I just bought a 1974 F250 camper special and I am restoring it as the days go by. The main question I have is the rust on the rear wheel wells. I am a decent mechanic been an aircraft engine mechanic for eight years and now I have moved to the airframe side.


I was thinking of doing a metal patch repair on the wheel wells. I was thinking about cutting a piece of aluminum or steel to the shape of the wheel well and rivet it on from the back inside of the wheel well above the tire. Then finish sanding the affected areas and use epoxy resin to fill in the spaces where the original wheel well rust holes where. Than touch up paint the wheel well, or leave the rust holes showing the patch repair and just shoot coats of top coat the wheel well.


Any advice or inputs would be appreciated, this would be my first ford, my previous vehicles are 61 impala, 79 el camino, 04 monte carlo, 03 2500 Silverado, now I have a 1974 F250 ranger camper special

 

Welcome to FTE, lots of good, knowledgeable people here.
On the wheel well rust repair, I would use a readily available repair panel, they aren't that expensive and the repair will be done properly. You can trim the new panel to just replace the bad area.
If you go that route, I would use the full wheel well panel rather than just the wheel arch repair panel. There was a discussion here a few weeks ago about all the arch panels available have the wrong contour to them. I have a full repair panel that I got from NPD (National Parts Depot) and the contours are dead on.
The repair panel was $50.00.
If you go the patch/filler route I would avoid using aluminum because of dissimilar metal corrosion problems.
In the picture you can see the repair panel and the full quarter next to it.

 

Thanks for the info, I might get some s.s. skin from work and do the patch route. This truck is going to be a hunting and fishing truck. If I was going to make it a show truck than I would go your route.

 

Gotcha. For your application, that makes sense.
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