Ack! Bin rust
Thread Starter
My wife bought me 2 RX-7s
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 3
From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ack! Bin rust
I was pulling the rear bins out to run new wiring for the stereo and found this:
The passenger side is pristine, but not the drivers. The sound deadening foam was soaked, so some water got into that area at some point, but I'm not sure how. Maybe a plugged sunroof drain. Anyhow, that appears to be the cause of the rust, since there is no evidence of rust on the exterior panel and link brace.
I'm no welder, so my question is this:
What are my options for repair?
If I have to pay someone to fix this, what sounds reasonable?
The passenger side is pristine, but not the drivers. The sound deadening foam was soaked, so some water got into that area at some point, but I'm not sure how. Maybe a plugged sunroof drain. Anyhow, that appears to be the cause of the rust, since there is no evidence of rust on the exterior panel and link brace.
I'm no welder, so my question is this:
What are my options for repair?
If I have to pay someone to fix this, what sounds reasonable?
GSL-EV
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 450
Likes: 8
From: Rapid City, SD
I have fixed a couple of spots like that with fiberglass reinforced structural epoxy (West Systems.) You clean out all the rust and treat with one of the rust conversion products. What you will probably find is that the damage goes all the way through to the wheel well. I cleaned back to bare metal about an inch past the damage and applied two layers of 8.8 oz cloth on the wheel well side. I filled the gap between the inside and outside sheet metal with thickened epoxy and then two more layers of cloth on the inside. Painted both sides with two coats of neat (not thickened) epoxy to completely seal and fill the glass weave. When cured, I scuffed the surface, primed and then painted the wheel well side with undercoat. I left the interior in primer. Two layers of 8.8 oz fiberglass is similar in strength to the original steel. This process will take a couple of days waiting for things to dry/cure but your actual time spent is just a couple of hours.
The advantage of fiberglass for these kinds of repairs is that the glass will still be there when the rest of the car has turned back into dirt. That could also be considered a disadvantage.
The advantage of fiberglass for these kinds of repairs is that the glass will still be there when the rest of the car has turned back into dirt. That could also be considered a disadvantage.
Old [Sch|F]ool
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 12,856
Likes: 568
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Poked a little at the RX-7. Planned on patching a quarter sized hole in the wheelwell. First, let's air-chisel the spot welds for the nonfunctional upper link/rear seatbelt reinforcement plate that is directly over the rust hole.
30 minutes later, I was staring at this:
An hour later, I was staring at this:
An hour later, I was staring at this:
30 minutes later, I was staring at this:
An hour later, I was staring at this:
An hour later, I was staring at this:
That isn't really that bad. Looks like you caught it in time. This job alone is what is encouraging me to learn how to weld. Lots of videos online about welding and really not that hard to do. It will be hidden when you are done anyways. Good luck!!
You can even do that kind of welding with a flux core. It's all about making a small bead (or a tack, I guess), then moving an inch or more over then another. This keeps heat down and won't warp the patch panel or underlying metal. So get a cheapo flux core and start fixing stuff.