Looks like this car was pretty rusty-what do y'all thinkClick to view attachment Click to view attachment

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not a great job because they did not use the factory look repair replacement panels we make, but looks like the welding is solid, you may want to put a jack support plate on it, if you plan on jacking the car. For a driver it is ok to use as is, after touching up the one hole. If a nice car, needs to have the proper replacement pieces installed

I'd drive it. Pretty much all rust repairs look like some version of that before grinding nad dressing the welds. Doesn't look like it will fall apart. I'd treat the internals with internal frame coating and/or cavity wax unless you know proper rust protection was applied.

Thanks gentlemen - very much appreciate the eyes on it.

Sorry. Looks like a blind dog welded it. I would be concerned about the hole that appears to be rotting through---- again. and the discoloration next to it.. Hit it hard with a power wire brush. One of those cup brushes on a 4 1/2 inch grinder. If it's solid it will just shine up and you can respray it. If not , well you'll know quickly. I just replaced my rear floor with a piece from restoration design and reconstructed most of my Hell hole. That looks suspicious to me.

At least somebody went in and fixed it vs parting it out...

Yeah, I agree with that. Looks like most of it has just been plated over.

Hmm, I think you are right. I didn't notice that before. I'd still drive it as it looks solid even if not pretty, but might not be a good long term repair.

It's not to bad.. The welds don't look amazing but 99% of the welds I see on the forums showing weld repairs is weekend warrior quality.. Even most shops are not professional welders but rather Jack of all trades.. A great example would be iCAR certified body shops.. The weld training is a joke..

Sorry I am off my soap box..

So I have a chance look at this car in person, that led to another thread I just created about salvage titles, but the welding is OK. To Ben's point it's no worse than a lot of cars I've seen sell for more money and I went after it with a hammer and a screwdriver and it's all solid,

A couple hours with a grinding disc, seam sealer and undercoater and they be entirely presentable for a non-show car.

no weld looks amazing when comparing them to yours Ben.

So that's the thing. Those welds look cold, like they didn't get good penetration. Sort of like putting a bridge over the gap. You grind it down flush and you take away most of the bridge, making it more likely to crack out later. At a most inopportune time. It'll look nice, but it wont be strong. If you're not concerned about those welds , i would suggest just leaving them alone. How many people will be crawling under your car anyway? Ah Don't ya love the web!!?? Everyone gets to put in their 2 cents worth.

Actually they are not cold they are just sloppy. You can look at the toe of the weld and you see its not cold lapped..

Sloppy= not a welder by trade same as getting out of speeding ticket = not necessarily a lawyer.

Those welds don’t only look sloppy, it looks to me like they tried to weld over rusty metal. Look at all those holes around the jack point. You can see the rust around that hole by the engine mount.

I would wire brush that badly sprayed paint off and see what was under it. I’d also grind down the welds and do it right. Likely you need to cut some of that metal out and fabricate some pieces (not hard) due to the rust that wasn’t removed when it was “repaired”.

It looks like they took their time and hand made all the repair pieces and that looks to be a good job. The jacking triangle area is an odd looking interpretation.

What I would be concerned about is that they just welded over the rusty metal. They may have cut it out and left some of the old metal to lap weld too. The hole by the jacking donut is making me question what they did to the bad metal in the first place.

I will get that they cut the rust out. Too much time spent on fabrication to not have done it.

Thanks for all of the input.

The current owner did spend a lot of time on it - everything was hand fabricated, which was a mistake as several have pointed out.

Not sure anything is going to happen on this car - seller didn’t think to mention that it had a salvage title and I’m kind of pissed he saw fit to waste my time / not disclose.

If I do end up with it I’d want to, as suggested, take it down to bare metal to inspect the work and likely spent a fair amount of time re-doing some things.

picture #3 looks sketchy. Other than that, if he had ground down the welds, it would look bad

My guess is a decent home fabricator using flux core wire welder.

On the "scary" scale, 10 being the worst and 0 being a near perfect undetectable repair, I'd give it a 5. Not really pretty but certainly functional.

I've seen worse welds that guys are proud of. I've also seen much less refined home made repair pieces.

Nowadays people often take photos as they go cutting and welding. Any chance of getting such things? My main worry wouldn't be about the repairs but about what might be covered by them. Rust is oddly infectious.

Which is exactly why I've taken so many pictures of my extensive repairs. If/when the car is ever sold, potential buyers will probably have similar questions about the quality of the work. With photo documentation, they can judge for themselves without feeling like they are taking a gamble.

He doesn't have pictures, bit of a roll of the dice.

Not bad, Not great, but you have to keep in mind that it was probably welded mostly upside down. IE the welds are going to suck.

I agree the hole in picture 3 is scary, but the rest looks solid. I'd run it for a driver or a modified car.

Thanks Andrew