of track use?

http://www.dtmotorsports.com/~krl/screwed2.jpg

and

http://www.dtmotorsports.com/~krl/screwed1.jpg

I would bet that the rest of the pan is in similar condition. Start grinding away at the hole and see if you can get to some good metal.

Sure it can be patched. I'd be more worried about how a galvanized '85 rusted from the inside out. The second, and for that matter the third, bolt hole down seem to indicate some rust issues as well - unless you've been racing in red clay country....

You might want to have a pro open the rocker panel just to be sure you're not patching something that should be replaced.

Is there any chance this car was flood damaged?

Don't think there was ever any flood damage - the rockers seem intact. Rust in battery box area is what started this repair. Pulled off the top of the battery tray and found surface rust over the suspension pick up point but after much poking around everything seemed solid in there. The battery tray area is open to the suspension pan cross member where this new spot is so if water is in the battery tray area it will drain down in to the cross piece.

The dreaded battery acid overflow is what I bet caused this. If this is the only rust you find then you are in good shape. Weld a patch in and you will be just fine. Wire wheel and clean up the other surface rust and make sure you treat and seal the areas.

That's a typical area where water drains into. As long as the portion where the A-arm attaches is solid your probably OK. Don't kid yourself about doing the suspension pan replacement like it's no big deal. Despite what a lot of these posts say, its a fairly labor intensive job. Some of these posts they make it sound so easy, but believe me having just replaced one myself, I have some bruised knuckles to show for it.

I would just grind away as much rust as you can and then treat the affected areas with phosphoric acid (rust inhibitor). Make sure you pour some of it so it gets inside the that hollow area where you obiously can't reach in to physically remove the rust. Then I would patch it by welding or probably better use some of that 3M adhesive since in this case its a non structural repair.

The new sealed battery is going in the smugglers box so no more worries about acid overflow. The battery tray area has been poked and prodded and seems solid. Everything accessible there has been soaked with por15 so should be good for now. Looks like I need a welder to patch it up.