How much rust is too much rust...

[JGood]

There is no such thing as "too much rust"...

Pull the carpet and poke around underneath to find out just how much rust there is, and if you're willing to deal with repairing it. The rust you can see is the stuff that's easy to fix. You could fix that floor pan and the rear apron in a day or two. It's the stuff that hides in corners and behind undercoating and seam sealer that's the problem!

[gearheadE30]

A dremel could do it, but it would take forever and a day. Go to harbor freight and buy a cheap electric angle grinder and some sanding and cutoff disks and use that to get rid of the rust. My winter beater is a Caprice wagon that needed a new driver floor, and you could climb into the car from underneath where the spare tire well used to be. Used the cheap angle grinder to cut out the rot, bent some sheet metal into about the right shape, welded it in place with a welder I got for free and taught myself to use, and POR-15'd the rest. Sounds like a lot, but with a little effort it isn't that bad. What you've got there certainly seems fixable to me.

[KI4UJO]

[QUOTE=mikeb23ft;2956885]Could I do that with a Dremel? I don't have air tools.
Yes. If you have some grinding discs, sanding discs, and cutting discs, you can do this. If any areas need to be replaced, use fiberglass. You can grind that down w/the dremel.

[mikeb23ft]

Yes. If you have some grinding discs, sanding discs, and cutting discs, you can do this. If any areas need to be replaced, use fiberglass. You can grind that down w/the dremel.

Seems legit. How would I attach the fiberglass to the sheetmetal?

[JGood]

Dremels and fiberglass to repair rusty areas that large? No.

Not unless you are planning on selling the car within a year. For less then $500.

Go to harbor freight, by a $30 4-1/2" grinder (mines been running strong for 2 years, replaced half my car with it), get a sheet of 2'x2' 20 gauge (should be under $20), find someone local with a welder who'd be willing to help you, and spend a weekend fixing it. It's in non-visible areas, so it doesn't matter how it looks. As long as it's sealed.


Before you do anything, yank the carpet and realize you have more rust to deal with then you think. Trust me. See the link in my sig.

[mikeb23ft]

[QUOTE=JBefore you do anything, yank the carpet and realize you have more rust to deal with then you think. Trust me. See the link in my sig.[/QUOTE]

That stuff is terrifying. If mine is that bad...eek.

I just figured out that people meant fiberglass body repair putty, not something like precut sheets of fiberglass.

[J308]

Could I do that with a Dremel? I don't have air tools.

This may be a more realistic approach in reality. I'm going to try to fix a couple of lil' spots, but if that goes poorly I might say :wgaf:

As many have said, Dremel, no. Check harbor freight and get a $30 grinder. It'll pay for itself in the first hour in aggravation alone.

JGood's repair is excellent for reading about on teh internetz, but no way in hell I'd tackle that for anything except a show car, and even then, I'd start with a cleaner shell. Big props to him, though, for saving that car.

For the rest of us, just rocking it for a while is a very realistic approach.