rust repair advice

[funkamedic]

Hi guys

i've recently discovered a heap of rust on the passenger foot well/firewall of my '76 not only that but i found plenty of bog from a a previous repair job. if i had more of a clue when i bought the car i would've had insisted on a looked beneath the carpet! damn you hindsight!

Anyway I was hoping that you lot might be able to give me a quick idea of whether this is worth repairing properly, ie. cut and welded, or if i should scrap my plans for pouring more money into the mk1 and find myself a clean car or shell.

I realise i need to head to a panel beater/rust repair/restoration mob so they can have a proper look and advise accordingly, but i am hoping to get some honest opinions from of my fellow VWW'ers too.

The car has been garaged most of the time I've had it and not driven in rain, but i knew it was leaking into the passenger foot well (i think via the window seal - another possible rust issue but i'm hoping just an old seal) so i suspected i might find some rust. So i pulled up the carpet and sure enough found some cancer. After taking to it with a wire brush i found myself pushing holes through the body

Other than the rust in the footwell etc there is some rust in the boot with, from memory, 3 or 4 small holes (smaller than 5c piece) right through. I also had some n00b run into the front of my car a while back, and as a result the front end is a bit bent. If you look closely at it head-on it droops a little on the right (see pic below). Other than all that the car is sweet as! haha

So what i'm asking is if you guys reckon it's worth the trouble to get the rust cut out and new sections welded in, plus have the car pulled straight (and i'll prob get a respray while i'm at it) or if i should find myself a rust free straight shell or car and less start a-fresh?

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Notice slight droop on the passenger side (impact damage is hidden by the bumper which i manhandled straight-ish):



Here's the rust!

This is the corner where the footwell meets the firewall and the door sill.









The car otherwise is fairly tidy:



Thanks in advance!

[entice]

I'd be getting some dry ice onto that deadener and removing it all from the footwell so you can see clearly where it starts and stops. I bet there is more under the deadener.

Regarding your plans, you do realise a full respray (proper) and resto will take all of your money and the money and time of your loved ones aswell?

in all seriousness, a respray will set you back over 6K. But, if you know the condition of everything else and are happy with that one and it has some sentimental value, then... It's your money Ralf....

the dry ice thingy... try it. You'll be suprised.

[funkamedic]

Thanks for the tip re the dry ice entice! And I reckon you are probably right regarding there being more rust to be found...

I do realise i'll be forking out big bucks for just a respray let alone the cost of rust repair and panel work. I would consider just getting the rust fixed and panel work done, and drive it as is until i am prepared to part with the cash for a proper respray. But if i find someone who is prepared to do all the work as a package then it might be wiser to go that route.

I don't really have any tips for panel beaters etc in Brisbane so I'd have to shop around to find someone who can do the job and not take me for a ride. So if anyons has any suggestions for recommended repairers in Bris then let me know too

[Peter Jones]

I've fixed worse than that. More work you do yourself the cheaper it will be. See if you can hook up with someone local to you who has some basic welding skills.



More pics here http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...-23140-15.html

[funkamedic]

Thanks Pete. I was hoping you might chime in

Wow! it looks like that car had pretty similar rust issues. Your threads definitely prove that such rust can be dealt with - and you make it look so easy! It's a shame (for me at least ) that you're not local!

Yes, one of my plans is to do exactly that, and find someone local who can weld and can work with my budget - i might hit jmac up for leads when i see him next week.

[Jarred]

Yea, that's a reasonably amount of rust, but it is fixable (as Pete has shown)

It's pretty common area too for mk 1's to rust.

You can try and find a clean shell, but honestly, they are few and far between these days, and chances are you'll have to do some rust work on any other mk 1 that you buy.

Hope that helps.

[funkamedic]

Yea, that's a reasonably amount of rust, but it is fixable (as Pete has shown)

It's pretty common area too for mk 1's to rust.

You can try and find a clean shell, but honestly, they are few and far between these days, and chances are you'll have to do some rust work on any other mk 1 that you buy.

Hope that helps.

For sure, thanks Jarred.

Yes, clean shells are definitely hard to find, especially in QLD it seems!