Advice on rust repair

[adrianphu123 73]

Hey guys,

 

I need a bit of advice as to the best way to deal with this rust section i have. Its on the inside lip of the rear wheel arch.

 

Pics are included:

 

 

 

Although it looks like it, theres no rust inside, its just all dirt.

 

 

the full extent of the rust

 

 

And the red arrow shows the rough location of the rust.

 

I can just get the grinder in there, but im having trouble getting the welding gun into some spots.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

adrian

 

[gerg 10,871]

You can choose not to patch it at all, instead clean it up, treat it with converter and cold gal it, then body seal over it. Should last many more years. If you want to weld it, that might start a chain reaction of rust from inside, as welding burns off all the paint that protects it.

[adrianphu123 73]

The OCD in me wouldnt let me do that!

[gerg 10,871]

I find the smaller "gasless" type welders have smaller tips so you can get in there a bit more easily, but I'd recommend using gas/mig wire with them for weld quality alone. To gain access yourself, you might have to resort to taking out the rear axle. Up to you to determine that I guess: the best welds are done from the most comfortable position possible.

 

I hope your thin sheet welding skills are up to it, as XD-onwards Falcs had thinner sheetmetal throughout.

 

As for protecting internal surfaces, you could get a can of underseal when you're done and attach a nozzle off a WD40 can with extension attached. Spray down the side of the inner guard with it till your heart's content.

[revhead 1,392]

best repair is to cut and remove affected area ,but this will take heaps of time,.welding the rust holes shut is hopeless as the rust will be back quicker then a dose of herpes, get a dremel or die grinder in there and dig it all out ,then cut shape an make small plates the stitch them in there ,then once done etch primer then a couple of hefty coats of tar based sealer thet sets rock hard to keep the water out, on the inner side of both panels give it a massive spray with xtrol then s rubberised black tar or mastic the seal is from further damage by water ,then last but least slap a shit load of fish oil everywhere

[adrianphu123 73]

I've noticed the tip of my welder is recessed about 3mm to the nozzle tip so im going to cut about 5mm off the back of the nozzle to get the tip to stick out more which should help me get in there a bit better. With the downward gun angle required and how closed off the welding area is trapping the gas, i should be able to get away with a bit more tip exposure.

 

Im having trouble picturing how i can cut downwards perpendicular to the wheel arch without cutting through the outer panel. Any tips? i have an electric die grinder but no cutting discs for it yet.

 

As for the rear axle, yeah it does get in the way but i think if i support the car via the rails, it'll allow the diff to lower to its lowest setting and give me enough room.

[wagoon 2,429]

Be careful when modify the shroud on the mig. By cutting the shroud the contact tip will be closer to the job therefore changing the setting on the welder because you have reduced stickout (stickout is how far the wire sticks out past the contact tip into the weld pool). If you do shorten the shroud you will need to reduce the diameter of the opening as the gas will not flow as directly into the weld pool area and cause porosity which will be very hard to see in there and cause all sorts of problems. And just turning up the gas flow a lot may not be enough.

[blu xe 825]

IMO if your going to be welding it your going to burn the paint on the quarter. Its a shit of a spot and your going to find as soon as you start welding your going to be chasing the rust over a bigger area as the metals going to be thin all around there. The result will be a heap of chook shit looking welds made worse by the body deadener melting between the inner and outer quarter with the heat from the welds. Soooooo in saying all that if the quarter paint is going to get damaged and need painting I'd be drilling out the welds along the wheel lip and cutting a section on the outer to give you much better access to the inner. I'd almost bet my balls that if the inner looks like that the outer is going to be not far behind it. If your not prepared to paint the outer wire wheel the shit out of the effected area so its as clean as you can get it and seal that up and body deaden it.

[revhead 1,392]

dremel ,diegrinder etc

big grinder no good

[dvfalcon 352]

IMO if your going to be welding it your going to burn the paint on the quarter. Its a shit of a spot and your going to find as soon as you start welding your going to be chasing the rust over a bigger area as the metals going to be thin all around there. The result will be a heap of chook shit looking welds made worse by the body deadener melting between the inner and outer quarter with the heat from the welds. Soooooo in saying all that if the quarter paint is going to get damaged and need painting I'd be drilling out the welds along the wheel lip and cutting a section on the outer to give you much better access to the inner. I'd almost bet my balls that if the inner looks like that the outer is going to be not far behind it. If your not prepared to paint the outer wire wheel the shit out of the effected area so its as clean as you can get it and seal that up and body deaden it.

Im with bluxe good chance th rest is in the outer quarte guard lip, very common to find rust. Just finished outer lip on my car and one small hole tthe size of a 5 cent piece on the inner where you can see the hole

Dale

[gerg 10,871]

it doesn"t have to look pretty, just smother it in underseal when you're done patching and throw some dirt at it... you'll forget it's there.