Rust on my early 911 - opinions needed

[Hockey fan]

Hi All,

In getting to know my 73.5 T I have found the following rusty area. It's in the right front fender well. It looks like the tire probably kicked up enough debris to break down the undercoating allowing water in. I'm wondering if anyone has an idea (other than loads of $$$) to fix this including which pieces it looks like I'll need. Has anyone here fixed the same area on their car? It looks like the fender flange needs some help but I'm worried about the curved part of the tub.

Thanks for any advice/help. I've only had the car a couple months but am trying to decide how much money to throw at it.

Jeff

[A Quiet Boom]

A good metal worker/welder could fix that pretty well. I'd remove the undercoating in the area as well as the rusty material so you can really assess the damage. It might take several hand formed pieces Tig welded in place to fix it but I'm sure it can be done. I had the firewall around the clutch master cylinder on a Bronco II fixed by a pro welder about 5-6 years ago before I was a skilled as I am now he did the whole job including pulling back the interior for $150. He just hammer formed some sheet steel and Tigged it in.

[Hockey fan]

A Quiet Boom,

Thanks for the reply. I haven't gotten a chance to really poke around. I'm still getting over the initial shock of finding it. I know it's an early car and it was just a matter of looking "hard enough" for it. I'm glad your reply was an upbeat reply. It will help the later doomsday replies easier to take

Anyone who's repaired this area - I'd like to hear about it.

Jeff

[A Quiet Boom]

My front tub is rusted through in the front corners, the only rust on the whole car, I plan to fix it the same way over the winter. The trick is removing ALL the rusty metal otherwise it'll come right back.

[Hockey fan]

I wish you lived next door to me!

[Tspringer]

I have done repairs to this area before. You need to remove your outer rocker cover, odds are you are going to find a rusted out panel benieth it.

This repair is not rocket science, but then again rust repair is usually fairly simple. Provided you have a good MIG welder and know how to use it (which is not hard either).

You will need a new rocker panel and inner fender shut panel. You can trim the required patch panels from the new parts. Then after cutting out all of the old metal, stripping the entire area and cutting the panels to fit, weld them in place. There is more to it... but you get the gist.

The real key is making sure the new panels fit right before welding and making sure you have identified all of the rust and removed it all.

[Hockey fan]

Tspringer,

Thanks for your reply. I hope to hear from someone in my area so maybe I can have them take a look in person. It sounds like my problem's not too terrible. I just don't have much experience with welding, so that's a bit of a bummer. I've seen pictures of much worse. I'm probably just in the early stages of denial "My car can't have any rust". I do know my rocker panels need a little help also. The curse of the 29 year old car.

Jeff
slightly rusty 73.5 T

[Allenk]

I've repaired this area as well and agree with the rest. Other than the pain of trying to form pieces so the repair is presentable when done it's not so bad. Based on the picture, more probing needs to be done and I would recommend following the outer 8" of the floor pan in search of weak/rusted metal. If water has been getting in for a while, there could be rust from the inside that isn't being seen. I also recommend removal of the outer rocker. On my car the inner panel was ok except toward the rear of the car where the extent was small enough that it could be pieced.

[Hockey fan]

Allenk

Thanks for the advice. I guess I've got a pretty good idea what to look at. Hopefully I can get my car all patched back up this winter. Would hate to see another early car head for the rust yard.