Hey folks,

I finally had time to start tearing on my 1982 TA today and when I removed the left front fender I discovered this spot where the front fender meets the door is seriously rotten. You can even see the hole where the fender bolts to the car is rotten and nearly falling off, and you can see into the inside of the car near the clutch pedal. Most of the car is in good shape, and it was my first car purchase in 1985, so I don't really want to junk the car.

Anyone know how difficult of a fix this would be and would it be worth it to continue? Money isn't really a factor as I have a few $ to throw at this project, and time isn't a factor either as it's a long term project.

See the pic. Hoping for good advice.

 

If you have the money!!! it can be fixed professionally,for what price I don't know for sure.I would assume a couple hundred would do the job.If you really want to keep the car,I'd go for it.

 

Pretty common on these cars. The debris that gets trapped behind the wheel liner does that. Usually the best repair is POR 15 and fiberglass. There are a few panels that come together there , so it's not a simple place to weld new panels. First thing is to start blasting or picking to find what good metal is left.

 

Uh, no, I wouldn't apply fiberglass on anything in this situation unless it's a temporary repair.

You will have to cut and replace the cancer completely. A MIG welder is not that expensive, around $300~$500, and it's an absolute necessity when dealing with classic cars that are in need of some love. Before doing anything, you will have to pratice first, it can be a little difficult to get the right settings. And remember one thing : "mesure twice, cut once"

The easiest way would be to cut this part from a donor car, and weld it in place. Otherwise, you can make some templates out of cardboard (cereal boxes cardboard is perfect for this), and then make a patch for each panel out of some sheet metal. It takes some time but it's cheap. Don't forget some zinc coating between layers of metal.

 

I just went through this exact repair on my GTA. I'm in the middle of restoring it and have just about finished up the rust repair work. POR-15 and fiberglass Bondo is not going to fix that. The only way to repair that is to cut out the rotted metal and weld in new pieces. Those sheet metal parts aren't available unless you find a rust free donor car, but they are not all that hard to make. I've posted some photos of the repair I did. If you break it down into pieces, it's not that bad. Before you get into it though, I would highly recommend looking the whole care over for rust and make sure you are willing to get into the neccessary repairs. If you have rot in that location, likely there is rot on the other side as well along with the following locations:
-Strut towers
-Passenger floorpan above cat
-Firewall/passenger floorpan intersection
-Rear wheelwells
-Maybe rear quarter panels behind ground effects

 

More photos

 

Any suggestions on a decent welder. Is gas best?

 

I got into the other side tonight and so far not seeing any heavy rust, although I didn't actually remove the fender yet. I do know the car has rust spots in other areas like firewall and back quarter where the spare tire used to be but I'm not worried about those. I have yet to crawl under and get a closer look.

 

Hobart makes a pretty good MIG that's not too expensive. Miller is good too, but pricey. I haven't tried any of the less expensive brands, like the ones at Harbor Freight. Gas is definitely best for this work. Flux welds will not be as clean and will make a mess that you have to clean off before painting.

 

With any welder make sure that you can get replacement parts easily. Hobart you should. Miller you can. Some Harbor Freight models anything more than the contact tips and you might be in trouble.
Yes the gas would be better, mine has it, but isn't 100% necessary. If you use the flux cored wire it will have more splatter and will leave a slag coating over the top of the weld. Generally it is somewhat easy to wire brush it off but not always.
You would be amazed at how versatile a little 110 Volt MIG is.