I would cut back the skin on the rusted corner and see what you have hiding behind it. You might be able to get by with spot blasting the inner door frame. It's harder to make an inner frame piece than the outer skin section. If the inner door frame is rotten, it will need to be replaced also.

After you get the cancer area cut back, you can hammer and dolly out the dented area. I'm concerned with some of those spots of filler, looks like someone might have used a slide hammer and filled in the holes with filler. You can weld up the holes if there is just a few, otherwise cut it out also.

vwbobby wrote:I would cut back the skin on the rusted corner and see what you have hiding behind it. You might be able to get by with spot blasting the inner door frame. It's harder to make an inner frame piece than the outer skin section. If the inner door frame is rotten, it will need to be replaced also.

After you get the cancer area cut back, you can hammer and dolly out the dented area. I'm concerned with some of those spots of filler, looks like someone might have used a slide hammer and filled in the holes with filler. You can weld up the holes if there is just a few, otherwise cut it out also.

Thanks for the reply, One thing i'm a little concerned about is that, this car was pretty **** straight. Until I grinded off all the filler, I mean I understand fixing the rust spots properly, but the main reason I'm going to bare metal is because I was told the base is contaminated due to the clear peeling/failing. Other than the rusted areas, its not like anything else was failing, only the clear. only some of the corners were lifting, like the drip rail at the roof line, most likely due to being a common place to rust. I feel like I'm making more work for myself If I go down to bare metal... Any thought on just fixing the rust spots properly(cutting them out and patching), and then just sanding down all the clear, maybe even just going down to primer, and then sealing it with epoxy and having that as my foundation to then add high build, base and clear?

The car is not going to be a show car, but just a hobby. Unless there are better ways to remove all the paint. Seems like it would take all day to do the car a panel at a time using my 3m stripper disc and or chemicals.

If you want to save a little time and money, at the possible risk of a failure.... You can sand down to the factory primer with bits of bare metal poking through. Then you can prime it with an epoxy or DTM primer. I've been using the Tamco DTM from this site, with great results. If you shoot 3 coats, you will have plenty of material to work with (sand).

On the areas that have original paint, I wouldn't worry too much. Its the areas with the bondo/filler over rust and holes that alarms me.

vwbobby wrote:If you want to save a little time and money, at the possible risk of a failure.... You can sand down to the factory primer with bits of bare metal poking through. Then you can prime it with an epoxy or DTM primer. I've been using the Tamco DTM from this site, with great results. If you shoot 3 coats, you will have plenty of material to work with (sand).

On the areas that have original paint, I wouldn't worry too much. Its the areas with the bondo/filler over rust and holes that alarms me.

I'm waiting on my hammer dolly set to come in so I can try to straight out the dents first.

Then I'll cut out the rust and see how the door frame looks behind the rust :/

Are there any other discs that are better for stripping?

This is what I'm using http://www.tcpglobal.com/AutoBodyDepot/ ... u2u1fw_wcB

I use 6" X 60 or 80 grt disc.

I bought some 22gauge sheet metal, 20 and 18 seems too thick?

Will 22 gauge be ok for the door repairs?

I was hoping my hammer and dolly set would be here today but maybe tomorrow :/


I used a 6" 40 grit on my palm sander(da) and it seems like it also wouldn't be good for going down to metal :/ unless I need to change my pad already.

So I found some more filler, and removed it all to find a dent that I won't be able to get behind in order to pound out :/

It also looks like someone probably tried to pull it out previously.

Any thoughts on this or did I just waste a bunch of time by removing what I will now have to replace with filler?

What should I do?

I feel like if I keep sanding down the rocker it's gonna show a hidden gem as well

The metal on that car should be pretty close to 18 gauge, although some is around 19-20 gauge. The panels are stamped steel, so thickness can vary. I normally use 18 gauge for fabbing patch panels.

A palm sander is not the same as a DA sander for bodywork. A DA sander has a larger orbit, a lot more torque, and can remove material a lot faster. You can also lock it into a "grinder" mode for removing filler or roughing up metal/cleaning welds. I have used a palm sander in a pinch, but nothing compares to a real DA.

The best way to pull dents is with an Eagle dent puller system or stud welder. Most people can't afford or don't need a dent puller for hobby work, so a stud welder is what is normally used:
http://www.harborfreight.com/stud-welde ... 98357.html

Those rockers really could turn into Pandora's box Don't get discouraged, as most cars of this age or older have rocker damage or rot in the lower part of the body.

vwbobby wrote:The metal on that car should be pretty close to 18 gauge, although some is around 19-20 gauge. The panels are stamped steel, so thickness can vary. I normally use 18 gauge for fabbing patch panels.

A palm sander is not the same as a DA sander for bodywork. A DA sander has a larger orbit, a lot more torque, and can remove material a lot faster. You can also lock it into a "grinder" mode for removing filler or roughing up metal/cleaning welds. I have used a palm sander in a pinch, but nothing compares to a real DA.

The best way to pull dents is with an Eagle dent puller system or stud welder. Most people can't afford or don't need a dent puller for hobby work, so a stud welder is what is normally used:
http://www.harborfreight.com/stud-welde ... 98357.html

Those rockers really could turn into Pandora's box Don't get discouraged, as most cars of this age or older have rocker damage or rot in the lower part of the body.

This is what I'm using, is it not good? http://m.harborfreight.com/6-inch-self- ... 98895.html

vwbobby wrote:The metal on that car should be pretty close to 18 gauge, although some is around 19-20 gauge. The panels are stamped steel, so thickness can vary. I normally use 18 gauge for fabbing patch panels.

A palm sander is not the same as a DA sander for bodywork. A DA sander has a larger orbit, a lot more torque, and can remove material a lot faster. You can also lock it into a "grinder" mode for removing filler or roughing up metal/cleaning welds. I have used a palm sander in a pinch, but nothing compares to a real DA.

The best way to pull dents is with an Eagle dent puller system or stud welder. Most people can't afford or don't need a dent puller for hobby work, so a stud welder is what is normally used:
http://www.harborfreight.com/stud-welde ... 98357.html

Those rockers really could turn into Pandora's box Don't get discouraged, as most cars of this age or older have rocker damage or rot in the lower part of the body.

So you don't think I should use the 22 gauge for the door areas?

Now the patch panel for both front lower quarters are like $50 each so instead of buyin the dent puller should I just cut out the dent and install new panels? I mean I don't know what's easier, I don't want to mess up the quarter.