I'd appreciate the collective wisdom and experience in how you've dealt with
a rusty bonnet.
Any pictures would be great !
I spent much of Fri nite waiting 2 hours for a guy to show up (he didn't)
who was selling a "project" that had a great body and rust free bonnet. Upon
visiting again the next day, it didn't, well sort of. Inner fenders at the
wheel arch had rotted through to the outers, but the metal of the fenders
themselves including arches seemed okay. Previous bondo-ed repair at the
leading edge of one arch.
I've already got a bonnet with rusted inners, and rust through under the
side maker lamp. In my ignorance, I'm thinking that in order to fix the
inners and make them look right, I'll have to take the bonnets apart, and
that if I have to do that, I might as well replace the side panels (front
fenders) as well. If that has to be done on both bonnets then I might just
as well work on the one I've already got.
So what to do?
Replace: cost wise a local vendor wants $750. for a good bonnet (I don't
know if that means needs "some" work, or no work).
Repair: parts from Spitbits price out at $550. Can, but plus shipping,
duties etc. (Fenders, inner and outer wells, headlamp mounting panels).
Skill wise, I've successfully fabricated a lower A post replacement, and
installed it along with a new rocker (sill) panel. (Sounds good, but what
may have taken someone else a couple of days took me _months_).
My next step is to check out the "good" bonnet from the local vendor.
I'm asking for input as, before looking further, I'd like to know if people
have had success with patch panels, or whether replacing the whole pieces
with new and rebuilding the bonnet is the only way to make it look "right".
Many thanks for all contributions
Nick Moseley
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