after going over the notchy fully yesterday found only one painfull rust area. under the front bonnet there is a BIG (approx 30cm by10cm) hole in the front of the air vent box where whater has gotten caught up and rusted through bigtime. how hard to fix will this be considering it is a curved area of metal? is it common for t3s to rust out here? are repair bits made?

anybody?

Neither of my type 3s have rust in this area so I cann't comment on how hard it will be to repair. I also couldn't say whether repair panels are available as I've never looked. Try all the usual Oz suppliers, if that doesn't work try Type 3 detectives in the UK. They sell a large range of repair panels.

I am guessing that the water drain hose has been blocked with leaves and crap allowing water to pool in the little pocket below the front air vents causing a strip along the bottom to rust. One good thing is, if I am picturing it correctly, the area is covered by the (front) boot lining so messy welds etc will not be visible.

yeah, ur absolutely right, heaps of leaves and cr@p clogging it up. and yes, all will be invible when the hood is down, so can be pretty messy (hopefully wont be)

Check out the bodywork forum on AVD but any decent panel shop can make a repair panel .

Dan