When is restoration no longer feasible?

[studs]

Couldn't decide if this belonged in appearance forum or custom fab, kind of both areas. I have a '94 which was the love of my life, she's been abused sitting around for 2-3 yrs, brought inside for winters but the summer she has sat outside. I am in apartment with no parking for 3 cars (work truck, wife's car, no room for talon ) I want to bring her back to life again but I have rust in the rear quarters in front of the tires beneath the plastic molding. last time I checked the rockers were good but I'm sure once I start poking in the wheel well areas I'm going to break through in a couple of the lowest parts. The underside is decent shape I had it rust stopped a few times in her life. the obvious answer is cut the rust replace with new metal, obvious best solution. Now if you look in the wheel well you will see a seam where two metals meet, at what point do you go from body panel to structural steel? I have experience with bondo and fiberglass but this is obviously more serious than that. I have a harbor freight Mig welder it's messy and I'm not very good with it but I have to learn somehow. What's the best way to tackle something like this? I know I could buy a better condition 1G but it's not my 1G. Looking for some advice from the guys who have done/attempted this, and wondering if I'm being unrealistic given my lack of current welding/sheetmetal tools and knowledge. I may be able to borrow some (sheetmetal brake, plasma cutter). Were looking to get a house soon and I'll have a garage again (I miss my happy place) so I can get busy!

 

[Bud92gsx]

Hey man I have a piece of info for you..

If it's your baby, then restoration is never out of the question...Someones gotta show these older cars there is still love for them somewhere....

Since your not that good at welding I'd suggest getting some srap metal that's about the same thickness, and start practicing...You'll get it eventually i'm sure.Welding is not hard...And as long as there are no "blown out holes" between the body and chassis structure you'll be alright...

 

[turboglenn]

I agree, if it's your baby, fix her up! YOu'll learn a lot in the process. SHeet metal work on a car is some of the most time consuming stuff you're ever gonna do, but just don't rush it and things will work out fine. Let me give you some tips on welding up sheet metal.

First of all cut ALL the rust out, don't leave a patch where you think you can just sand it down because that will come right back.

Second, when welding the patches in ONLY spot weld with short little bursts of the MIG, then make sure to work it like tightening a wheel/lug nuts and jump all around to keep heat from building up in the panel as this wil make it warp. One thing you can do to avoid all the waiting between a few spots for it to cool is to take an air blower and small compressor and use it to blow the panel cool after every 5 -6 spots of weld. Although not required it will cut your welding time down by at least 1/2 because you can get the panel cool enough to start welding on again in about a minute instead of waiting 10 - 15 minutes for that same area to cool.

Keep jumping around with spot welds until it's all seamed up then get out the die grinder and start taking the weld down..again keep the panel cool or you'll have a lot more filler work to do after the panel cools. GRind a little and air blow it cool, then grind some more..once you get it down almost flush put a sanding rol-loc on your die grinder and then carefully take the welds the rest of the way flush with the panel.

There's a lot more to it but those are jus some tips on putting the new metal in.... Best of luck and post pics whn you get started!

I've done a LOT of panel repair on older Mopars when i took a job at a shop that worked on porsche club track cars, when they didn't have enough to keep me busy they would send me over to the body shop and I started about like your going to where they just put the car in front of me and said "cut out and replace all this metal" And i learned as i went and although it isn't hard to do it is very time consuming. I have spent 15 - 20 hours on a single door before and spent countless hours rebuilding the areas where the OEM glass had sat in the body for 20 -30 years (which reminds me... don't forget to pull the glass and get those areas if you see any rust..) that is if you're wanting a COMPLETE restoration without worrying about new rust poping through a new paint job within the first few years

 

[Bud92gsx]

Glenn knows his s***... +1

Do you have acess to a die grinder, cutoff wheel, air compressor, possibly plasma cutter? I don't want you out there with a torch...Right guys?

 

[turboglenn]

+1 for no torches! I can think of many bad things that can happen besides the possibility of the car catching fire/blowing up. I tend to use a body saw for as much as i can but when the blades start hitting stuff behind the panel and being up i will switch to a die grinder to make the rest of the cut. My only problem with a die grinder on all of the cutting is the heat that's built up from friction cutting and the resulting warpage that's possible (thin sheet metal warps pretty easy)

You can get both a die grinder and air body saw at harbor freight for less than 20 bucks each, you just have to buy good blades for the saw at either a tool supply store or hardware store (ACE, HOme Depot etc..) Die grinder cut-off wheels for the most part are the same, so i do get those from HF too (being that i can get 10 for 3 bucks compared to 15 dollars or more from some places i don't worry if they wear a little faster )

If there's anything you need advice on with this project just post up here, there's enough of us with enough experience in different fields that you should be able to get answers to abotu any question you'd have during this project. And IMO you'll get better advice on here than the other dsm forums i've been on (which is why i only really post/read on here instead of the "others" when it comes to DSM's)

OT... It's weird IMO how 2 similar forums can have a large sharing of members but, but when it comes to the rest of "the population" of the board, one is helpfull and the general attitude is more respectfull where the other board will seem to be a gathering of flaming, un-eduacated kids who just want to argue about why you want to do something rather than help you do it or learn how to themselves.

I admin/moderate on 2 other forums that are motorcycle based and no matter what the forum is based around i see the same pattern repeat it's self in every genre where one board is helpfull and the other one makes you want to go out and smack a bunch of smart-assed teenagers around a bit

 

[studs]

The DSM community has been nothing but great to me here. I know what your talking about, was having problems with my wife's sentra, went looking for help on forums and the help was like nothing I find here. I appreciate everyone's input and while I'm not starting this project yet I will be as soon as I get a garage, I'll let you guys know when I finally do.

 

[Rex2342]

My poor DSM was in rough shape when i found her sitting in some guys yard behind his tool shed. It had been sitting for 3 years in the wonderful Pennsylvania weather. The tranny was shot, there were holes in the metal everywhere and a lovely family of rats had moved in and decided to eat the wiring, seat belts and rear seats . For $200 I scored a bone stock, untouched, running DSM and didn't think twice about how it looked. After I fixed the wiring and ditched the nasty stained tan interior in favor of the black and gray and put a new tranny in it was up and running. Since then I've spent countless hours here and there repairing the sheet metal. Both quarter panels, both rocker panels, two new fenders, repaired inside the door jams, it's still mostly in primer but the holes are gone. I'm hoping to finish up the final sanding and get the paint done by the end of this summer. Everybody always asks me why I keep trying to fix her up and I never really have an answer for them. It's my baby and it's all me I guess. I've spent so much time with her and endured so much frustration that I see no point in ever getting rid of her. I couldn't imagine getting to work in anything else or taking anything else to the race track on the weekends. I drive mine every day all year round too. If you have the basic knowledge of how to use air tools and at least some idea on how to weld then the body work isn't really that hard. The hardest part is getting the metal to fit right before the welding even starts and all that takes is patients and a lot of bending and tweaking. If you really love your car then I say stick with it and do whatever it takes to get it into the condition you want it in. I've done mine with little more than a die grinder, angle grinder, a cut off tool, and a good pair of tin snips. I've used about a sheet and a half of metal and lots of dura glass and bondo but she's almost done.