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Old 09-09-2015, 03:50 PM   #1
zkhennings
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Default Fix some rust with me

I have rear quarter panel rust and fender rust. I am going to cut out the rust and weld in patches. I have some epoxy primer and evercoat putty in the mail. I haven't done this before in an area where it aesthetically matters, I have only ever welded in patches for returning strength to rusted metal. I am going to document what I do here to help anyone else out, and ask some questions too probably.

For example, I have no plan on how the repaired areas will end up WRB again. the Grimmspeed aerosol cans look good, but I have never had much luck with air curing paint sticking to actual paint. There is also quarts of color matched WRB for 80 bucks. I could also just have a body shop do the final paint and blend also, or get paint color matched by a body shop.

So I will update this soon, I may cut and weld today. I am planning on stitching spot welds to attach the panel to prevent any warping and excess heat, and then I will grind down the weld bead, shoot a layer of epoxy primer with reducer so that it seals properly, then I will use the putty to smooth everything, shoot some final layers of primer I can block sand, and then figure out what I will do for the WRB.

I have never blended paint exceptionally well before, I plan on having a gradual feathering of the paint when I sand so it is hard to tell where the jump is. Would it be beneficial to do some high grit wetsanding after the color is shot, and before the clear? to help smooth out the transition?

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Old 09-10-2015, 12:04 PM   #2
zkhennings
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I started a little yesterday and took off the surrounding paint with a grinder until I hit bare metal, then I kept going a little to make sure.



Then I outlined where I wanted to cut with taut masking tape, this helps make straight lines on the curved surfaces which will help when it's time to cut out the new piece. Then I cut along the lines with the angle grinder going deeper and deeper with each pass until I just cut through all the way.



And here is the nice hole in my car.



I bought a sheet of 22 gage steel which seems really close to the stock WRX body panel thickness. I also bought a ball peen hammer since mine is all dinged up, I need it to be nice and unmarred to keep the metal looking nice when it is shaped.

Next I am going to make a cardboard mock up of the piece before I cut any more rusty areas out. I fear if I cut out too much at once it will be hard to make a new piece similar to the original.
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Old 09-14-2015, 12:30 AM   #3
68Cadillac
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I don't envy anyone who as to butt weld 22 gauge sheet metal. If you don't just blow through it, it loves to warp like Star Trek.
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Old 10-09-2015, 09:45 PM   #4
kevinRR
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Nice work so far man, I wasn't brave enough to tackle the job by myself. So, I ended up having a body shop fix both quarter panels. Keep us posted.
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Old 10-09-2015, 10:16 PM   #5
Homemade WRX
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I'll be glassing my bugeye when its rust finally pops through.
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Old 10-09-2015, 11:48 PM   #6
dangerousatom
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It's not structural, so panel bond that sheet metal on don't bother welding it.
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Old 10-10-2015, 02:58 AM   #7
shintoxica
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I think your better off JB welding chicken wire on the inside of the wells and then using it as a skeleton for bondo.
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Old 10-15-2015, 03:53 AM   #8
redline808
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I have been using Plio grip panel bond with great success.
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Old 05-20-2016, 04:18 PM   #9
zkhennings
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Wow I never updated this originally because of a lack of interest! Well I have some of the pics documenting the process of my rust repair on my camera, I will upload some pics.

What I did though was make 5 individual pieces to closely replicate factory as good as I could. And a 6th piece to fill a hole up near the top of the strut tower where water was probably leaking in. The inner fender was hard.

The outer most panel I need to redo still. I welded it and primed it, and I was waiting for summer time to use body filler on it, but I am going to cut it back out and do it again so I can post pics of that progress once I start up on it again.

My brother used up all my welding gas on his frankenstein legacy GT so he owes me another tank before I can get started.

Will post back soon.
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Old 05-24-2016, 11:32 AM   #10
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Downloaded the pics off my old phone, here is what I did.

Keep in mind, this was my first time doing bodywork with metal, so I remade every piece up to 4 times in some occasions. It was very time consuming, and doing it again I could do it much faster, but it is still a lot more work than I expected. Oh and frustrating with how thin the sheet metal is.





I cut out the inner and outer material, a lot was rusted.The bumper mount is two pieces sandwiched together and then welded. I recreated everything as factory as I could so I did the same.

First I made the profile of what I cut out with flat 1" wide steel trying to replicate the factory curve of the fender. I also made a piece to fill in where the inner fender was, this piece required a lot of massaging. You can see it is slitted to work in the complex curves. I have these small strong magnets I used to position things. Got em off McMaster.



Then I bent better and tacked in this









Then I welded up some more of the inner fender piece and did test fitting. Then I did hours and hours of tweaking and welding and grinding until I got a nice smooth part. I welded a lip to it to make welding it to the inner fender easier. Welding this inner piece was terrible. It was the worst thing I have ever had to do. I had the strut removed so I could sit in the wheel well with a welding helmet on, getting covered in welding slag burned all over, super cramped, grinding was terrible in there too. Next time I have to put it on a lift to do something like this.





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Old 05-24-2016, 11:32 AM   #11
zkhennings
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These pics are from inside the fender before it was fully welded and ground down. I used seam sealer on everything after it was painted.



WELDING IN HERE SUCKED. YES I'M YELLING.



Then I cut and bent pieces to replace where the bumper mounts to. I only have one picture from making the first one of the two parts. Remade these so many times.



Then finally testing the bumper fit once the mounts were done. Everything lined up good, but there was a gap where the bumper met the repair, so I filled it in with weld, then ground it down and shaped it.



Filled with weld and shaped:



Shaped further and outer panel cut out and fitted, held with magnets.



And then welded and grinded. The welding warped it more than I like, I am going to cut it out and redo it. Right now it sits primed waiting to be cut out, rewelded, and then shaped with body filler.









And that's my story so far. Like I said, I got to where I was with tons of trial and error, if any of you experienced body workers got any suggestions to make life easier, let me know.
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Old 05-24-2016, 03:30 PM   #12
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Looks great! i started doing work like this and over the years it deveopled into restoring/painting a 66 mustang in my garage. came out great!

tip for welding - do 1 tac on one side and another tac on the total opposite side. let it cool.

let it cool more often than you think, try not to go more than 3 tacs at a time. works for me!

keep up the good work!
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Old 05-24-2016, 04:23 PM   #13
zkhennings
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Thanks! Yea I made the mistake of getting cocky and going too quickly putting in too much heat and even trying to lay down a quick bead. Bad mistake.

I had decent luck with burn through, but I think that's because I really tried to minimize gaps between parts. Something that helped me was using a red scotchbrite wheel to remove paint instead of the grinding wheel like I was orginally, it leaves much more metal intact.
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Old 05-25-2016, 12:22 AM   #14
novarocker247
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I can help with getting panel as a great price for 92-01 Imprezas. I can get rear panels and rockers. Just contact me. I will be doing a write up on how to replace that typical Impreza rust soon.


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Old 05-25-2016, 11:43 AM   #15
zkhennings
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novarocker247 do those panels exist for the 02-07 Imprezas and if so can you get them? That would be awesome.
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Old 07-29-2016, 09:46 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zkhennings View Post
novarocker247 do those panels exist for the 02-07 Imprezas and if so can you get them? That would be awesome.
That's what I want to know lol
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Old 08-01-2016, 10:22 PM   #17
Titter
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yes they do. i have inner wheel well panels rdy to go in. i'll post part numbers in the morning.

i needed to fix this...



im in a bugeye wagon. the outside fenders were patched well enough that i couldnt imagine that this was lurking underneath. the hole obviously wasnt there. i made that hole taking off the rear seat bracket. it literally crumbled in my hand. the other side has the bracket in the picture, but as i tried to remove that one as well, it also crumbled in my hand.

Last edited by Titter; 08-03-2016 at 12:08 PM.
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Old 08-03-2016, 11:59 AM   #18
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Old 08-09-2016, 10:14 PM   #19
JX13
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[quote=novarocker247;44422282]I can help with getting panel as a great price for 92-01 Imprezas. I can get rear panels and rockers. Just contact me.
Can you still get some? I need them for my 98 2.5RS, if you can how much and where would it be shopping from?
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Old 09-24-2016, 01:54 PM   #20
05Scooby
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which are the part numbers for the right and left rear wheel arches on the 02-07 impreza's
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Old 09-28-2016, 02:11 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 05Scooby View Post
which are the part numbers for the right and left rear wheel arches on the 02-07 impreza's
If you're looking for the wheel arch that's part of the rear quarters, I don't think there's a specific panel available for that. The fixes I've seen are people making their own patches from scrap metal, cutting out what they need from a donor car, or buying a whole new quarter panel and cutting out the section they need from the new one.

Just an FYI, a friend of mine has a flange tool he's going to use on his old Pontiac when he does the quarter patches. He'll flange the existing sheet metal and then lay the new patch panel into the recessed area.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-air...unch-tool.html
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Old 09-30-2016, 10:21 AM   #22
Titter
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Default Fix some rust with me

the wagon rear wheel arch is in 3 panels.

the ones i posted are the strut tower and inner arch.

theres a small secondary inner arch.

then theres the huge outside quarter panel.

i have parts numbers for all if them somewhere.

ps: these panels can affect the entire cars geometry if you do it wrong. im replacing where the strut mounts to. off by a mm or two can spell disaster.
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Old 11-25-2016, 08:43 PM   #23
itsJosh
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Any plans on what body fillers will work well and give a good finish?
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Old 09-30-2017, 12:43 PM   #24
zortfellow79
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Default I'm interested in those panels where did you get them

I
Quote:
Originally Posted by novarocker247 View Post
I can help with getting panel as a great price for 92-01 Imprezas. I can get rear panels and rockers. Just contact me. I will be doing a write up on how to replace that typical Impreza rust soon.


I would like to know a price and where to get them
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Old 10-01-2017, 06:37 AM   #25
Titter
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look up subiesavers on facebook
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