Opinions Please!

[rooster]

Hi All,

I have some rot at the place where the rear fenders attach to the deck on both sides of my 6. They had been brazed on, not during my ownership.

This is about the same on the other side of the car as well.

In the picture you can see where the fender had been brazed to the rear deck. I expect that the cause of the rusting is the flux from the brazing process. Fortunately both the fenders are in pretty good shape, only one has a rust hole that I can patch up by welding in some sheet metal. Other than the holes shown above the rear deck is in good shape. I do have a used deck panel and extensions to replace the ones that are on the car.

What I need the opinions which way to proceed.

Option 1, I can remove the existing deck and weld the replacement one on. This would be quite labour intensive (have to clean up the replacement panel drill out spot welds etc. etc. ) Fix up fenders and bolt them back on.

Option 2, patch up the holes by welding some new sheet metal in, then weld the fenders back on (same as would be done in a modern car with quarter panels) cover welds with fiberglass filler etc. to get the smooth look.

I should add that I am in the beginning stages of a frame off restoration but I do have limited time, only a few hours a week to work on it. I am leaning towards option 2 as its a lot less work and I wont have to go to the effort of having a nice "gap" between the fender and the deck. My concern with option 2 is that the weld may crack some time in the future or cause structural problems.

Thanks in advance.

Todd

 

[Gliderman8]

Todd-
I'm betting those brazed sections were done at the factory when the car was made. When I had the body of my TR6 chemically stripped, I noticed lots of brazed areas that the factory had done.

 

[Gliderman8]

The photo below shows three brazed spots where the driveshaft tunnel was attached.

 

[dougstr6]

Is there an option #3?

Clean up & repair the existing parts and then drill new holes to bolt the fenders back on when done?

Those fenders have a fair amount of flex and eventually the filled section /paint will crack.

IMHO now is the time to do it right,

Cheers,

 

[M_Pied_Lourd]

Hi Todd,

Pretty typical areas for rust to occur. Here are a couple of shots of the same area at the rear of the saddle on a california car that I restored.

Definately my opinion would be to go for option #1. Do you really need to remove that saddle piece? Can you not just weld in patches where required? Bolting the fenders back on is much preferred to braising/welding...

Cheers,
M. Pied Lourd

 

[mallard]

Only one way to repair rust, cut it out and replace with good metal. I would use your good replacement part and weld in a spot repair if time is an issue. I'm sure I would spend a weekend or two making the repair to both sides. What ever you do make sure the gas tank is out before any welding or cutting.

If you have rust there have you also looked at the top rear corners of the fenders?

 

[Got_All_4]

That does not look that bad. I wish my TR250 was that nice. However I never like option 2. Just never looks right and I'll bet that it's more work to grind down all those welds and all that heat would warp a lot of otherwise straight panels. I like Doug's option 3 better. In fact a little metal clean up and a few small patches and some good brushable seam sealer and that will never rust out in our life time.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

If you are doing a ground up, by all means don't cut corners now. It may take you a few hours more but you will be happier later. Cut out the rust and weld in new.

Marv

 

[justin_mercier]

Looks far better than the tub that i'm about to start stripping. Dont cut any corners, you'll regret it later. Either cut out and weld in new metal, or if you have good other panels, use them. A half assed job now, will only cost more time and money down the road.

 

[rooster]

I will definitely go with welding in some new steel to patch the holes.

The reason I am considering welding the panels back on as opposed to bolting, is that the edges on the fenders and the deck are rough and chewed up. This is because I had to cut through the brazed seams (where the fender was bolting to the panels it was brazed together) with a dremel, and the flux from the brazing has weakened the nice factory edge that would normally be there. It will be difficult to make a nice straight edge on both the fenders and the deck panel where they meet. I'll take a closer look at the edges later today when I get a minute and see what kind of condition they are in.

I appreciate all your advice so far!

 

[rooster]

P.S.

I drained and removed the gas tank, and it's being stored far away from where I will be welding.

Cheers

 

[tdskip]

As the guys said fix it now. Not hard to do.