Need help, Hell hole rust Options

[Ebradley]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif) Nice car.

It's a shame they didn't address the hell hole at the time of the repaint. You clearly got some crud going on down in there under the battery. What it is . . . is very hard to say based on that photo. Looking at the rest of the engine bay, there is a decent chance it's not terrible.

My thought would be leave it alone for a little while. Drive the car. Enjoy it. Save up some money to do it right. Even if you have the money now, I'd still be inclined to drive it before sweating the hell hole which will take it off the road for a bit.

The thing that can answer your underlying concern is to take a screwdriver or awl and poke the sheetmetal that is already rusted (not advising you to scratch up existing paint) down in the hell hole and see if it flexes or begins to poke though. If it is rock solid, get yourself a good AGM battery (no need to conribute to more corrosion with Pb-Acid battery) and drive it.

When you're ready to attack the hell hole either with a decent sized check and/or time off the road, you won't have a problem finding a shop to do the work.

Thanks

[930cabman]

I appreciate all the advice. I don’t have time, tools, or the expertise for this and that’s why I’m asking. The car is in great shape other than the hell hole that was not addressed during the 10k paint job. Here are a few pics.

You really don't need any of the above, but a large bucket of $$$$$$ will go along way

Best of luck, for most of us it is a journey, usually satisfying but often frustrating at the same time

[mgphoto]

Your photos show that the battery tray is compromised, rust bubbles. Remove the battery, and you really should consider a gel cell battery, anyway stick a cell phone in and shoot some pictures.

Really nice looking car!