So im home from school for 5 weeks and i have nothing better to do so i decided to start tackling the rust on my car. Car is a 91 RS that has been in Mass. all its life. The first place i decided to start was by taking up the carpet and having a go at the floor pans. I have never welded before but i guess there is no better time to learn, im gonna see if i can rent of hunt down a welder for cheap and teach myself but i want your guys opinions on how bad you think this is. Im planning on just cutting out the rust and welding in patches of sheet metal.

There are only two areas im worried about

The drivers side foot area.

There is also some rust under the black piece that holds in the wires but that should be easily fixable.



and this crazy gift the previous owner left me. Seems that he used bondo and riveted in a piece of sheet metal and than sealed it with DUCT TAPE.



There are also two other little holes, one on the passenger side and one on the drivers floorboard, i know for a fact those holes are going to be easily patched but its these two im worried about.

 

that doesnt look that bad (well maybe not to me)you could just get some sheet metal and pop rivit them in the floorpan,it may not be as good as welding it in but it works,as for the little holes id just use some fiberglass resin/bondo mixture(i used it on my floorpans in little holes and it seals great)

 

lol i hope ur jokeing

 

what makes you think im joking

 

hey maybe i can use duct tape also?

Back on topic though, What type of welder would be better for this, an arc or a mig? I really have no idea about welders, im going to go look around tomorrow, i only have about 200$ to spare on a welder at the moment so would buying one or renting one be better?

 

well i guess we have a bunch of smartasses in here,all i did was give my advice but i see it wasnt good enough so i hope you get it all fixed

 

Hey Saber, Im doing very similar work to my 84 T.A Im cutting out the rusted areas with a angle grinder and welding new sheet metal in with a mig.

Like i had above i would go a Mig welder because it has more control and less chance of you blowing holes through you're sheet metal floor pan, Im also going with 1mm thick steal because im replacing 80% of my firewall. Almost all of my drain area under the windscreen is rusted out.

It looks like you have a bit of work ahead of you but it is fixable, you will need a power drill with wire wheel, angle grinder & cutting disks, sheet metal, Mig welder, anti rust paint, and alot of free time.

 

Lonman89, No offense man i actually though you were joking seeing as the owner before me did that and, well in the pic you can see where that got me.

Thanks for the info guys, ive got everything but the welder which im going to look at today, and trust me i have plenty of free time.

 

well see im goin by what i did,i had a few holes in my floorpan but not at big as the ones you have so i took some sheetmetal and pop rivit them in and sealed them with a fiberglass/bondo mixture from autozone,i did that a year ago and it still is sealed and only cost me 30 bucks to fix,sorry to sound like i got all upset i just thought id help ya since i been down that road before with fixing floorpans

 

Just an idea, but instead of using sheetmetal, why not go to a junk yard, find a car with solid panels where you have rust and cut out a good sized piece that you can trim to fit then TIG in place.
It would save a lot of fabrication time I would think...

 

A mig welder will be the best for this job a arc welder would blow right through sheet metal. And I would cut the whole floor pan out instead of just patching alittle here and a little there. If you use filler to fill the little holes and rivit in patches you are just sticking a band aid on it and that is the wrong way to fix this problem. You might be able to order a whole new floor pan for it I would try (Year One) as well as some other restoration sites. Make small tack welds all around to hold it in and then start filling in the gaps, switch sides often and make sure you let it cool down between welds to prevent warping.

 

going through the same exact holes so i figured i'd jump in on this...how do we weld the subframe to the new floor panels??? Still a mig welder?! There has to be more to this, i know it's not that simple. lol

 

I thought of that but the chances of going to a junkyard in NH and Mass and finding one are slim, there is 15 inches of snow outside and i already am spending enough time in the junkyard freezing, eventually im going to get new floorpans now but i just need to patch these holes and remove the rust from the underside and por-15 it so the rust will not spread by the time i get enough money to put in new floorboards and get her a nice coat of paint.

I will be using a dremel tool to cut around the rust, For rust on the underside of the car and surface rust, i have hears of people using angle grinders. Well i cant seem to find one in our basement even though i was sure we had one but i did find a power sander. Will this do the job if i just sand down the surface rust on the underside and por-15 it? All of this body work is fairly new to me so im not quite sure what tool would be best for what.

 

i think you can get some ok welders at Harbor Freight, search google for harbor freight and price a Mig welder

 

HF is a great idea for the welder. That is where i would go. As for the patch. I had a friend with a 51' Chevy pickem up. His floorboard was wrought with cancer, so many panels were cut out. I recommend, esp if its not gonna be a show car or anything, cut out as much rust as you can. I'd cut that whole corner of rust out. Use a pneumatic 3 inch x1/16 inch wheel and dice it out. keep it in on piece and don't bent it and you have a template. Nibblers work good for new material.
Also, id grind off as much of that glue as i could. You can buy that stuff and re apply if you want. but uh... i think its VHT SP650, black epoxy paint? someone help me here. The stuff is tough as nails, and doesn't need a primer. Prime it with a rust converter in your case and coat the finished product and you'll have a good 20 years or service with no rust.
Another tactic that works great for assembly and installation is rivets. Rivet stuff together, install it (with rivets), drive a few rivets and fill the holes with welds, then go back and weld up the seams.
Sometimes tackin is better, but sometimes its better to do the job without being intermittently blinded. Use your judgment, experiment and have fun. Install some SFC's first and worst case scenario is you drive in the cold some...

Good luck!

 

I think you're talking about seam sealer,I've seen it at classic industries and National parts depot.

 

You definitely want to have a wire wheel and cut out as much of the nasty rust as possible. The sander alone won't get all the flaky nasty rust out and then it will just wind up coming back through. Also, I agree that your best bet is the MIG welder, for the subframe piece too as the heat is too much for the sheet metal period using a TIG. The seam sealer is a good idea after all is said and done in the cut and weld department before you lay down paint. Use it around any edges or seams from the new repairs. As you already said too, this is just going to be a temporary fix and will eventually need to be done properly cutting it all out and putting in a new floor pan eventually. However, up north there, you definitely want to nip it all in the bud now if you can so it doesn't spread anymore causing it to maybe not be so easily fixable in the future. Either way, good luck, post pics as you go and keep us all informed.

 

Well i finally ventured out into the garage after collecting all the tools needed to tackle some of this rust. I only worked for about 2 hours, i need to get some more grinding wheels. I found another little suprise when i removed the rear passenger seat and removed the carpet


Does anybody know what the weird looking thicker metal is behind the duct tape. Its on both sides, the previous owner left me a few surprises and i cant seem to figure out what it belongs to. Some part of the rear frame maybe? The rust doesnt seem to want to come off of it.

Heres a picture of the little progress i made on the front driver side. Grinding off surface rust led to about 5 or 6 smaller holes. What is the best way to remove the seam sealer? I have to remove some and patch up some major rust on the drivers side right where the seam is under the huge bunch of wires.


Tomorrow im going to go and try and look at the inner fender. Ive got some rust there along with both bottom sides of my fenders. Ill eventually need new fenders and ill need to fix the rust but i dont know if i will have time before i go back to school. Under the carpet is the priority right now so we will see where that goes.

To send you guys off with. heres a picture of my other whip after todays fresh blanket of snow bringing the grand total outside up to around 18 inches. Be thankful southerners, it was about 20 in the garage today.

 

the weird thicker metal is the rear frame(for lack of a better word) if you look underneath the car you'll see it and pop rivets alone will only make the problem worse however rivets with fiberglass may get you a year or two butt i still wouldn't do it to my own car and if you need rear inner fenders you better start lookin because NO ONE is making them it took me close to a month to find mine and they were 250 bucks each they were discontinued gm., parts why are third gens so under appreciated?

 

man driving in that snow would be a real pain if you dont have the right car for it lol.
im going to be doing the same work to my car but im going to be working on it in spring time tho lol when its alittle warmer :P i dont get alot of snow where i live but alot of rain. still no fun getting wet and trying to work on your car and having freezing hands
let me know how it comes out i would really like to know how fixed the rust.
i havnt even seen under my carpet yet. so im kinda excited what im gunna see under there. my last car i had i took my carpent out. i found mold and alot of broken glass..... weird. no wounder my car smelled funny hehe.
are you planning on putting a rollbar of some sort? now would be a perfict time with the carpet out and a welder in hand

 

I believe its the inner fender ill have a pic tomorrow but im not quite sure. I dont even think ill be able to tackle the inner fender(if thats what it is) until summer because im limited on time(this car has to be back together to take to school). now that i know they are hard ill start looking now, Fixing the floorboard this time i think will be temporary until summer also when ill get new floorboards welded in(the drivers side at least, the passenger only has two holes.) As for the rivets, i didnt put those in, the previous owner left me that surprise but i think im just going to weld down the sheet metal he riveted in, it looks like it should turn out alright. In not expecting this to be the best job ever, its my first time welding and tackling something this big, im just trying to get as much of the rust out as possible. Ill probably wind up at the very least removing the fenders and grinding down as much rust as possible on the inner fender than ill seal it with some por-15 until summer when i can really get at the rust. Also where did you track down your inner fenders?

thanks, ill have some more progress tomorrow hopefully, i plan on finishing grinding the rust off and cutting out the huge patches.

 

WOW,I have been in Fl. too long.I thought it was cold this morning at 50 deg. with a breeze blowing and zero inches of snow.
Anyway Saber,judging by those pics,looks like you have alot of sheetmetal work to do.I guess your method of temp. fix will be okay,just make sure you cover all the metal with the por15 as you stated,or at least some rattlecan primer/paint.

 

Im home for 5 weeks from tampa where i go to school and trust me i feel the same way. 50 degrees requires sweatpants and a hoodie. lol. Id fix it right if i had the money right now but college takes up alot of that and i wanted to get at the rust before my whole body deteriorated before my eyes. On the plus side compared to other peoples cars with rust i have looked at this is nothing. This is my first car i have actually had to work at to get it in good shape and im still learning alot so i hope everything goes well.

 

Because the only thing that would do is keep the weather out, at least most of it. The rust would still be going, and the piece you would add would add no strength whatsoever.

This is either a fix that would be used for a short period of time to keep the weather out while your gathering the parts to do it right (if necessary), or you have no idea what your doing. Either buy a replacement piece or get some sheet metal and weld it in correctly, thats the only way to do it.

 

Well today i had a go and ground down most of the rust on the drivers side. I cut out the major hole also and hope to grind down everything and be finished with that sometime tomorrow. I found a nice deal of rust on the underside of the car and the bottom of the inner fender which is kinda discouraging. I doubt im going to attempt to tackle that rust this winter, ill collect the parts i need and start that job in the summer. It looks like when im done grinding the rust off the side than i should be able to mock up one piece of sheet metal to weld up there. Im going to just throw some por-15 on the inner fender while i can get at it easily to hopefully stop the rust from spreading. I do have one question though.

When i was cutting out the part of rusted floor it seems that part of the floorboard fused to the front frame with rust. Would anybody know of a way to get it loose? Is there some chemical or anything that i can use to just eat away at that rust to break it free?

Heres a picture of what i did today, hopefully tomorrow will be the last day of grinding and on monday ill get out to the store and purchase some sheet metal.

 

oh man that looks horrible!
May I suggest searching for a donor chassis in Fl. while you're in class!?

 

That just may wind up happening. I really wont know the whole extent of everything until this summer when i tear every panel off the car and see whats up. This winter was just supposed to be a patch job because water was getting up under the car through the holes and making the car smell but its turning out to be alot more seeing as i keep finding more and more problems as i go along.

 

I have a harbor freight wire feed welder, i am doing the same thing and way i did the sub frame under the floor was to lay the panel in after i cut it to fit they area and then got under the car and used a felt tip black marker and traced the frame where it fastened to. Then I took the panel out and drilled 1/4 holes just inside the lines i traced and then put panel back in where it went and fill welded in the holes and it attached the floor pan to the sub frmae with out welding on your back under the car. And if you get one of the migs from harbor freight splurge and get one of the auto darking welding helmets, they are great, and i have 6 of the welding magnets that I use to hold the panels while I tack them in. I am going to seal all my welds and floor pans when done with KBS rust stop, there are good rust prevenitive sealers out there. Its been pretty easy to fix all the rusted panels just time consuming cutting it out and cutting patch peices to fit. I tried the bone yards here and most the pans were in the same shape as mine so i aopted to make my own. Hope this info helps.

 

ive seen cars go to the junk in better shape dude, glad to see you gonna pony up and save it


But i will say this.....if aint a show car, cut out all the rust and just use sheet metal and a hammer....hell as long as the seats and console go back in the right place thats all that matter.....the carpet will cover up EVERYTHING

 

This car will in no way be a show car lol. Im quite a ways away from a show car at this point in my life. And yes i have seen many cars in the junkyard with less rust and alot better shape. Rust is pretty much the only problem with the car and i love it way to much to just watch it rot away. I know everything doesnt have to be perfect, im taking this as a learning experience so when the time comes to get a nice show car ill have all the experience i need. Besides finding more rust that will eventually have to be fixed the floorboards(once the rust is gone) dont seem to be that hard of a job since the rust was concentrated in the corner but my wallet has been set back quite a bit so it looks like it will be awhile before i can swap in a bigger engine and get her painted up.

 

Came across your thread while searching for the willpower to go on with mine. I got rust in the same spot on the drivers side, although mine might be a little worse. I bought mine cheap, wrecked in the front end, and while cutting away the old metal for a new front clip, I came across all the rust. I'm in the middle of cutting it out now, and its not fun trying to get at it from the inside. I definitely feel your pain on that one. You might want to take off the fender on the that side and check behind it in the corner. I have a lot of rust there too, all the way down under the door that has to be cut out and new metal welded in.

Hope everything is going alright with yours. I had to learn to weld as well, found a good used mig for cheap, and it took me about 20 hours and a gas bottle and a half to learn to weld well enough to be confident that I can get it strong enough to last.

 

Yea shes all patched up now. I actually got shafted out of the welder. Harbor Freight sent me the wrong one and seeing as i was on a time limit before i got back to school i had to go the route of riveting in the patch i had mocked up to weld in, and seal all the seams after coating the patch in fiberglass patch. I was kinda disappointed that i didnt get to fix it the right way, but hey im going to put 2 new floorpans in this summer as this was just a temporary fix. I laid tow the PoR-15 tonight. Ill post some pictures of the painted up patch tomorrow. Im happy the way things turned out though, even without welding, and let me tell you harbor freight got an ear full for sending me the wrong welder. I got the 220V one when i needed the 115V welder. It was a actually a steal considering the welder they sent me cost 100$ more than what i paid but sadly i dont have a 220v outlet in my house to run it off of.


And oh the fenders need replacing also. The bottoms are rusted out and a huge chunk of my inner rocker and fender fell off. The inner fender is rusted in the same corner as yours also, this summer will be busy, New fenders, new floorpans, patching the holes on the inner fenders and a paintjob.

 

Before I went into the service, I worked as a Sheetmetal Apprentice for about four years. Theres no such thing as picking up a MIG torch and 'learning on the fly'. MIG welding is an art, and as such, it takes time to master even the basics. I'll put it like this, MIG is incredibly hard

I would recommend TIG for anyone without any prior welding experience. And even TIG is a challenge for those without any prior experience.

'Stick' is out of the question for thin gauge sheet-metal work. Save that for the frame if you must.

 

Car Craft or Hot Rod just had an article on welding and some reference to Miller and Lincoln wire feed welders that were inexpensive and work off 115 V house current. My own opinion, you might consider buying partial floor pans and use them to make up the patches, weld or rivet them in (or prep it all and have a shop weld it). It is not as hard as it look but it is not easy without practice. When you are done it paint it all with POR-15 for protection and appearance.

 

I used sheet meatal and pop rivets on my Camaro for a temp fix until I can get me a donor car to cut the floor out of. It a T-top car so the floor was pretty bad in spot just the middle of the floor not much around the edge. I guess from where the tops leaked and the carpet was soaking up the water. I also put seilocon around the sheet meatal befor i put it down and then I undercoated the entire floor board from front to back to try and keep it from rusting if the tops leaked again. but again that is just a temp fix until i get a donor car. just my

 

From what I can see looking at the pictures....your car is in pretty bad shape...Some of the spots i saw you could just drill out the spot welds on the floor and replace each part...but if that is not in your budget and your going to patch it make sure you roll some beads into the metal as to give it some strength back.....Just to let you know your tackling a big project that will take longger than 5 weeks for a beginner that might not have all the correct tools.....You need to use a 110 MIG welder...The brands i prefer to use are lincoln and miller but hobart isnt bad either...Make sure to use a .035 wire....GOOD LUCK!!

 

That sux that they sent you the wrong one. Mine's a Craftsman, I'd guess about 2-3 years old. It runs on 110v, but I've got a friend bringing his 220v down for the frame work on my car. I have welded pieces of subframe successfully with mine, but it's not easy. I still have to work on getting my welds "pretty," but they are good enough for the parts you wont see and I'm finally getting good penetration without blowing holes.

I'm just glad to hear you got your car patched up. Definitely want to do it right as soon as you can though. The only problem with doing a "temporary" job is that either it never seems to stay temporary, or you have to go back and undo what you did and that is never as easy as it sounds.

Just be careful if you don't gut the interior when you go to weld in the patches. Sparks tend to fly pretty far sometimes, and you don't want to melt any wires or catch the carpet on fire.

One last thing, you might want to try Home Depot or Lowes for a welder. The ones I have around me have Lincoln MIG's for around 250-300 that run on 110v and have a pretty good range of settings. Oh, and make sure you get one that hooks to a gas bottle, not one that just uses flux core wire. ESPECIALLY if welding inside the car, flux core spits and sparks a whole lot more. Costs a bit more since you have to buy a bottle as well, I paid about $40 when I exchanged my empty. I'm not sure how much $$ it is to buy the first one, but I'm sure it's a bit more. The guy I bought my welder from said he paid about $100 for the bottle.

Good luck, and please post some pics, I'd like to see how it turned out.

 

Heres a pic of the almost finished product. Sheet metal riveted in and sealed with fiberglass than the entire floorboard was coated in por-15. I patched almost every hole like this. this one is the big one though, that is posted in the first picture.




I know welding is a learned skill however, this is a temporary patch. In spots my carpet was wet, almost soaked so i decided to put new carpet in because the old was starting to smell, when i pulled it i found the hole. Looking under my car at my floorboards i can tell you i will need new ones. If i wire wheel all the rust off the bottom it will open up numerous holes throughout the whole car so i chose to patch the topside as to seal all water from getting in and ruining the new carpet, I was going to weld in patches and give me time to learn so when i put new floorboards in this summer i will have some experience, My uncle who is a Mechanic will be helping me with this task though. I will be picking up a welder at home depot sometime in the near future. Overall i am happy with how it turned out. I riveted in the metal and sealed it up real nice. It should have no problem lasting until this summer, the only problem is that some of the inner rocker rusted out along with the bottom corners of the inner fenders. The jobs dont have to be perfect, this will not be a show car ever, im using this car as a learning process for future reference and so far i have learned alot.

 

Looks pretty good from what I can see. 2 questions though:

1. Where are you getting the floorboards from? I'm considering just replacing the driver's side one instead of trying to fabricate patches. The rest isn't rusted, but I thought it would be easier, even if I just cut off the section I need and use that.

2. Did you find a way to disconnect the wiring harness that runs down that side along the rockers or did you just move it out of the way? I haven't been able to find any place to disconnect the wiring, but then I haven't pulled the carpet completely out. I just lifted the driver's side and pushed it to the side against the center console.

 

I honestly dont think that i will be able to walk away from this without at least a drivers pan. Like i said i have to grind the bottom of the pan under the car free of rust which will open more holes judging by its condition. Im considering classic industries and year one for floorpans, They are expensive though, 250$ a pop with like a 150 freight charge. I go to school in florida so another option is to find a rust free shell and remove the floorpans from that car. Im not quite sure how to go about this quite yet though.

As for the harness it is annoying as hell and i haven found a way to remove it. Im assuming you have to remove the dash to get at some way to disconnect it. Ill know for sure this summer cause if im welding ill have to gut the entire car but i never found a way to get rid of it while patching it this summer. It moves out of the way pretty easily though.

 

You may be able to work around most of that harness without gutting the car...I had to do similar work on my car a while back. Just be sure to disconnect the car's battery, but you can move that harness around quite a bit and only have to work around inconvenienced in a couple spots. I think that unless you really want to learn to cut floorpans from donor cars and weld that badly, I would just use the donor car to swap all my good interior, exterior, and engine/drivetrain pieces to. Until a few more of these cars get scrapped, they have no value yet and it is a lot of work to do this stuff. I'm all about saving these cars, but not many others seems to agree. Either way, it is a lot of work and money to fix this properly. If you are going to go the floorpan route, I would buy new from classic industries or year one or something. otherwise, you're doing twice the work...killing one donor car to save yours. Where in this case, it may be easier to get a good donor car and just swap all the good parts from one to the other and make a near perfect whole car. Just my two cents though. Unless your car has a lot of sentimental value and is not just a learning process. I've been down the road of spending a ton of money on a car that never returns it...but it always had a sentimental value, so. Good luck though, and I hope if you get the parts and do save this, you keep posting the pics and sharing the project experience.

 

On my 83 there is a place to disconnect the wiring runing back to the tal light behind the kick panel on the drivers side. What i can rember is that you can then move it out of the way until it runs back in to the queter panal at the back seat on the drivers side. I guess it is the same on the other years also dont know. hope this helps

 

Thanks 83camaro86, I'll have to take another look. I didn't see anything down there, but then I can't get in there real well because my garage is too narrow to be able to open the door the whole way.

CreepingDeath- I agree on the whole "buy a replacement panel instead of cutting up a good car," but some of us(like me) are on such a tight budget that even that much is a bit steep to justify, especially when I have plenty of scrap sheet metal laying around. Let alone buying a whole donor car to swap the good parts to. Besides, here in PA, we don't see very many without rust, and the ones that don't have any rust would cost so much that you might as well just buy that car and run it. Assuming you can even find one for sale. I don't plan on making it a show car, and I believe Saber said the same. What I do plan on doing with mine, is using it as a learning experience with the body work because once it's done, I am seriously considering selling it and buying an older Corvette to restore to original. I love Thirdgens, but I love Corvettes more.

Saber- Definitely keep us updated with the progress, I'll be watching to see how it turns out. I'm working on mine right now, if I run across anything that I think might help/be useful/make it easier, I'll be sure to post up and let you know.

 

i accutually did the exact same thing you are about to do u cant the cut the rust out but what u want to do is take some steel panels and weld them over and under the rust and then pop rivit the edges you think are bad

 

Please tell me you did something to prevent the rust from coming back first? The only real way to get rid of rust is to remove it. Just welding a panel over and under it doesn't do anything to stop the rust from eating through those panels once it's done on the the original bodywork. Not only that, but in the areas that are rusting on our cars, there isn't a way to do that behind the kick panel. The floorboards, yes. But the kick panel area, at least on mine, has rust inside the rocker panel too, and the only way to get to it is to remove the kick panel piece and weld a new one in.

 

I understand the tight budget...believe me...I am on one as well. I did the 'ole patch weld in good metal repair job myself. But now I will have to go back in there and take out my repair work and eventually do it correctly in the future. I cut out the rust, Ospho treated the rust and painted/undercoated my repair as well...but the simple fact is that if I wasn't attached to the car sentimentally, it wouldn't be financially sound to spend the money necessary to properly fix it...especially since I live in Florida and can actually find good body cars in the salvage yards from time to time.

I wasn't trying to discourage him, but it sounded like he was on a budget and having been on one of those many times in the past, I have found that you always end up losing more money at the end of the whole thing than if you had just cut your losses in the first place.

If this were a '69 bird or even a 70's bird/Trans-Am I would be more inclined to spend the money and time to properly fix it. But most people just trash these cars when they get to this point as there are still quite a few of them out there...but not for too much longer if they keep getting trashed when they could be saved.

From a strictly monetary standpoint though, it is still usually less to find a good one than fix a badly rusted one. I love my third gen though and hope this trend stops soon :-(

 

I completly cut out all rust on my car. i had it all prepped and everything to weld in but i just got shafted on the welder and ran out of time. I por-15d the whole car also.

As for a donor car or new floorpans ill figure that out this summer. I have a 91 RS so it doesnt have much to donate to another car lol. My original plans were to put a 383 in it this summer but than i found all the rust and such. Really the only thing wrong with the car is the rusted floorpans and thats it. And as for a donor car and cutting out floorpans, i would never buy a working car. I could go to a junkyard in florida and just cut them out if i went down that route.

The whole experience is fun though, i mean i wasnt discouraged at the rust im actually wishing i had the time right now and money to get new pans, i mean i love working on the thing.

 

I totally understand the whole loving to work on it thing. I bought mine as a long-term project car. I plan on doing minor work over the summers since it will be my daily driver when its nice out, and major work over the winters. This winter I'm getting it back to roadworthy status, next winther will be the 350 upgrade, then the following year I plan on doing the interior. Maybe when I get to that point I'll consider redoing my patchwork. Probably it will wait until I have the time/money to do a complete restoration. I knew the shape mine was in when I bought it. Part of the reason I got it anyhow is because I knew the history and the amount of work needed as I bought it off a friend, and part of the reason is that I knew if I wanted to get one, I couldn't afford what a decent one goes for around my area. I used to see them around all the time, but in the last few years, I haven't seen many on the roads anymore.I wasn't trying to bring anyone down with my last post, just wanted to make sure dranate knew the rust would eat its way through those types of patches. It would be great if we could all put several grand into our cars adn get them the way we want right away, but the reality is almost always far short of that.I personally hate bodywork, I don't have the patience it takes. I'd much rather tackle a mechanical problem anyday. Replace the bad part and your done.I completely agree that its sad that people junk these cars at the first sign of problems or rust. Oh well, just means that eventually mine might be worth something, even with all the patchwork and mods I plan.

 

Yea i would much rather tackle a mechanical problem also, and as for rust eating its way through patches, if you dont completely remove it it will make the jump quickly and undo your work but if you cut all the rust out and properly seal it ans use por-15 you should have no problem having a rust free patch for years and years. Thats what i did.