In 2017, we really looked at her rust and poked around a little. What came out is shown here. The left is from the passenger side. The right is the driver side. We suspected worse problems on the passenger side.
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For reference, that is my foot. This does not bode well and needs to be fixed. Barring any other major catastrophes, Rally Girl was moved to the top of the "fix now" list.
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The only other picture I could find of the peeling clearcoat. Notice the off-color paint underneath, where the UV rays of the sun have destroyed the color without the protectant of the clearcoat. Now imagine the whole hood looking like that.
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This is one of the patch panels. We will not be using all of this, only what we need.
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The driver side wheel arch, in all its rusty glory.
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My husband started on the passenger side, since we suspected the worst problems there. Once the outer skin was removed, we found the inner, somewhat structural panel also rusted through.
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The debris from the passenger side. I've seen worse.
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A close up of the rust. Note the holes are larger than they should be and there is an extra hole. Time to cut out some more sheet metal. We could not find a replacement patch panel, so this will have to be fabricated.
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The fabricated patch panels were tacked into place.
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My son did the welding on these patch panels.
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The newly welded in fabricated piece. Much better.
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We trimmed the patch panel to just what we need for the outer skin, then test fit the panel. The panel would be bonded into place as that would give a better finish for this little girl. And that is how the original was done from the factory.
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Father and son confer on the patch panel fit.
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The edge of the panel was flanged so that it tucked behind the original panel, forming a lip for the panel bonding.
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The passenger side replacement panel showing the flange. The panel bonding glue will sit on the flange between the two layers of metal. We coated the inside of everything with etch primer to seal the metal away from the water that caused all of this in the first place.
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While Dad prepped the metal, my son started on the new wiring, starting with the new radio harness for the black face radio.
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Meanwhile, I started digging into the driver side, literally. When the screwdriver goes through the metal, it's time for some major digging. Note the debris field by the tire. I could literlly peel back the metal with my fingers.
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The driver side rust area extended into the rocker further than we thought. There is also signs of old putty work here. This side has been worked before. Guess that is why the previous owner repainted her?
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The cleaned up driver side. This side was actually worse than the passenger side, taking the outer skin and more of the inner brace. This side had also been fixed once before. Notice the spot welds of the previous patch panel.
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Even the corner brace on the driver side had a rust hole.
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A better shot of the spot welds. Basically, the previous repair was not sealed on the inside. We plan to fix that.
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A different view of the driver side. We still have some cleaning up to do here.
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The driver wheel well had a small rust spot through both layers. This is the removed inner layer.
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The driver side was all cleaned up and prepared to weld in the new patch panels. Again, he had to fabricate the inner patch panel.
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This is the fabricated patch panel ready to go for the inner layer.
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And here is the outer patch panel for the driver wheel well.
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The driver wheel well patch was welded in first. The larger patch panel was flanged again to sit behind the body panel for the panel bonding again.
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The passenger side, bonded and the extra panel bonding glue sanded down. Ready for body work.
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