Walter - Mk 2 GTI 16V

[gazzmo]

No doubt your wish will come true soon enough Paul

[dylan8]

Nice work Jarred! didnt realise it was so bad.
you have made the repairs look like a walk in the park

[sports racer]

No doubt your wish will come true soon enough Paul

I'm in no rush.

Why did you call your car Wally?

[Jarred]

just because. Makes it easier.

[Jarred]

Rust repairs continued.
(Sorry for all the phone pics, I hadn't got my camera at this stage)

With the tailgate and windscreen taken care of, it was time to focus on the rust around the rear arches and rear beaver. I purchased some brand new outer skin repair panels from the UK prior to starting the rust repairs, cause I knew there was no way I was going to be able to form the difficult curves and bends around the arches, and being that they're not a 'bolt on' panel, (such as the tailgate) I wanted to makesure I did these right. Although the panels themselves were only about $30 each, the shipping was, typically - painful. About $90 to ship. still worth it though, as I'd have had a right breakdown trying to fix the rust wthout them!


Buying these made me feel like a real pro - ha!

Starting off with the reasons why I bought the repair panels:









A bit daunghting at first, but even the pro's put thier pants on one leg at a time, so I just got stuck in.
Here's the rear beaver. I repaired this much the same way as the tailgate and windscreen channel, bashed out some repair patches, used them as templates and cut from there. it's not a perfect system, and there is probably going to be some additional cutting and trimming after, but it's better to cut too little, and have to file or trim some more off, rather than trying to add some more!



That rusted end of the chassis leg actually got replaced too, as it really wasn't much chop.
and the (almost) finished product



I'm paraphasing alot here, cause this was actually a pretty tricky repair, with all the different curves, lines and small details. happy with the repair, even if it will get mostly hidden by the rear bumper.
Onto the rear arches, RHS, front. Stripped the paint, cut out an appropriate section from the repair piece and traced. I chose not to replace the entire arch, as that would have meant a heap of body work, and it really wasn't warranted give how confined the rust damage was on the arch.



here's that same spot from underneath, this is actually where the bottom clip of the arch trim is meant to go. It's because of the arch trims that this area held so much dirt and crud, and why it was so rusty, compared to the rest of the car.



I chose to replace such a "large" section because a) I wasn't entirely sure how much rust damage was underneather the outer skin and b) i wanted try and avoid as many of the intricate stamped details (trim line, clip holes etc) when it came to welding and grinding and c) I want to give myself as large and flat of an area as possible when it came time to do bodywork.



Spotted in place. Here you can see where I stuffed up and cut on the wrong side of my line. rookie mistake! Nothing the MIG couldn't fix, eventually.

Here's the rear RHS arch rear


You can see where the rust has gone through


with the outer skin removed and a quick wire brush you can see the damage a bit better


here the inner section of the arch lip (the entire length of the repair section) aswell as the inner section are repaired and etch primed, ready for the outer section to go on.

tacked


Moving onto the rear LHS arch, front. Here's the damage:


You can see the rust also on the triple thick folded section of the back of the sill

Here's the outer section removed, you can see the rust on the inner skin of the lip



to give you an idea of how extensive the rust was in this section


I made 7 different patches for this section, trying to maintain as much of the original steel as possible. this was probably one of the more daunghting moments (apart from cutting into the car for the first time). luckily it all went back together like a jigsaw.

and another view


And the finished product:

[Jarred]

It was a similar story on the rear of the arch, just not as severe, here's the finished product


At the end of the rust repairs this is what I was left with;


Short of working some filler and spraying some pressure pack paint over the repairs, this is what I was left with. I guess you can understand what I did next...

[sports racer]

I'm guessing you bought a mountain bike? (because every photo of a MK2 being worked on in a garage has a bike in the background)

What you are doing is pretty amazing considering you sound like you've got the same machanical knowledge as me (amateur with stuff all bodywork experience) and I'm older, wiser and got more hair than you. I'd think twice before tackling the stuff you've done on the body but you've done it and it looks like a top job. Well done Jarred.

[Jarred]

Thanks Paul.

I sure am an amateur, but I do enjoy a challenge.

I've had a little bit of experience with bodywork/rust repair. I watch a lot of youtube stuff (V8TV have a great channel for those who havn't seen it) which gives me a lot more confidence in tackling this sort of stuff.

I have a bike already. I don't think I've ridden since I turned 18! haha

[mitch750]

Exciting!!
This should be a sick build
Awesome colour too!


Sent from my mum using Tapatalk

[h100vw]

Excellent work mate. Reminds me of a few cars I have "kept going" back in the UK.
Gavin