I need help help on repairing what rust messed up, I started off by cutting away the metal that was weakened by rust, I still have some places I want to cut out. gonna see if my dad can help me weld it all back up between now and monday. Any and all tips on repairing this will be very helpful View attachment 54590 View attachment 54591 View attachment 54592 View attachment 54593
No big deal. Cut it out and make your patches to fit. Weld them in, clean it up and paint it. Its a good area to gain experience. You cant see most of it once the battery is in so you dont have to be perfect.
Btw in the first pic you have some wires coming off your rad/relay they look to be heat-shrink style so you could seal those up with a heat gun if you like.. and do exactly what Darren said..mine isn't 100% perfect either but i made a little Alum box that i bolted down over top it to make it look nice. and same with the rad support..i repaired mine a little and left the rest rusty, one day i plan to make a nice aluminum one to replace it with.
those are the regular crimp on style that came with the fan but thanx for the tip , after dinner im going to cut the rest out and see what I go to work with
Ive cut this area out of my car probly 3 times now for various reasons lol just take your time and you will be fine getting it back in there!
I agee with everyone. Good place to practice, I cut the whole section out to the bends and corners, cut a panel to fit, welded, then filled, and painted. One thing thats a must for these old cars IMO, buy a plastic battery box from autozone, summit, or what have you. Drill holes in your patched section to mount the box and stick the battery in that. Battery acid doesn't eat plastic like it eats steel.
any tips for welding on the thin metal? I would assume I would need to weld a little at a time so I wont warp the metal, possibly just tack weld it
The cleaner the better, take it slow and see how it welds. Depending on the thickness, you may have to take it slow, and tack weld it.
yea on body panels and thin pieces I use my little 80 amp mig and get in and out real quick in spots, gradually filling in, then take an angle grinder to the welds and smooth em out.
What I have learned that has worked for me so far- - -clean up the area with a wire wheel or a paint remover disc in a drill so you can see where the corroded metal ends and nice thick shiny metal still exists - you really need to cut everything out right back to the good metal and the paint is hiding that point right now - I run a thinner wire in my mig welder and turn the heat down then you can begin by hitting the patch with some spot welds - move around connecting those spot welds with other spot welds until everything is, more or less, a solid weld - grind or sand down and then touch up any bad spots with a few more spot welds - I tried to run a solid lenghty bead on thin metal before and only wound up warping the steel - treat the area with Rust Bullet or POR 15 and that's that
I've done this repair twice. After I got through welding and grinding, I used seam sealer and bed liner underneath. Then I used the old battery tray as a template and made a new tray out of steel I had left over (old washing machine body). I put in a couple of drain holes, sealed the whole assembly and top coated it. Looks good from both sides. One of these days, I'll remember to take photos.
