I've got a rather nasty hole in my rear fender well that points towards the spare tire. I want to cut it out and weld in a new piece however the rust goes up underneath the spot where the seatbelt assembly bolts to. How could I replace the metal under there its spotwelded on in a certain location???

Also, does anyone know of someone who sells replacement body panels like the rear fender wells?? Id rather buy them and put those in instead of dicking around and making up my own stuff.

Thanks...

 

I am not sure on fender wells, I know you can get new quarter panels from places like year one or hawks.

Your best bet is to find a junked car and chop out the parts you need.

The rust sounds pretty brutal if it goes from the spare tire area to the seat belt area. So all I can say good luck and I hope you can save it.

-Eric

 

Alright I went out and took some pics of my problem. The big hole near the bottom of the picture is right through and you can see the tire. The smaller hole above goes through but it appears theres a little pocket and more fender. Theres a small crack that runs up to the seatbelt mount but its not rotted out its just a crack. I can smack it and it holds up. Is it possible I could buy that hole section and cut most of it out and weld in a new piece?? I checked hawks they dont have anything for the rear fenders.

PS. The gray stuff is carpet insulation, and all that orangey stuff ISNT rust, most of it is thick wax like rust proofing that was installed by the dealership. In fact all that orange near the car jack is not rusted at all but the factory rust proofing that was installed in 89.

 

I used a die ginder with cut off wheel,cleared out the old rust in 3 sections or so,welded in new pieces of sheetmetal,one area at a time,It aint the prettiest,but its solid and with a few coats of undercoating,you cant see it

 

Does anyone know if anyone besides GM would make a replacement panel I could use?? Even if GM makes one I bet its a fortune and I hadnt planned on spending a wack of money on this car yet.

 

do you have a welder? this might be a great way to pratice welding sheetmetal on a car. i wouldnt think this would be too hard to do since its in the well and any imperfections wouldnt be too visible. might wanna give it a shot.

 

A guy at work is going to let me use his welder but I just thought it would be alot easier if I could get some sort of premade replacement panel that I could fit and weld in.

 

Classic industries has the "outer wheelhouse's"for our 3rd gens,100 bucks each,I swear I seen the inner wheelhouses listed too,cant seem to find them now
I'll check my Paddock catalog tommorrow,I left it at work

 

head to a salvage yard, and cut that section out of a donor car. it will cost you less, and you dont have to get the whole section. id halve it out. about 2" before the seatbelt bracket id cut down almost to the pan then cut over towards the rear of the car and back up. cut out more than you need from the donor car so you can trim to fit. id actually leave the new piece a bit over sized if youre going to do this by yourself. that way you can sit it down and not have to hold it in place from the bottom and try to tack it in at the same time. do you have any welding experience? if not youll want to tach it over and over again and not try to run a bead. this will keep the warping to a minimum. its covered by carpet and rubberized under coating so it will all be hidden anyway. id coat it down in some por-15 aswell to help prevent future problems.