Hey guys, i have a ae71 spirit, which is in need of help from bad rust damage. i have uploaded some photo's of the rust. i roughly think i have an idea of what i am doing. i was planning on shaping the aluminium plate and using that as a base, to support the filler and help give it more strength. in need of some ideas, please feel free to helpcheers

current Materials:

Paint Stripper

Sand Paper

Body Filler

2mm Aluminium mesh/plate

angle Grinder

Drill(wire brushes)

Files

If you don't have a welder etc fibreglass is damn good. Take it back to metal on both sides and fibreglass from either side.

 

Then to smooth it out you can always just use spray putty or minor amounts of body filler to make it smooth..

 

Doesn't fall out like bodyfiller, Much stronger and never had a problem with it :wink:

i've got an arch welder, and how would you go about making the seal lip out of fibreglass?

Edited September 17, 201115 yr by ae71rollr

What happens when its rusted all the way through and is thin? Do you just sand it back lightly then rust converter then fiberglass?

A good welder, grinder + cutting discs, sheet metal, primer + paint, and some SKILL. Properly getting rid of rust isn't as easy as slapping some bog over it. Take it to bare healthy metal and fix from there, if you are able to.

as you can see by one of the pics i have started to get it back to bare metal,i just wanted to get some ideas before i progressed to much more.

I wouldn't attempt welding a car body with anything other than a tig.. It's too thin.. Unless you had a perfect setup on a really good welder i doubt you could get a good weld without burning through..

 

Plus with fibreglass you don't have to spend half a day grinding back welds

fair enough, but how would you go about making the lip for the seal on the arches?

Mig welder is fine to use. Do a bit of practise on a spare old panel first.

with those badly rusted areas, especailly around the boot lock there, its probably easier to just go and cut that peice out of another ke70 and weld it in.

with those badly rusted areas, especailly around the boot lock there, its probably easier to just go and cut that peice out of another ke70 and weld it in.

 

that's it! Around the coast you might battle to find a rust-free one to chop up, but inland here they are like new.

 

You need to weld new panel into anything that is structural. Just think what it does when you go up a kerb and the body flexes, or put it through a couple of corners hard and find some bumps in there, or if someone drives into you. The parts affected by those need to be fresh steel. Bits that just look good can be fibreglassed. I've always used oxy welding, but the new welders seem great. The advantage of oxy is that you can heat the panel and shape it into a curve easily.

 

In NZ you won't get a warrant of fitness with ANY rust in a car, they stopped that back in the 90s. If they fail it you have to take it back and show them the repair before you bog over it.

 

So, hit the wreckers with a big grinder...

i tried u-pull it and alot of other wreckers, but all the ke70's there have rust in the same spots. I'm still on the look out for some where in adelaide i can go cut it or buy the plate of some-one online who can do it for me. I'm just looking for $$$ effective idea's

Cut it out reweld in, even if your welds are shhhhhhhhhhhhit its x1000 times better than bog. but saying that anything smaller then a 10c coin bog it up its not worth half a day of cleaning welds for something that small.

Edited September 21, 201115 yr by Spencer

Cut out 3 times the area of the rust.

Is it true that bog will actually attract (absorb) water and cause further rust down the track?

 

Has anyone ever used one of those electric rust preventers that people use now on beach vehicles? When you cut out all the rust and re-spray, will one of these help in preventing it coming back? (sorry for taking the thread slightly off track)