Rusted Hatch? Need Fix'n... No worries.

[urcaptnspeaking]

Hey ladies and doods. This is my DIY for fixing that nasty hatch that may be harboring itself on your prize piece.

The purpose of this is "You can fix your hatch and spend little money doing so". That and simple tools were the focus on this (not every one has access to welders and such)

So please I know its not exactly the "best" way but it will definately work and hold up if done right.

Stuff you will need:

-10 mm socket and extension-hammer-bondo (or equivelant) $7.50 at Wally World-fiberglass repair kit $ 10 (or so) at Walmart-Sawzall (some sort of cutting device)-80-600 grit sand paper $5-Primer $4.85 or so-Sanding Block-Time

Step 1 Remove the wing

-This can be done by popping the hatch and removing the 10mm nuts via the holes on the underside.

Step 2 Destroy that damn thing for making life that much harder on you.



Step 3 After the wing is off take the hammer and knock any weak metal through, and to make the cutting a little easier.IF YOU DONT HAVE TO DO THIS DONT DO IT use your best judgement as to wheather or not it needs removed. Remember dont go pounding away here as you will have to fix whatever you beat up.



Step 4 Take this..



And do this..cut the remaining weak metal out. Again whatever you cut out you will need to put back with fiberglass (or metal if youre going that route,but here we're using FiberGlass)



!! Sand down any remaining surface rust

Step 5 Hammer Time. Take your hammer and pound around the holes to indent the hole a bit for when you apply the bondo you wont have a "mound" of bondo just hanging out. REMEMBER you never want to use more than 1/4 of bondo so keep the pounding to only what is needed.... < ha

Step 6 Fiberglassin'. This stuff is messy so avoid getting the resin everywhere or you will have that much more sanding on your hands..Cut out the fiberglass so that it is 1 inch bigger than the circumference of whatever you are covering. Put the fiberglass in the resin so that it is saturated and then place it on the underside(IF YOU CAN. I found that it works best and makes for a cleaner outcome, but you cant always do it that way so sometimes on top is what you have to settle for). Let it set up for about an hour and a half or so (dependant on temp)





Sand down the unneeded resin remaining being careful NOT TO sand down the fiberglass too much as it will crack and weaken.

Step 7 Bondo.



Cover your work in a coat of bondo. Keep it somewhat light as you will be putting on a few more to get a finished product. You dont have to worry about the looks here as much just the basic shape of the body.



Shape the bondo down to the basic shape of the hatch with 80 grit sand paper using a block (or orbital sander being careful). Why you use a block is: Your hand doesnt have very even pressure distribution becuase its not flat. Your fingers and palm are about all that touches and will reflect that on the sanding. By using a block you have a flat surface which cant help but follow the body line.

Add another coat of bondo to fill the imperfections. The best way to tell for low or high spots is by your hand. Run your hand in long strokes over the surface feeling for waves. Dont be affraid to sand more and add more and so on as it is a process that will take time. DO it right and you will be happier with the outcome.



When sanding these later coats use a finer grit sand paper. The purpose of this is to ONLY remove the imperfections NOT the underlying bondo. This is where you have to start being more careful. If you are using an orbital sander put it away now and break out that sanding block. This will ensure that your product will be as close to perfect and will (even though it takes longer) may save you time if you happen to make waves by using the orbital.

When sanding with a block Picture an X do this pattern in long strokes keeping it flat and NOT worrying about the edges just yet. Do pattern as follows: / (diagonal out and back) \ (the opposite in the same fashion)

Now picturing a cross:

l Up and Down- Left and right

Using this technique will make the product a nice flat surface.

After a hand check, adding to any low points and sanding any high points repeat the sanding steps until the imperfections are gone.

Step 8 Priming and Finishing

- Using filler primer spray a light coat over the whole area. If you feel like it you can sand it down using a high grit (120 or above) sand paper then adding coats until it is fully covered.



-When priming is finished sand it gradually from about 220 grit-to 600 or until you feel it meets your standards



And there you have it. In a few short hours you will have a "like new" hatch.

Breakdown

-Total: approx. $35 -Time: 4 hours or so-basic tools, and products-Cant beat that.



-Capt'n
Modified by urcaptnspeaking at 11:17 AM 5/8/2008

[sommmatt]

Nice! That's a pretty good writeup, I must say. May in fact take less time and be easier than sourcing another hatch, sanding, priming and painting that one, and running a new wiring harness through it.

[urcaptnspeaking]

Exactly. Of course it cant beat a free hatch. But this is for those people who arent lucky enough to come across an awesome deal. Or their hatch isnt "that bad" My hatch was showing even worst case scenario's can be done.

[Cory_Marshall]

Yeah that obviously ISN'T the best way to do the job, and is just basically a temporary fix..

I can't BELIEVE how BAD that rotted your hatch out, Ive NEVER seen one that bad..

[sommmatt]

You live in Tdot and you don't see that? Damn. If you want to start a competition, I'll go take a picture of my old rotted hatch right now.

EDIT here it is. I never even bothered to hit away the weak metal, but you can see just how bad it is going to be.

[urcaptnspeaking]

haha it will be bad thats for sure.

As for the "not the best way" I know. But I must admit its very durable.

[Cory_Marshall]

Ive seen some RUSTED hatches DONT get me wrong...

My 1990 had a rusted hatch, It was rusted HORRIBLY to be honest ALL over, it had like NO wheel wells left...It wasn't that bad.. I just looked ALL over and found ANOTHER hatch at a wreckers that was in better shape..

I had the spoiler taken off of my 92 and it had a tiny spot and that was it..

[finalgear]

did the same thing you did this was my hatch

[Cory_Marshall]

It SUCKS that they rust out sooo bad,Isn't it because of what they made the spolers out of or something?

I liked the look of the spoiler on mine, but it almost looks a little sleeker with it off..

It's funny, Ive had like 20 people offer to buy my car in the past couple months.. I CAN'T sell it though, I plan on keeping her forever!

[urcaptnspeaking]

awesome man !

[urcaptnspeaking]

Foam+water= bad idea

[sommmatt]

I remember when I first took the spoiler off, it felt like it weighed 40 lbs. I went to show someone later after it was sitting in the sun, and it felt like it would fly away. That thing holds so much water, its no surprise all our cars rusted out.

[urcaptnspeaking]

exactly.

[urcaptnspeaking]

I got an update coming soon. The weather has been ... anything but awesome hindering my progress. But heres some insight: There were some things I wasnt happy with and I bought a few more tools to further the finish "as close to perfect, on budget" Idea ive been pushing. I should have something up tomorrow : ) post will be made in my build thread though (see sig)

[dozier]

oh man..hell of a fix..good work

[urcaptnspeaking]

oh man..hell of a fix..good work

Thanks A lot man !

[Xdisaster240sX]

Is it going to look like this??

[finalgear]

AHHHH MY EYES IT BURNS please never show that again ^

[Gottoknow]

finalgear your sig is awesome, i stared at it for like 5 minutes.

[finalgear]

Thanks it is pretty cool i stared at it for like 10 mins when i first put it up

[urcaptnspeaking]

hahaha . Negative I dont want to put a 79-81 T/A front end on it. haha I have a trans am for that.