How immediately should I get this rust spot repaired? I've read it can be fairly common, but not how dangerous/important it is. The passenger side seems fine, but on the driver side there's quite a bit of corrosion and even a few small holes at the wheel well.

 

Get a MIG welder and some sheet metal. Very easy fix

 

Seen pics of some with rust there affecting the upper suspension mounts - THAT would be a real hazard....


Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

the suspension mount seems fine. It's pretty far from there. While it's heavily corroded, the most of it is in front of the wheel well.

 

Got any pics of the rust? I owned a 84 with minor bin rust, 3 Chicago winters later the rust grew almost half the size of the original spot. If you have the patience ,a weekend or two and access to a MIG welder it can be repaired for very cheap. Good Luck

 

Rust wasn't exactly where I recalled, or as small as my memory served it to be...

http://i55.tinypic.com/2a4sti0.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/2cdak4w.jpg


it's not too terrible... is it?

 

That looks like its going to be fun.

 

I definitely paid way too much for the car...

How would you recommend going about it? Knock out all the rust, clean it up, weld over?

 

wow, that looks almost identical to my situation. passenger side looks great, but driver side has a good sized hole. One gentle whack with a hammer and it would be a large hole

The midwest just destroys cars...

I would recommend cutting out most of the panel (until you get to decent looking metal), make a cardboard template, and cut out a new panel out of similar sized sheet steel. Weld it in and paint it up.

Let us know how it goes, I'm really dreading doing this on my car. I might just leave it :/

 

I reckon I'm gonna leave it till September when I take her off the road for the winter.

 

Thats one of the things I first check for when I buy a fb (been through 25 of them since 01 ) As long as you didnt pay more than a grand. Just rock it until fall and get to welding.

 

1.8 grand...

 

as long as its worth it to you thats all that counts.

 

I just finished doing mine today... If you look closely when you get under there you'll see exactly where the water was able to get in. The overlapping skins don't meet in certian areas 100% creating small gaps where the water off the wheels will find it's way in and start the rust from the inside out. After welding in new metal I seam sealed all the seams in the entire wheel well and gave it a layer of undercoating.

 

This is my plan indeed... I just hope it lasts till September when I plan to do it

 

i have the same problem with mine, i was goin to remove all the rust and putting bondo, but what would be best, if i put a sheet of metal, or bondo it?

 

Sheet metal.... Bondo is for smoothing IMO only.

 

+1

 

okay thanx cshaw07

 

Did you just cut out the whole wheel well, or only the parts that were rusted? Do you have before/after pics?

 

A cleaner job could of been done if I didn't use a pointed hammer to shape the metal, knew how to weld a little better or had a better welder, and could use air tools more w/out upseting my neighbors... but you get the idea. I'm happy w/the end result.










Seam Sealer...






Undercoating...



I still have to do the inside, but at least the water won't get in anymore to make it worse.

 

i havent cut anything yet but i have pic of the rust on the wheel well! im goin to buy the metal sheet this week hopefully by wednesday!
here are some pics of the rust that im going to cut!

 

both yours look considerably less... severe.. than mine.

 

how bad are yours? do u have pics?

 

reply #6 on the thread