panel seam rust, not too bad?

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:06 pm
Hey all! I'm trying to get this rear hatch stabilized with epoxy primer. I have some rust. Can I treat with vinegar, clean it, and prime over this? Should I cut it out and repair and then prime? Can I just treat it. Fill weld some of the missing metal. What you see in the pic is the worst of it.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:06 am
IMO, sealing rust is nearly impossible. I tried it years ago on a worthless trailer hitch and my attempts were fruitless, and removing rust from a seam is also very difficult.

In your case, I would remove the top layer of the seam then remove all the rust on the rest and see how strong it is, then make a replacement piece for it. If you make a piece with only one bend, it will be a lot easier to make, but a little more difficult to weld in---meaning, you may have to stand on your head to weld it in. :rockon: I would make the replacement to the exact size you need, then use it as a guide for scribing the window frame area.

With a set of shrinking jaws you can make it any shape you need.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:25 pm
Thank you for your advice. Those shrinking jaws look pretty helpful. I also enjoyed seeing the article you posted. I found this pic interesting and it shows where the worker chose to replace part of the firewall but leave another part that from the pic appears to be pretty rusty. What is the deciding factor in a place like this? When is rust too much? I think you're right about my situation. Some of the seam needs replacing. And maybe some of the other stuff. I'll see if I can get some better pics up now that I cleaned it up a bit more.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:45 pm
This is the worst spot on the worst side from two different angles. I'm hoping that I can cut along the inside of the first bend and replace just the flange (forgive me if my terminology is wrong) and fix with a flat piece. Any reason this won't work?
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 8:25 am
Dave W wrote: I found this pic interesting and it shows where the worker chose to replace part of the firewall but leave another part that from the pic appears to be pretty rusty. What is the deciding factor in a place like this? When is rust too much?

I probably should have replaced more of the metal there, but there is a brace on the other side that I didn't want to deal with, and I knew that I could clean the rust off and still be able to weld it with a tig welder---all the rust is on that one side.

When I'm in doubt about where to cut because of rust on a nonstructural area, I strip all the rust off first, and cut out the metal that is not strong enough. If you can't see the back side then you can't clean it, so you have to keep cutting more and watching the back side until you reach good metal. And that is what I would do in your case.

But cutting on that bend is not a good idea because it will be hot bed for rust, and the rust is almost certain to extend up from that bend anyway. :cry:

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