Hi Everyone,

I've sanded back the rust on a couple of spots on the rear apron and just wanted some advice. Should I cut out the holy spots and weld some new metal in, or should I just fill it up with Bondo? Pictures below:

Rust doesnt get better with age......cut it out

As above

would you keep a cancer in your body

cut it out

There is no question about it. There is only one way to do it. Cut out all sections with holes, and go further until all metal inside is clean, and weld new sections of sheetmetal to that. If you can get some old damaged panels to cut the sheet from, that is a good way to go as you can cut bits with shapes if you need to. Get panels of similar age and thickness. A crunched 2007 Honda panel would not be a good choice for example.

These shots now show the rust cut out:







I'd like to hear suggestions on the best way to patch these areas up now.

Cheers.

Now you need to get sections of panel steel, from an old damaged VW, Holden, Ford, Valiant panel for example, and shape it and weld it in using a MIG welder, or even an Oxy welder and fusion weld it. Then grind it back, and go from there. A search through threads in this section of the forum, and a search of "MIG welding", "Rust repairs" or "Oxy welding" will give you hours of information to read.

It is best to do it in one piece. If you are going to have any troubles or future rust, it will be where you weld, so it is always better to keep joins to a minimum.

Sometimes on an old panel you can find bits to cut out that are already the right shape or fold.

Oh and the time spent getting the new piece to fit with no gaps in the join before welding will make your welding job a lot easier. Best to spend an extra half an hour trimming it exact, than spending an extra hour welding big gaps and grinding.

Ok, well've spot welded in the patch panel but I just want to know what the best way to proceed is.

Do I keep welding around the whole perimeter and risk warping the metal and possibly burning holes?(I did this already, hence my 2nd attempt at the patch panel). Or do I just go with the body filler and seal it up that way?

Weld it up a bit at a time. Do a couple of cm's then let it cool. Then do some more. Also as you do this, dont stop on the tack weld. Using a wet rag also helps. Just dont rush it or things turn to crap pretty quick.

You could manage the heat by welding a bit on one spot, then weld another bit where the steel is still cool. Ie the top left, then the bottom right. But you still need to let things cool regardless.