How bad is this Rust Spot

[Spcymonkey]

Thinking about purchasing this SHO. Other than this rust spot, the body is straight, minor rust on undercarriage, good deal, etc etc.

My plan would be to repaint the entire car as I plan on restoring it, so the beauty of the repair doesn't matter to me, as long as the body ends up straight for a repaint.

Can this be done, how difficult would it be, and is it worth it (will it cost me a fortune).

Thanks guys!

 

[crazy_canadian]

The quarter panel would need to be replaced. I had rust in that same area, and the metal rust from underneath. The inner sheet metal is in 2 pieces, sealed together with foam. It's a humidity trap.
A local shop made me a new quarter panel for $150 formed from galvanized steel. Plus installation.
When there's a hole, there is no fix it. You cut old metal and install new metal. Or it'll come right back.

 

[Spcymonkey]

How hard is the installation for a new quarter panel? I wouldn't mind a fabbed piece of metal to replace it with, that price seems reasonable.

 

[crazy_canadian]

I don't really know how much time it takes. I have mine being installed at a bodyshop. The new sheetmetal is glued on the body.
The inner sheetmetal has been sandblasted and painted before the installation.

 

[Art5]

look under your side skirt. It is probably way worse there. and one thing you cannot see, is under your bumper, that rust spot stretches from bumper area all the way to your rocker panel.

 

[DDBSho]

Art5 is right. Looking under the side skirt might ruin your day. When I was stripping mine, there was the usual small surface rust expected of a car that came from the mountains of NC. The only cancer-rust on the entire car was where crud got in behind the sideskirt and made a sizable hole over the years.

 

[sperold]

To answer your original question.... Not too bad at all.
I would be nice to replace that panel and have the car painted, but unless you have friends in the business, you will find that it is pretty expensive.
The back bumper comes off very easily, and you will see the extent of the rust when you do that, after you have removed the rear wheel.
The secret to the repair is to seal everything from behind, where you don't see it and you can use roofing cement or whatever. The wheel sprays water on that area constantly when raining, so you have to seal that up perfectly. That is step one and it is the most important. You can have it patched on the outside and since it is black, it is not too bad to match the colour. You can get an exact match from automotivetouchup.com.
There is a post on this forum from someone that has a quarter panel from a regular Taurus and it shows how extensive the work can be if you do it all.

 

[Spcymonkey]

Well, I'd repaint the entire car, so matching paint isn't the issue.

As far as fixing the rust, I'd just cut it all out and re-weld it with a new piece. I guess my question was can that be done really.

I have friends that can help with all that, so the only real cost will be the new fab panel. Assuming that's affordable, I think it's worth the trouble to me.

 

[kevinspann]

Sure it can be done. Might be easier to find a rust free 1/4 to put on vs. fabricating.

 

[Art5]

I am planning on welding up all connecting points on my car's quarter and then make a skeleton for doing fiberglass quarter parts and wider flares. I think, this way that will be easier to achieve more then one goal.

 

[rubydist]

if you ever take a trip out here to the southwest, and if you ever work on a 20-year old car that still has shiny fasteners - so you can actually get stuff apart without doubling the time it should take - you will junk anything that has "just a little rust" and only have stuff that is truly rust-free.

my experience with cars that have the rust you show in that pic, is that all the suspension fasteners are rusted in place and the first time you have to do any work on the car you will spend more time swearing than you will actually accomplishing anything useful.

 

[mrecoolgar]

I heard that.
That's why I swapped out RX7 bodies.