i went to go remove what I was hoping was surface rust on my new car, and found it had gone all the way through.. the hole is about an 1/8th of an inch, by 3/4 of an inch

It seems I should be able to fill that, rather than have to weld something in there....

for a spot this small, what do you think I should do?

 

if you have a welder id do it that way. but if not just good old bondo lots of new fillers out now

 

if you have a welder slow down the speed and heat and just tap tap all the way around till the hole is gone

 

what i don't get is that is just a bad spot on all camaros just on the drivers side

 

good question... it looked like the paint was nicked on that side, and it went down to the metal, which rusted through

 

BTW, I've also removed and treated the surface rust in the upper left hand corner of the close up picture

 

HOw strange. My 89 RS has the exact same problem. I've had the car since new so I know the history and there is no reason for this defect to occur. What I did is cut a small patch about 3 inches on all sides of the hole to clear out the damage. After I got the panel cut out I stuck a mirror in the hole to look forward and aft. The rust extended in the seam a long way both directions. So I'm going to try and change the top.

John S.

 

wow, hopefully i've caught it before it got to that point, but time will tell

there is the start of the exact same defect on the passenger side, but I'll be able to zap that before it goes through the metal

 

That's what I though until I cut out the patch area. Soon after that happened I noticed that the paint started bulbing up on the windshield post. Fortunately I was able to find an original GM top to replace it with. I'm planning on having the replacement top acid dipped because it has some surface rust on the exterior. I figure since it's off might as well make it completely like new. Then swap with the rusty one on the car.

 

before



after



not a bad job if I do say so myself... I ground away a pretty good chunk of metal, filled it, primed, and painted. I shopuld have spent more time on the corner area, but I plan on doing a whole repaint in the next year or so, so I get another shot at it later

 

Nice repair job. Looks like it blended in really well. I'm hoping to replace the top on mine some time this year. I quit driving a couple of years ago because of the hole - I really need to get it back on the road. It's killing me having it sitting there. Kid came along and there went my free time. I've been collecting parts to restore it including LT1/T56 set up.

John S.

 

looks good man nice job