Scott,
I had rust in the same places. I suggested a dogleg replacement to my
local specialist and he cringed. This is what he did. He cut a hole large
enough to cover the affected area, then he put a plate in that was a little
larger than the hole (the hole was oblong). He welded this on the backside
of the body surface. Then he covered the area with filler. It seemed kind
of hokey to me, but it was solid, and he assured me that using the dogleg
patch would have meant a lot more labor as the dogleg patch wraps around
into the door sill.
He missed some pinholes on one side, so I'm taking my car back over this
weekend for him to fix it. I wasn't really crazy with this style of
repair. I think that If I had it to do over, I would have had the dogleg
patch done the right way. Incidently, after you fix the damaged area, you
can just soak the inside of that panel with a Rustoleum or something other
that will stop any rust that was not obvious. You can access the backside
through the cockpit. It will involve removing some interior panels.
Doug Gaither
DISCLAIMER: I live in central California where rust is seldom seen on
anything but neglected metal. This was one of the reasons that my local
specialist thought that this style of repair was acceptable.
-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Gardner [SMTP:gardner7@pilot.infi.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 2:59 PM
To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: patching rust holes?
Well, I was investigating a paint bubble on one of the doglegs (the
little curved part aft of the door sill), and I found a rust-through
hole under the bubbled paint.
How do you patch a small rust-hole when you have no access to the
backside of the panel? Am I looking at having a whole new dogleg
welded in? I need to have the floor pans replaced anyway, so I may
just farm out the dogleg as well.
Scott
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