Depressing Discovery, what should I do

[ShadowKnight006]

Well I went out to start making paterns out of cardboard for repairing the rust a long the drivers side rear wheel well. As I got under the car I realised that the inner and outer pieces were separating, no big deal, then I looked up. The rust has spread farther up and has virtually demolished the inside of the quarter panel/wheel well. That combined with the horrible bondo jobs done to the rocker panel almost convinced me to sell it since I cant afford an expensive body shop job and look for another one. But I am rather attached to this car now, so I was wondering what you guys think I should do. Should I just weld some sheet metal into the inner and outer quarter panel and redo the rocker the best I can and try to cover it up with a pdm body kit? Or cut my losses and sell and look for a new one?

[The Mic]

Rust is car cancer..

[ShadowKnight006]

Rust is car cancer..

Its ironic that you would be first to reply based on the similarities of your car to mine.

After looking through autotrader.com, I think I am going to just try to fix it myself. There isn't another 240 with in 100mi I could afford. Looks like I'll just be learning how to do this the hard way.

[Tsukai240]

well i wouldn't just cover it up, that does nothing. that rust needs to come out or it will spread. it is cancer. pay up or, shut up! (no offence)

[S14Life]

Yeah, do it right the first time. Don't patch anything up. Personally I would like to fix it myself just for the experience and attachment issues (I have them too ).

[whiterps13]

rust really sucks. once it starts, youre screwed.

[gema]

Wimps, get a Datsun! =PPPP Yeah we know the best, rust SUCKS.

[gumby]

i have a similar situation with the front frame rail/strut tower. This one hasnt separated yet. Its rotted through in one spot near the airbox and the rust is starting to get a foothold along it. I'm hoping I'll be able to put in enough practice with a gasless arc welder to fish plate it myself. Other than that I'll strip the shell to search for other spots and hit em with a wire wheel, por15, and rustoleum. For now I'll just have to settle for some rust converter to halt the spread.

Do you have much experience welding? I've been researching it but I've never done it before so i could use some input.

I think pics would help. Once the engine bay is cleared I'll be all over the net looking for restoration tips.

[ShadowKnight006]

well i wouldn't just cover it up, that does nothing. that rust needs to come out or it will spread. it is cancer. pay up or, shut up! (no offence)

I wasn't going to cover up the rust, THAT I am going to replace with some new metal. What I AM going to cover up, or atleast make look better for now is the horrible BONDO job a previous owner did to the rocker panel just below the door and back. THey seem to have stoped the rust there but it looks like sh**. And as far as "pay up or, shut up! (no offence)" some of us can't so if you read the post about how we fund our projects, you'll see why I can't.

[Radian]

Maybe you should pull that bondo the previous owner did and fix it correctly. Chances are 99% that he didn't properly take care of the rust under the bondo if he can't even sand it correctly.

[rousie13]

^very good point

I have to strip the front of my car eventually and fix the area where the metal is overlapped by the strut towers. Just have to pull the fenders, and break out the torch and welder. Rust sucks.

[gumby]

when you do let me know how it goes. I've never welded and as far as I can gather it needs to be done right the first time round.

What kind of equipment do you use?

[ShadowKnight006]

Do you have much experience welding? I've been researching it but I've never done it before so i could use some input.

I took one semester of metal shop in highschool lol, luckily I have 3 relatives and several friends in the metal working industry. My advice would be find someone local who is good at this stuff and just pick their brain(thats what I am doing).

Maybe you should pull that bondo the previous owner did and fix it correctly. Chances are 99% that he didn't properly take care of the rust under the bondo if he can't even sand it correctly.

I probably will eventually and replace it with a better quality filler, similar to TruGlass(or whatever it is), but the quarter needs my attention right away.

[gumby]

good advice I intend to become a nuisance at a local autobody shop

:pface

[rousie13]

when you do let me know how it goes. I've never welded and as far as I can gather it needs to be done right the first time round.

What kind of equipment do you use?

A MIG welder is more than adequate for this. You can use one with regular wire and a gas coating, or a flux core wire(cheaper and easier to use for a newbie). The gas welders usually come out with a pretty perfect weld, but with flux wire you probably have to grind a little bit and won't get as clean of a weld. You don't need anything fancy. Use an autoshade helmet though, regular ones suck big time. With the autoshade you can still see your work area enough with the mask down.

Just make sure you cut a little extra out, just to be safe. You don't want to have to go back and do this again.

[rousie13]

The best way to get good is just get a welder and practice welding stuff. You'll suck at first, but get better. The biggest thing to remember is the distance you hold the nozzle from the metal(with gas welders, not sure with flux welders). If you hold it too far away, you get a very shi**y weld, but too close and you weld the tip closed(pain in the arse, but happens).

[ShadowKnight006]

Just thought of something, someone posed this website in another thread newnissanparts.com so I went looking around and they sell new panels for reasonable prices. Maybe for the area where the bad bondo is, I will just have it replaced with one from there. It is called a rocker panel right? Now if I could just find out what the inside of the quarter panel is called.

[wangless]

at least you didnt have rust in your engine. it was so bad it rusted a pinhole through the intake manifold and i slowly lost all my rusty coolant. after that then it tore apart my radiator, making leaks everywhere.... then the list goes on...

damn cancer... i mean rust

[ShadowKnight006]

Thats what the engine in my parts 240 was like, I bought another engine locally on e-bay but bought this car instead and got rid of the other car. So now once the body is done, I have another engine to build up.

[ShadowKnight006]

Well fixing this shouldn't be too hard now, my dad just bought a welder. Once he practices, he's going to show me and I am just going to start replacing the rusted out areas with new sheet metal. I was just wondering if anyone has had problems with the front wheel wells separating from the front frame. Mine have done this and I was planning to just sand it down and put new sheet metal between the panels of the wheel well and the frame.

[gumby]

what type of welder did you get? From what i've gathered it requires a decent gas shielded mig with multiple temperature settings for proper results. since the sheet metal is so thin it's prone to heat distortion so proper temperature is critical. no sense welding it if the adjacent metal weakens and ends up stress fracturing. wont provide any structure that way either.if the strut tower isnt completely ridgid it wont hold an alignment setting. can compensate with technique but it requires experience i know i dont have. so i'm looking more towards having a pro reinforce the seam since it hasnt actually separated yet. theres also a seam on the outside of the rail its eating into. want that plated as well.

I could brush out all the rust paint it over and let it go but if i plan on keeping it for several years I'd rather not leave it to fracture if its avoidable.

whatever you do just dont drift with it when youre done ok

[ShadowKnight006]

He got a Lincoln Electric HD 150 Flux wire feed with the option for gas shielding. As far as the fram separating from the wheel wells, I am going to use some nice angle "iron" as they call it around here to resecure everything nice and neat. I know someone who has done a lot of restoration work, he was just over giving pointers the other day. I'm not really sure I plan to keep this car but I wouldn't wanna sell it to anyone in the condition it is in right now.

[gumby]

well from what ive read its sounds like youre on the right track. enough practice and your there. the rest is all preping the surface.

[ShadowKnight006]

yea, and finding a good source for metal. The closest steel place here charges an arm and a leg to the public but luckily for me I have 2 cousins, 1 distant relative, and a former coworker/friend of a friend working there and my cousin said if I need anything he can get it for me at his cost But I want to find somewhere else so that I don't have to trouble them.

[ShadowKnight006]

part of the frame rusted out and now i need to fix it. I plan to take all the rust out to metal coat the inside with rust preventative and weld the patches on . Below is an illustration of the plan, the red represents the rust and the blue is the patches. I can't decide to go with the shorter version or the comple long one(which would add more weight).

If I don't get opinions here I may make a new thread. I am going to add this to both side of the car, just to make it even and balane out better.

[mattc240]

Word

[ShadowKnight006]

Word

to what?

[gumby]

i would say pics and a new thread will help with the opinions

as a layperson with no welding experience i dont have one for you. all i know is its amazing the front wheel well didnt rot away first.

[ShadowKnight006]

the wheel well has a small gap between the sheetmetal and structural frame but that seems simple enough to fix. I think the lower fram damage was caused by the previous owner ignoring the the rust and trying to jack the car up there. After examining everything I have concluded my patches will be stronger than the original.

[gumby]

so whatever happened with that welding? I prepped mine. its not too bad. autobody guy said its sound enough to bondo and paint over but i decided to have it patched for resale.