Understand completely.

PowerSet wrote:Definitely not fixing the car up to sell, it's a poorly maintained car with over 200k on it that was given to me, and i have no intention for the car other than occasionally driving it while I'm working on my other vehicles. I thought i had put more in my original post but I might have removed some. If i end up keeping the car for a year or so, and mechanically it is sound, i would like to completely cut out that section and replace our, but my money goes into mechanical repairs on my reliable cars, then cosmetic, so I was merely looking for any suggestions on a temporary solution until the job is properly done. I elected for 15 dollars in metal and rivets, since that will probably cause me the least amount of grief when i go back to do a proper repair if i ever do.

Your fix will be fine. The only thing I'd add is that you should probably cut most of the rust away now, it's going to spread. I'd paint both sides of the patch and the area around what you cut off. If you can afford it use weld through primer so that if you do end up getting it welded in, at least you've made a step to stop the rust. At this point if you don't use a weld through you could use Rustoleum, Krylon or the like. The goal seems to be stopping the rust and getting something over the hole.

For the most part the forum here is pretty good. There are a few of us that can share in how to hack things together. As long as any of the hacks are roadworthy and safe I don't see an issue with it. Some snips, a drill, hand riveter, a rattle can of paint and you should be good to go. Maybe a hammer in case the patch doesn't want to bend so much.

Seeing your repair area made me cringe as I've done some work on rusted through areas on my cars before. As soon as I've gotten in a short ways, I've found that the rust monster had done more damage than I ever expected. It's like finding termites in a home. By the time you find them, the damage is extensive.

That said, I've been where you're at where I didn't have the finances to do things right. I had to do what was needed to get by. I am now at a place in life where I can now do things right. the majority of people on here are used to doing things to the best of their abilities and doing a shoddy job is not in their nature so sometimes that can come across poorly.

But they mean well and there is a wealth of information available.

^^^^ Nicely said,
Jay D.