Help to repair this inner arch please (pics included!)

[lummocks]

I'm after some tips really, I have a mig welder and I know the basics but have never really attacked a car with severe
rot like this before I may just end up paying someone to do it but it's certainly a skill i'd like to learn as the chances are I will be doing a lot of this kind of work on old vw's in the future. I appreciate it's hard to explain via text though!

It seems to me its rotting from the inside out which makes it harder for me to get my head round as i'm so scared im going to start cutting and end up with a car ready for the scrap yard. I'd really like to save this 25 year old car (it's only done 32k!)

Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

[paul_c]

I'm guessing from the shape of the rear axle, its a Mk1 Golf. These have a box section within the rear sill area, which is used to strengthen the mounting point for the rear axle. Then there's a sill closing section which extends as the inner tub of the wheelarch. I'd be tempted to also scrape all the paint off the rear section of the sill, remove the axle, then remove all the paint/corrosion from the axle area, then you can see the extent of the rust.

If you needed to repair the inner box section, you'd need to remove the (maybe rusty too) outer sill or outside sections of the rear axle support area, which sit inside and next to the fuel tank (which would also need to come out, if you do the right hand side; could probably leave it in for LHS).

 

[paul_c]

Or at least, scrape back to shiny (uncorroded) metal, in the pics its not yet at that stage and there's still a lot of rust/underseal on the afflicted area and post pics - might not be as bad as it seems....

 

[lummocks]

Yes it's a mk1! I've just seen your thread with your buper mouted hoist, very clever!

More pics...the actual are for the rear axle mounting points only seem to have a light surface rust.

 

[lummocks]

I think dropping the rear axle would be a great benifit anyway by the looks of it.

 

[paul_c]

Basically, you can never tell the extent of the corrosion with the axle in place. Also, unless you scrape off the paint down to good metal, you don't know how it is underneath the paint/surface rust. I think pretty much all Mk1s are rusty here, or have been attended to in the past - including 'show winner' ones! Best get it removed!

 

[lummocks]

Thanks for your help mate, my other mk1 shell was very similar but previously being a drive model and having all the gti spec arch trim the rot was twice as bad as this!

Still needs sorting now really, I botched it up with fiberglass and filler about 4 years ago, despite the cheap repair only an expert would know today...it looks alright really but i'd never want to do it like that again!