I cut out some rust I had on my front wheel wall.

Now I am wondering, do I cut a piece of replacement metal the same size and weld it in flush .... or cut a larger size and weld it underneath (behind) where it will be covered anyways by the plastic liner? I realize either way it is going to require some bondo work.

thanks in advance.

 

Weld it flush. You can keep the patch piece in place while you tack it by using a couple of strong magnets. Or, you can drill four small holes around the perimeter of the hole you cut, and then screw small pieces of sheetmetal to the underside of the hole from the top, with the pieces designed to hold the patch in place while you weld it. Afterwards, you'd just remove the sheetmetal screws and support tabs, and then weld up the holes from the screws.

 

That looks like that infamous place where the washer tank sits and every time the local jiffy lube apes spill washer fluid under the tank when they overfill it and it just sits down there till it rusts a nice size hole.I've got the exact same thing.

 

i had that too, i welded a peace of metal in there i fiberglassed then painted it now you could never tell it was there.

 

Unfortunately, I never noticed until I removed the windshield washer tank that GM put the screw to hold the fender liner right through the wheel wall into the tank. It was near the top so it only leaked when full but often enough to rust it through. I will have some after pics later this month.

 

Finally some time to patch it up

 

Well done.Nice clean job.

 

from what I can see in the pic's above looks like you have everything out of the engine bay.

I would go ahead and weld up any ruff looking factory seems and make it look real nice. would make ya proud everytime you pop the hood!

and don't put that factory washer bottle back.

 

Nice job man. Sure wish it was that easy to do my quarter panel =(

 

Agree, washer bottle not going back in (neither are the windshield wipers or motors). When completed it will only be driven on sunny days.

 

Final look with paint ... well worth the time

 

Wow man, you can't even tell it was patched . You're more than welcome to come fix my quarter panels

 

weird, ive never seen rot there. also i worked at Jiffy Lube and never overfilled the washer tank. especially on a thirdgen. But nice work man! looks great!

 

Poject '86 .. thanks for offer .. I grew up in Ontario but now living in California.