ST162-7254182 "Dirty Deeds" Edited

Re: ST162-7254182

Getting more of the inner fender repaired


By the end of the day this is how far I got and I also finished up the inside front of the
drivers rocker panel. This is slow tedious work measuring bending and tweeking each piece
to fit as well as possible

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Well the problem is that theirs not much to choose from in my area. This is the
only GTS hatchback I have seen for sale so far this year. I also saw 1 GT hatch
but it was sold by the time I got to see it and it wasn't really any better than
this one and I know of 1 nice GT coupe thats for sale, I think I posted about it
on the first page of this topic. So I'm pretty much stuck trying to fix junk, but
the bright side is if I can fix this heap of rust I can probably restore just about
anything.


I didn't do to much on the Celica today. I had to get the air conditioners out of
the windows and get my junker camry ready for its final trip.






Heres a good example of how easily you can fill a pretty big hole with a mig welder.
This hole is probably about 1/4" wide by 1" long




Okay I'm not going to get any trophys for my Mig welding skills (its not a very nice looking
bead) but at least I know their good strong welds cause I noticed that as I got closer to the
bottom front of the fender that the lip of the fender was starting to bulge out a good 1/2" to
1" which would make it look more like a traditional fender but celicas dont really have a lip so
I got the pliers out and bent the inner fender pieces I had welded in a bit so the panel is
straight again.


I got the second last piece put in place on the back of the fender


Before I put in the last piece of the fender I want to do the very back of the car. I want
to do this first because I have better access to it now than I will when I fit the last fender
piece. It much easier to weld it now than to find out later I have limited access and have to
lie under the car and try to weld it. Even when I cut out old rusty bits I may cut out good
bits too if it makes it easier to weld in a new piece of metal. I also don't get to far ahead
of myself. I could have cut out all this before but by doing it one piece at a time I can
normally get a pretty good idea of what shape the original piece was. A good example was
when I noticed the front of the fender was starting to flare out I could go to the passenger
side and see how straight it was.


And even more rust at the back of the car.

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Well I got a bit more time in the garage tonight so I went over to the passenger side
and made a pattern of the area behind the rear fender. Then I brought it over to the
drivers side to get an idea of how much of the inner panel had rusted away. I also
marked the area I want to cut out.


Time to cut out the crap but first I need to replace the well used cut off wheel with a
new one. Nobody can say I don't get my monies worth out of each wheel


All cut out I can now put the pattern back in there and mark out the cut


Now I can cut out the pieces I need to replace and transfer the pieces to metal. I'm
going to have to start eating cereal faster cause I'm running out of cardboard.


New piece of metal cut out and welded in place.

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Yeah it should be in a scrap metal pile somewhere but....I happened to find it and
couldn't resist a challenge. As far as the patch work goes it a real frankenstein
creation but theres so much body filler in the car allready that theirs no real point
in doing real good sheet metal work. Im just trying to keep all repairs below the level
of the final surface and body filler will hide the major hack job I did with replacement
sheet metal.

Well more work on the drivers side rear quarter panel




Sometimes I need to get a nice curve in a piece of metal so I'll find a suitably
round piece of pipe, in this case an old front strut cartridge and bash the piece
of metal around it.






And now the rear quarter is pretty much welded up as far as I can go before sand
blasting. Then I can do the exterior panels.

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Well the outside of the car is finished on the drivers side for now.


So now I'm working on the drivers side rear floor.

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Thanks for all the comments. It is alot of work but I try not to look at it that way.
I try to focus on one spot at a time, rocker panel, rear fender, rear quarter panel,
floor, rear wheel well, rear strut tower........but inevitably when I go out to the garage
my first thought is crap this is just the drivers side I've still go to do this all over again
on the passenger side......

I got the last piece of the inner rear fender bashed into shape.


I'm taking advantage of the time I can make alot of noise and cutting out the rest
of the rust on the drivers side.

Got the front floor on the drivers side cut out


Then onto the rear wheel well/strut tower


And from the inside of the wheel well


And one more little hole at the back of the wheel well

 

Re: ST162-7254182

I worked from back to front today.
First of was the back of the rear fender


Then on to the rear strut tower & wheel well


And finally the front floor section. Still one big hole to finish

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Well since I was so close to finishing the drivers side I thought
I may as well get that last piece made and then I could at least
celibrate a milestone in the rebuild.


hurray

 

Re: ST162-7254182

Well ......almost finished on the drivers side for now. I made a couple more pieces
for the back of the rear fender.



banghead
And while doing that I found another hole in the top of the wheel well around the fuel
filler pipe inlet.


What a pain. Very hard to get cutting tools in there but I got it back to good metal


And made a new piece to fit in place.


ohnoes
And another hole just behind the front fender. I'm pretty sure this hole is a result
of water running down from holes around the windshield and not a result of water
and salt being thrown up by the front tire.


Scraped back a bit of the undercoating


And made a new piece to fit in place. I'm not going to weld this piece or
the fuel filler piece in until after sand blasting.



This is why it is so immportant to make sure everything is sealed up. The hole
around the fuel filler inlet, the rear strut towers, driver & passenger floor, spare
tire wheel well......almost all the rust on this vehicle has started from the inside
and worked its way to the outside.


And finally a bit of a cleanup and now I'm pretty sure the drivers side
is finished for now. Still alot of welding to do, alot of pieces are just
tacked in place but that can wait until I sand blast. One of the bonuses
of junking a camry station wagon that had the 7 passenger option is that
you get these comfy seat pads to lie on. I don't think I really would have
wanted to sit on them for a long trip but their pretty good to lie on.


I would normally remove all trim pieces before I paint the car but windshield
replacement companies like to use this rubber molding and since the windshield
is still good and the rubber molding is glued in place I'm testing different ways
of holding it away from the windshield pillar. I think little pieces of scrap metal
will do the job.