Having never welded before in my life, I'm venturing into unknown waters to attempt my rust repair myself. I just bought a bunch of new seals for the car and want to fix the rust before putting the new seals on. I have a question about repairing the front trunk seal "channel", specifically the corners near the windshield. I have rust in various places throughout the channel and really bad in the corners. What's the proper way to repair this? Do you guys fix ALL the little areas too (little by little) or is there a "best practice" for replacing large sections of it at once?

Here's what I'm dealing with:

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You sir, are a bold man.

Every time I pull my torch out I destroy what I'm working on. The thought of doing my own bodywork makes me want to break down and cry. I'm man enough to admit that. Realizing that perhaps my automotive skills lie elsewhere, I took an alternate route on my 914 bodywork. I made pals with a elder gentleman that used to run the auto body repair program at a local community college. He put me to work and I did whatever he told me to. But I left the welding to him.

I admire your courage and inevitable success.

-m.

The cowl seam will be a bitch to repair. There are a couple layers of metal that come together and have to be pealed away to do a proper repair job. Find a repair thread so you can see if you want to tackle the job.

Making the repair pieces for this is not hard, but welding those thin pieces together can be challenging because it is easy to burn right through them.

It is also hard to grind the welds if they are down in the inside corners.

I usually replaced sections 2 or 3 inches past the rusty parts.

You can't weld to rust or questionable metal, you need good metal.

Practice a lot on some thin metal.

Put copper backers in place where you can and it makes it way easier.

I suggest making a whole U channel and welding it to the top seam.

I'd fix the parts by the cowl and just clean and rust protect the rest.

John

Is this the beginning of a restoration?
Or a repair to a car your going to continue to drive?

I did the same repair. Not an easy fix but can be done. Starts on post #139

Spoke's Progress Thread

Some folks do an overall restore on everything at one time. I chose to do small areas at a time so I could drive my car in between.

If you want some good tips, this dude Restolad has a few dozen bodyworking how-to's on Youtube. Here's a vid on welding thin metal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdsOGDzuIps

Another tip is to use .023 wire with an argon/CO2 75/25 mix as shielding gas.