Alright guys, I washed my truck today and noticed a few blistering spots in the paint around the bottom of the fenderwell on the passengers side. I took my dremel tool to the spots and came up with the 6 holes you see in the picture. I am planning on removing the fender and cleaning the rust inside the fender up as best as I can and applying a couple of coats of rust bullet or por 15.


I want to patch the holes, but I want to save the paint on the fender at this time. I am not planning on repainting the truck right now. I have read online that you can put painters tape on painted side of the fender and apply a couple of coats of por 15 which will fill in the holes and harden rock hard. I have also heard that you can fill the holes up with a standard solder you would use on wiring.



I would like a perminate repair, but I do not have the tools to weld in new metal as most would suggest to repair this issue.


Thanks,
Cody

 

You could also use "Por Patch". It's like the liquid version but thicker, like RTV

 

Ok you are not going to save the paint to do it right - no way no how!


Because you don't have tools and from your post may not know how to do body work I see you have a few options.
1- leave it till you do the whole truck
2- see what a patch panels $ is and before buying it
3- hit a few body shops show them what you have, tell them you will remove the fender and buy the patch panel if that's how they want to fix it and see what it will run. They can even paint the bottom blending it up higher so you cant tell it was repaired.


Some shops may not want to use the patch panel or they may use flat sheet metal to when they cut out the rust.
BTW cutting out the rust is the only way to get rid of it.


Any thing you do as a temp fix/repair only adds to the $$ to fix it right when the time comes as it all has to come out before any work is done.
Dave ----

 

Anything you do will last about a year before it starts popping through somewhere else. You have found the worst spots that have gone through, but there is rust all around that area that is just a year or two behind before it comes through. It's not just those little spots of rust you have found.

You want to save the paint, so you cannot sand anything you put in there down. Anything you do short of taking the fender completely off is just a temporary repair. I would get some of that aluminum tape, cut small square pieces to cover the holes, work it down flat, and then get some matching color paint in the store to color the tape. Then wait for the rest of the rust to start coming through later.

 

Well I pulled the fender off this morning and hit the rusted areas with a wire wheel. I applied a quick coat of krud kutter rust neutralizer I had laying around. The first image is the back side of the fender that has the holes in it. The second image is the front side of the fender. I guess it could be worse. Now I just have to decide what to do.

 

I also uncovered another problem this morning.

 

What mount is that as none of mine on my 81 were open like that and I know because I had the cab off the frame to repair rust.

Wire brush the rust the best you can then hit it with in a spray bottle.

https://www.ebay.com/p/?iid=25159151...pp=true&chn=ps

This works good for areas like this and doors because the skin is folded over the frame and if you were to un-fold the lip you will see rust.
When I have done doors I had them off the car/truck and would do a side and let sit over night then hit the next side and so on till all sides where sprayed and it had time to work in.

If you have surface rust with pits again after you knock down the heavy stuff spray it on and let it do its thing for a day or two before you go doing anything to the panel.

Areas you can get to with a brush like back side of fenders I have used

Eastwood Black Rust Encapsulator - Paint Over Rust
and for areas you cant, like A pillars, boxed in rockers panels, between hood skin & frame work, etc. I have used

Eastwood Internal Frame Coating 14oz Aerosol
And to strip rust and paint down to bare metal I use

7 Inch Cleaning / Stripping Disc System
That is my army to fight rust
Dave ----
ps: no I don't have stock in Eastwood just what I found works best when restoring a car that uses 1 year only parts that no one make parts for and the company went under back in 1988.

 

Oh wait!
I think I know what that mount is now........radiator support!
Yes they doo like to rust as the one on my truck I think had a little also.
The parts truck was good and so were the fenders so I used the full front clip from the parts truck on mine.
Dave ----

 

You are correct, it's the right front radiator mount. I am going to take a few more items off the front to see if I can gain a little better access to the rust. I plan on getting in there And see what I can knock loose. I guess if it's bad enough. I can always buy a new radiator support but it will set me back about 220$ from LMC. I guess it's a good time to replace the cab mounts while I have great access to the sight. It's funny how washing your truck for free can wind up costing you so much time and money. Lol

i am going to check out a couple of the products you posted above and see if I can figure out the best approach.

thanks
cody

 

As Gary says onions just keep peeling away, side note and crying
My rebuild started off to repair rusted floors, rockers and cab corners.


I posted all my rust fighting products so you can look to see what will work best for you as I do the same thing for the area to fight rust.
Dave ----

 

There is no such thing as a "Small rust hole" this thing rust from the inside to the out side, you are seeing the literal "tip of the iceberg"
It gets bigger as you sandblast, grind, sand.......

 

The best thing to do with the fenders is buy reproductions. Yes they are a little thin, but they seem to do alright and fit ok. As with all American cars and trucks of this era, the bottom of the fender has a bracket down there for strength, and it makes it double wall. They also like to rust at the very top of the wheel opening, and you will find it has a double wall bracket there also. This means it's very difficult to get in behind there to do any preventive measures to stop the rust.

I have a couple of good factory fenders I found for my 89. I have had them for several years and for various reason I haven't put them on yet. But what I have been doing is once in awhile pouring used motor oil in behind these double all areas and letting them sit behind the shed. I have done this several times over the years and it's the only way I know to try and protect these areas from rusting. Sort of like "seasoning" a cast iron skillet.

 

Man I forgot one member of my army to fight rust!
Removing rust using electrolysis. Rust removal by electrolysis


Yes I have used this started off small in a 5 gal bucket then moved up to a homebuilt pool to do fenders and hoods.


That is a fender and 2 bumper brackets in there. I do not have any of the hoods in the pool I did.
Fenders after the "swim"


If looking to make a pool I can tell you how I did it and what I used the 2x4's and 4x4's for after I did not need to pool and the family will enjoy it.
Dave ----

 

Fuzz, That's an awesome setup you have got there!!! I would love to do something along this line, but I know time will not permit right now.


I think I have figured out what to do.


I am planning on painting the truck in the next few years. I am going to patch the rear of the fender for now and buy a reproduction to replace it when I paint it. It looks one can be had from $100 to $200.


My bigger concern now is the radiator support. I spent 2 hours in the garage this morning trying to get the body mount bushing out. I wound up using a sawzall to cut the bolt in a few pieces because everything was corroded together. As you can see from the images above this does not look good either. I believe I am going to get in there with a dremel tool and see what I can remove. I will then clean it with rust neutralizer and encapsulate it with several coats por5/rust bullet. Once I am done, I can make a few stainless brackets to bolt inplace to reinforce the area.


Or, I could spend $220 to buy a new radiator support and permanent solve the problem.


I am in the process of ordering a set of Energy Suspension 44123R body mount bushings for $161. This set comes with the bushings plus the hardware.

 

That I did when I lived in CT. All the leaves are from a hurricane that came thru when I was running the pool.

The 2x4's with some brackets I bought, I made a picnic table w/bench but can fold the top of the table up to make a back rest for a bench only.
2 of them you have a full picnic table or folded you have 2 benches with backs.

The 4x4's I drilled holes in for rebar to fit in at either end, that is what is at the bottom of the pool, and used it to stack fire wood on the deck for the fire place.
Dave ----