I took a cut off wheel and cut back to good metal.



I bent up some 22 gauge sheet metal and welded it in. That was a real learning experience. It was impossible to work the TIG foot pedal and feed filler rod while laying under the car. I ended up borrowing a MIG. That was 100 times easier, but also 100 times uglier. My biggest problem was trying to weld metal that was clean on the front, but thin and rusted on the back (I kept blowing holes in it and chasing with more filler and patches). I eventually figured out that I needed to cut much further back to better metal. The difference in weldability was night and day.



After I hit it with self etching primer, you can really see the rumpled metal. My second learning experience was how much to grind to smooth it out. I burned right through a few times and had to fill with more metal, blow more holes, fill with more metal, etc. I eventually decided just to grind the weld close and leave it a little high. Ugly, but functional. At this point, I decided to cover my work up with side skirts. CODE4 kindly supplied me with some nice Talon 2GA side skirts.



Here is the interior patch panel tacked and primed. It looks like Frankenstein's monster took a shit on it.



Fortunately, I can cover all of that up with seam sealer. Interestingly enough, I found a 1 inch length of seam higher in the wheel well which was not sealed. Any water entering there would roll right down to where my rust occurred (on both wheel wells). Coincidence?



The patch and sealer were then top coated with paint and the wheel well was undercoated.




One down. The other wheel well is about 75% done.


Corbin
'95 ESI-T

Now with more power and fewer leaks



Humble servant of the Wiki