Here's the rusty area....

[justaZcarguy]

This is shot of the passenger side of the vehicle, under the battery. It's the portion of the inner fender that is the corner portion.

Need advice on this issue....

St.stevens here ya go....run w/ it...

Thanks guys!

[mperdue]

I'd say start scraping away the undercoating and dirt and see what you've really got. hOpefully you won't be suprised like I was!!! also try to get right underneath it and on the other side - you may have holes there....

http://www.utdallas.edu/~perdue/rustpics/rust4.jpg

This car has since gone to scrapper...

http://www.utdallas.edu/~perdue/8-17-02-front.jpg

hahaha... oh the memories...

Michael

[spudz]

The bad part is if you see a bit of rust and

start scraping you find all kinds of rust

[2ManyZs]

Looks a lot better than a lot of cars.

Best thing to do is to start cleaning the area and find out how far the rust may have spread. If it hasn't spread more than an inch or so in either direction, it looks like a fairly easy patch job.

Be sure to check the floor/firewall area closely around the spot. Hopefully it hasn't spread too far.

[St.stephen]

We in the rust bucket club of america call that baby a cream puff!!

Okay, some advice. First one being....It's time to park it and have a TOTAL on your back, on your knees, body contourted in a myriad of positions, look at the car with a screwdriver, small center punch and a strong shoplight. It's assessment time. Financial, time and space assessment. You have problem areas in the almost first to come rust spots. Rust loves those corners like you wouldn't beleive. From the pictures you have a rather cheap and less time consuming resto project though.

Get all under the car and start from the rusted area poking with your screwdriver and punch.....and work outwards towards the "good" metal. You may put some other holes in the car however you need to assess how much the metal has rotted underneath the undercoating. The undercoating really holds rusted metal together well and can be deceiving underneath a smooth coat of undercoating.

Once you determine what you have to work with, it's time to get out the scraper to get rid of all paint and undercoating in the area and leave yourself a generous amount of room to work with. In other words, make a big even square around your work area clean and free of all paint/undercoat.

I prefer to sandblast all metal of rust and primer and have a nice clean metal worksurface. Wire wheels can work also. Now get out the cutting wheel and cut out that rusted metal!!!!! Try to make all your cuts with nice clean and straight lines. This makes the patching easier. Last time I looked I do not own a metal bender so those complex curves can be challenging. WIth all rotted metal cut out, true your edges with a grinder Using POR 15 degreaser, clean the area and allow to dry

[St.stephen]

I hate hitting buttons that I did not mean to. anyway, with metal clean and fresh, all areas trued and nice, sit down, have a beer and hunt for some cardboard.

You're going to use the cardboard as a template for creating your patch. You need one piece to fill in the area where the inner fender well meets on the toe board, and another to fill in on the front of the toe board.

Let me edit your photo and make some notes. I'll be back

rusty area3.bmp