86 'Rustona'

[Darkapollo]

After discovering swiss cheese on the floor (NOT from the T-Tops )I was going to scrap the car. However a few of my buddies talked me into restoring it and welding in patch panels.

The big hole on the pass side is already patched, I removed the spare tire well (I tried to cut out the rust, but every time I got some of it, more showed up..) OH WELL weight savings!!, but when I went to patch the drivers side (a quarter sized hole by the seam..) the whole seam crumbled under the heat of the welder! It went from a tiny patch to a whole new seam!!
Not the cleanest welds, but the welder I am using only has flux-core, no gas




SEEMS like there is a problem here..

[turbokid]

Wow looking good. Keep up the rust repair. Its getting harder and harder to find rust free td's so saving those rusty ones is starting to become pretty normal.
Q

[Vigo]

If you have any harbor freight flux wire make sure to replace it with something like Lincoln. Made a huge difference on my $90 harbor freight welder! Much prettier now..

[karlak]

Hate fighting cancer. Would rather pay shipping for a rust free shell. With that said I admire anyone with the skills to fix it.

[ljbprrfmof]

We have an arc welder my Grandfather bought, probably before I was born. Last winter I needed to weld a repair panel in my old plow truck. Using old stick... I think I used 2 dozen to go 5 inches, I made the floor solid, but it was not sealed, and definately not pretty.

Next winter I am going to teach myself the mig welder. I hear it will make e look like a pro!

[Darkapollo]

I just got a good deal on a t2 89 so I will have plenty of patch panels.

[turbokid]

Thats awesome. But the patch panels are not the best part of that deal LOL

[Darkapollo]

You mean besides the obx equipt 555? Or the complete t2 swap (toasted turbo) or the full leather interior? Not bad for what im paying my cousins husband for it.
Don't know what it is body wise.. Saw some bondo in the pics.

[turbokid]

Wow that sounds like a hella awesome car. The a555 sounds pretty sick. I was thinking 11'' brakes, common block, a555, etc lol

[cobra2411]

I've spent lots of time repairing rust on my Chevelle... Probably 1200-1500 hours... Mig with the gas is definitely the way to go, lots cleaner. I recognized that as flux wire as soon as I saw it. For the trunk well I would have put some strengthening ribs in. Take a couple straight 2x4's and screw them together with a strip of plywood between them, like 1/2 or 3/4. It doesn't need to be much, just a spacer. Then take a piece of 1/2 or 3/4 hardwood dowel and hammer it into the steel over the gap in the 2x4's. It keeps the metal from oil canning. Or you can get a bead roller from China Freight for around $100 IIRC and do the same thing...

I used 16 ga for most of my repairs. 14 ga where I needed strength and 18 or 20 where it was complex. The higher the number the thinner it is.

For the welder I used a lincoln Mig with a CO2/Argon mix and .025 wire. It worked out pretty good. Just remember to tack the panel in good first, then jump around welding 1" sections. Keep moving around the panel and fill in the gaps so that you're not getting the panel too hot or it will warp.

I also use the small self drilling 1/8" screws to hold everything together. In areas where I have to butt panels I use small strips between them so I have something to weld into and I have something to screw the panels together with. You just have to be able to get behind it to seal it up, undercoat with a spay tube works good.

Here are some pictures of a repair I did on the cowl of a 66 Impala convertible. In the one picture you can see the backing strip.

[Darkapollo]

Thanks for the tips!

[Darkapollo]

Fixed what little body rust there was.. Glad it was mostly surface rust that can be patched over with a little filler and none the wiser.



Also, sealed up the welded panels with rubberized seam sealer and rust-proofing primer (the rust-colored red).



BRING ON THE INTERIOR!!!

[turbokid]

Looking good. Eventually I have some of this to do on a couple of my cars... *SIGH*
Rust repair sucks but man you are doing a pretty dang good job. Keep it up

[Darkapollo]

Looking good. Eventually I have some of this to do on a couple of my cars... *SIGH*
Rust repair sucks but man you are doing a pretty dang good job. Keep it up

Thanks!

Yeah rust repair sucks, but now I know that I wont have any little suppresses in a year or two when my seat falls through the floor and I am flintstoning my way home.

I need to get more of the rubberized sealer. I have to spray the bottoms of the panels as well to seal up the gaps from the bottom so I dont get any phantom rust spots. Stuff was expensive though.. $15 for the can.

[WickedShelby88]

Wish you could of got it when I had it. All it needed at the time was the spare tire well. Looking good though. I'm glad you were able to fix it.