Hack Weld Solder Sculpt: Inner fenders

"Just give it a tap tap tappy!"

Minor frame box repair

After fighting with an inferior patch panel to repair the rusted battery apron, struggling, and ultimately failing and having to rip out the bad repair, I ordered a nicer replacement panel. This time around I decided just to grind out all the spot welds and replace the entire panel. Glad I did, since when removing the whole panel I discovered that the rust that ate the battery tray, core support, and battery apron had also eaten holes in the frame box underneath. So before I could focus one the battery apron, I needed to repair the frame first. It was not a huge deal, but totally required. I also took the opportunity to arrest some of the rust inside the frame box and wiring tunnel under the core support.

Battery apron repair

New battery apron, plug welded in

After completing the frame patch, next task was to replace the battery apron. I used my new sheetmetal punch to make the holes for the plug welds. After fitting and snugging the panel, I plug welded it in. Some self-etching primer was applied when finished. This also tied the core support back to the unibody, which had been flopping around while I chased the rust problem down.

Interestingly, I will not be putting the battery tray back in since we're relocating the battery to the trunk. My friends in the LS Mafia suggest the pocket might be the perfect place to locate a turbo! (Noted. No turbo in the plan, but hey, they're right about the fitment possibilities)

Driver's side inner fender rust repair

Rust repair patch, fitted to the driver's inner fender

The inner fender on the driver's side was not nearly as rusted as the passenger, but there was a strip where a flange was plug welded on, and trapped moisture had rusted it through. This did not warrant a full panel replacement, so I decided to fabricate a patch to repair it in place.

Inside the fresh air intake, under the cowl- repaired with fiberglass and epoxy

I also repaired the fresh air vent intake inside the cowl on the driver's side with some fiberglass and epoxy so that it would both not rust any further and not leak. This was to fix the pinholes that might let rainwater into the interior of the car when it rains, but without having to perform a complicated and time-consuming disassembly of the cowl and firewall portion of the unibody

I finally welded in the patch and it looks good. Welding to the old metal can be tricky, but I am getting better at it, as evidenced by the increasingly neater welds.