Advice wanted: patching trunk flr/inner whl house

[CamarosRus]

Cutting out rusted metal and installing patches and inner whl house. Does anybody have expereince in this specific area ????????

[Schonyenko2]

A photo assesment is always difficult, but a couple of observations are that, there's a lot of plastic in the areas around where you've ground, and I'm guessing that you'll find more in areas that you haven't disturbed yet. Also, you will need to cut past, and remove any rusted areas that you will be welding to, as you can't weld rust.
Don't forget to use weld through primer between the seems to keep rust from starting there.
My 2 cents: by the time you're done, you might have been better off replacing the inner wheelhouses, and putting in a one piece trunk floor.

[CamarosRus]

Schoney, Thanks for the reply. The one area of plastic you can see is on the existing (old) inner whl house. That plastic was covering the 90' angled metal that was holding inner hse to trunk floor, as factory spot welded seam was GONE.

The old inner house will be cut above that plastic. Can you see along yellow dotted line where I've exposed half the subframe flange. Somebody suggested that would be a good place to have weld seam for Goodmark patch panel. All the remaining floor metal and frame is sound and rust free.

I just cant decide if I should go the work of removing entire old inner whl house (requires cutting loose a couple different support brkts) OR should I just install lower portion of new whl house, welding to OEM upper.........

Also there is some missing metal on front side of shock tower thicker metal, that I will have to fabricate from scratch. This area is pretty inconspicuous when all is done.

My pictures dont show rear most portion of rocker panel, which was rusted badly. I need to either fab rocker metal from scratch or buy repop rocker just to use the end 6" (???)

Thanks for trying to advise...........

[VintageMusclecar]

Having just gone through this same basic repairs on my Chevelle, if I may offer my $.02...

Assuming there are aftermarket replacement panels that fit correctly, I would advise replacing the whole panel instead of patching in a repair. I did patches on the Chevelle and I'm already having regrets about not replacing the entire panel(s). There is more than a good chance that I'll replace everything I patched before the car gets de-uglified (i.e. goes in for paint)

Again, merely my $.02

Eric

[CamarosRus]

Eric, I (or somebody) will be using portions of two different Goodmark patch panels to replace the floor next to the wheel house and next to the trunk extension.

I just dont how difficult it will be or neccessary to replace the entire inner wheel house....or to cut approx yellow line and replace lower bad portion only.

Keep in mind that tire side of weld seam gets undercoated and trunk side gets spatter painted, after welds get ground flush and filler applied.......

Thanks

[70-SS/RS-L78]

Chuck I would piece and butt weld the new patches in, Just take your time and make sure you fit everything
real nice before you butt weld it togeather. It looks as though you will also need to weld in a new lip for the RGT
side outer lower W-House. also take notice of where the fuel lines are. I recently put both inner wheelhouses on
a 70 Chevelle, The owner had quarters and outers done a few years back and they just patched the inners.
What a motherf^@&er that was. Lying in a trunk for a week drilling spot welds and working with an air chisel is
something “I Highly Recommend” for UNDER 40 guys only
Chuck which car are you working on?

[Schonyenko2]

The above post is the reason God invented plasma cutters.
Sometimes, it's easier to remove things that are in your way. It's not hard to take the seat back area out. Then you have access to the wheel wells, and the shock mts. Make sure you jot down some measurements before you start, and put everything back to same. A lot of times I'll blow the spots out with the plasma cutter, then back the hole with a copper block when welding on the new piece.
To bad you're so far away Chuck. We'd be glad to help you out.

[CamarosRus]

"To bad you're so far away Chuck. We'd be glad to help you out."

There are shops/people in Western WA that claim to doing this kind of work, but I can tell you that the level of resto work done here doesnt compare to what you and other shops are doing "back east"

Schoney, Have you seen enough to conclude if I should remove all of the original inner whl house .......OR is it OK to join a partial new section with a partial existing section........

Thanks

[Schonyenko2]

You'll be ok joining a partial onto the existing inner depending on the ability of the person welding. Butt welding is good if you get a good match. Trying to fill a gap goes back to the welders ability. A small overlap flanged in will work too, and is easier. Don't forget the weldable primer.
It's all in what you're comfortable with. As long as you're happy with the fix when your done.

[70-SS/RS-L78]

We do have a plasma cutter which I used to cut the old metal out while I had 2
people on fire watch. Believe me I am one for trying to do things the easy way.
The shop who put the outers on also did not remove the old outer lip which seems
to be a common practice, They just welded them on top of the old ones. So we now
had 2 sets of welds holding it togeather, There was “No Easy Way” to do that car.