Aftermarket Sheetmetal

[chuckstsi]

So I've been reading a bunch of posts on rust repairs in the 2G cars. I cant say I ever remembering anyone talking about a source of aftermarket sheetmetal. Anyone know of any sources? I'm not really interested in the junkyard stuff, because here in New England its all mostly rusted in the first place.....

Thanks!

 

[crimsondragon]

You mean preformed body sheets? Can't say I ever seen it. Most of the time it can just be formed by hand if the person is an experienced body worker.

 

[chuckstsi]

Yes I am talking "preformed". Example, fenders, quarters, rockers, door skins.....I couldn't imagine even the most experienced tin knocker is going to bang out a rear quarter....

 

[DogWhistle]

Was thinking about some carbon fiber pieces vs. steel and found both on andys auto sport. Haven't done any comparison price shopping yet though.

 

[crimsondragon]

Sure they can. Just pay an exorbitant price that is worth about the car. Simple as that. There's no market in these cars to make floors, rear quarter panels, or strut towers. Most people rather just junk it after that. We're fortunate enough to still get front fenders, front and rear bumper covers, and radiator support assembly.

 

[estoyaqui30]

You mean preformed body sheets? Can't say I ever seen it. Most of the time it can just be formed by hand if the person is an experienced body worker.

Tim,

Is there anybody that you can recommend that is really good with sheet metal ? I'm in your area and I'm starting to get some rust on the strut tower and in front of the rear wheels....all on the passengers side. I want to get all of this fixed before it gets beyond repair.

Also, based on your last post on this thread, I was talking to Paul at JNZTuning the other day and he said that mitsubishi has discontinued the 2Gb front fenders and there are no more drivers side fenders in the pipeline.

 

[crimsondragon]

Sorry I don't have any specific leads. Is it just rust or are there holes? If it's holes, see if somebody with a welder can patch it up. If it's just rust, I'd clean it up and apply some POR15. Sucks for the fender but I believe there are still plenty of aftermarket fenders available.

 

[pksystems]

I think there used to be OEM replacement front strut towers available a couple years ago (from one of the strut tower rust threads)

I started poking around and my drivers tower is gone. 1" hole will probably need like 4" of metal removed to get to good metal. Shouldn't be too hard to patch.

Rear rocker panel isn't too difficult to make yourself once you start playing with sheetmetal.

There was only a small hole on the wheel well side of my rockers. I ended up making 24" of rockers. Inner and outer sections (both sides). Bent with homemade metal brake, and then hammered to get the contour of the body pretty close.

Once the side skirts/door caps go on, there is no way you will be able to tell it's been repaired. Just make sure you seal the skirts to the body good, so water can't get back in through the plastic clip holes. I'm probably going to put a good dab of urethane around the holes right before the skirts get put on.

 

[chuckstsi]

So does any one have any pics or links to a rocker panel job. I was figuring the same, that no one is going to see the work underneath the skirts. I just wanted to get a baseline as to what the job looks like.

 

[MITSUMURDOK]

Miller Import sells junkyard rockers for $200 the last time i checked. There is post on here, I think it's in the build section, of a guy that did extensive rust repair with a lot of pics. Good luck man, I'm in the same situation. I think I'm going to end up finding another shell though because besides the rust, my "frame rails" are also bent up,

 

[motomattx]

Its not water that rusts these cars out, its SALT-WATER from the crap on the roads in the winter and early spring, even on a nice day in the spring if its raining and you drive in it the leftover salt on the road is melted into the water on the road making saltwater that penetrates alot more areas than just rock salt normally would and as a bonus once the salt is deposited under your car in areas where you cant access it to clean it, it continues to work at eating away your car year round especially every time you re-activate it when your driving in rain in the summer. Water alone dont eat painted and treated metal, the salt eats the paint off by making it bubble and then the acidic salt and water does the rest.

 

[pksystems]

The front mount point of the trailing arms (right beside the rockers) has a low point that collects crud. Mine was packed with 3/4" of sand/gravel/salt....etc.... and rusted out.

There is no drain for the water to get out, and the trailing arm section is open to the rear wheel wells.

You won't be able to tell how bad it is till you start removing the inner rocker.

After I got all the cancer out, I took a small sandblaster to clean up the rest of the metal near where the new metal would be going.

There was also some holes (preformed, not rust) on the wheel well wall on my '97 that have metal behind them on my '98. I believe they are open into the Frame rails, and seem to dip down to the low point near the trailing arms. Since my car is being prepped for mostly winter use, I spot welded a small cover over the holes and seam sealed the edges. I don't want any holes on the side, or top of anything near the wheel wells, that doesn't have a plug in it. Drains on the bottom are fine.

I have a couple pics of what was removed before sandblasting on my account. I had to do the same work (except the floor reinforcement straightening) on both sides.