Cancered Inner Rear Wheel House and Right Trunk Floor Outside of Frame.....

My 69 Camaro was evidently a "Rust Bucket" and somebody did a lousy job of spot welding a few sheet metal patches and then covering everything with bondo.

I've bought a new repop rear inner wheel house. with the idea of cutting/ butt-welding in a given section. Looks like way too much work to remove entire remaining non rusted inner.

Car also has area of floor rusted away just outside of frame to where floor would meet rear inner wheel house. I see in RICK's Catalog they show "Trunk Fllor Extension" and a "Rear Shock Tower Trunk Panel". Rusted area in to the rear of Thick Rear Shock Mount.

I'd like to take pics and send to some one who has real experience fixing this kind of thing.

I know I'm compromising by not replacing entire inner wheel house, AND wanting to piece in part of floor.............but this would be vast improvement over what it currently is....

Would someone please help !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much,

CamarosRus@aol.com
Renton, WA

Chuck Sharin

Bump...............PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why don't you post your pictures here? I'm sure you will get lots of feedback. Personally I don't see anything wrong with welding in patch sections if the welding is done properly and you cut back until you reach solid metal.

Don

The problem is that if the rear shock tower trunk filler panel is visibly rusted through from the trunk area...... it means that the seam between the inner wheelhouse (where it spot welds to the trunk pan area) is most likely full of rust. I replaced my shock tower trunk filler panel and it wasnt even visibly rusted when looking at it from the trunk area...but when I opened up that seam (inner wheel house to shock tower trunk filler panel seam) the whole seam was very rusty. I used a new replacement shock tower trunk filler panel like you found from Ricks and just created a "patch panel" that mimicked the lower 4 inches of the inner wheel house. I removed the lower 4 inches of my inner wheel house (the part where it spot welds to the edge of the trunk pan), and then cut the original shock tower trunk floor panel area out so that the replacement from Ricks would fit. I then welded Ricks panel in and then welded in my created lower inner wheel house panel and thus replaced that badly rusted seam area with new metal.....from the trunk pan side to the inner wheelhouse. I used the entire Ricks type "Rear Shock Tower Trunk Panel" and it wasnt the easiest to fit in but with some work (as usual) its well worth replacing if the area is rusted badly. Since we are both in the Seattle area, if you are in a bind on what to do, I might be able to stop by and show you what I did on my car and guide you through how you might want to proceed.

ESAHLIN, This sounds like exact problem my car had/has, but my car was put together poorly with bondo and rust

I NEED to do as youve described

Ive sent you PM with my contact info

Takes me almost as long to take pics, resize and edit as doing the below demolition.......

Hope this gives "you" idea of problem, and advice and help I am seeking !!!!!!!!!!!!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-7.jpg

This might not be of any help, but I use poster board to mock up patches, then plug or lap weld them. heres a little bit.

http://www.1969supersport.com/wheelwells.html

Rob

You can make some pretty nice bends in your vise with some angle iron, and clamp that down on the sheet metal, when you hammer it flat it won't show up as hammered, anyway for what its worth heres this. http://www.1969supersport.com/sheetmetal.html

Rob

Last one, http://www.1969supersport.com/backpanel.html the last picture on page two, the long skinny piece of metal was made with poster board and a plumb bob, anyway hopefully it might give you some ideas, good luck.

Rob

I am working on the same thing on mine. There are 2 schools of thought on metal replacement, replace as much as possible or keep as much original metal as you can. Here are some pics of how I handling mine.
http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb291/yellow69RS/Camaro/

Jeff

The further I go the uglier everything is getting.......Now that Ive got all the bodo chipped out of the way, Ive found that there was a couple of badly shaped metal patches forming BACK end of rocker panel. I'm not even sure what a stock end area should look like.

The rear most BOTTOM of rocker was also rusted away. Who built this "thing" pop riveted a piece of sheet metal to bottom of rocker. The sheetmetal extended back where rusted area was missing.....This patched area was then covered over with bondo

Should I think about buying a repop rocker,m so I can cut rear most 6"-10" section and weld on portion..........

Also, will I need a trunk floor extension as I dont think shock tower trunk panel will be enough .............



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-11.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-12.jpg

I believe in saving as much of the original sheetmetal as possible. I only use repop sheetmetal to cut patchpanels from, unless more than half of the original panel is gonel. It also depends on the quality of the repop panel.

O, and by the way...your car does not look too bad at all, that should not be too hard to fix! If you take your time and have some skills you could do that yourself no problem.

Heres some different thicknesses on sheet metal if it will help.

http://www.1969supersport.com/smthoughts.html

Rob

I feel compelled to keep writing on this subject, because I dont know what the hell I'm doing and this process is eating up alot of time...........

I ordered two GOODMARK patch panels, 1) Rightb side shock tower patch 2) Trunk floor extension. These two pieces will replace the rusted away edge where the OEM trunk floor met the inner wheel house. I also bought a repop inner whl house.

I plan on only using a minimal amount of the repop inner, as replacing the entire inner with the outer and qtr in place, looks impossible (????)

I'm starting to drill/grind out the spot welds on outer flange of rear "frame" where floor is welded to frame. I'm thinking that I can make front to rear floor cut over center of hollow frame. This way new weld of floor patch portion will not show from bottom and can be ground flush inside trunk area.

I also need to figure out how to take off top floor skin where it is mutil-layered, where THICK shock mount plate is spot welded in...........

Any body having pictures of same repair will be appreciated !!!!!!!!!!!

bump

Chuck,
I looked thru my pics, found this. Shows the shock tower and the crossmember over the rear axle

http://1stgencamaro.net/gallerytwo/d/666-2/rt_rail.jpg

Gene, I cant view or read your last post.............

I've bought Goodmark patch panels for the far right trunk floor where it meets the inner whl house and Ive got a repop inner wheel house........

I still need to finish drilling spot welds, grinding and cutting ...........to complete the demolition..............but Im unsure where to make new weld seam.

I'm thinking to center fore and aft weld joint/seam over center of frame rail........

Should I pics dirently to whomever will help me.........

Thanks, Chuck Sharin

Chuck,
I would put the seam over the 'flange' of the rail (center of flange) that way it will have a backing plate (the rail flange) and not be visible from below
Which post of mine can't you read? Are my pics not showing (post #16)?

Gene, I can now SEE post #16..............

How do I cut existing/OEM floor on top of existing/OEM frame flange......How do I cut through floor w/o damaging (cutting) frame flange ?????

Thanks, Chuck

How do I cut existing/OEM floor on top of existing/OEM frame flange......How do I cut through floor w/o damaging (cutting) frame flange ?????

Thanks, Chuck

Thats the fun part.... what I do is trim the floor at the edge of the frame rail flange (drill small pilot holes thru the floor from the bottom along the edge of the flange, to make a line), then mark off 1/2 of the width of the flange and cut it with a die grinder (only cut the top layer of the floor). What seems to work for me is to 'score' the panel with the die grinder and then use a thin chisel or sharp putty knife and hammer to cut along the 'score' mark.

The other option is to splice it where it is accessible from both sides.... sometimes this is impossible to get a grinder in some spots to finish the bottom side up sweet.

Gene and whomever else might have knowledge........

I do need to take some more pics showing my demolition progress.........The entire outboard turned down edge that inner wheel house spot welds to is rusted away...

It appears that THICK oval piece that upper rear shock fastenens too will have to be removed.........How do you do that and save it.........OR is buying a repop piece a necessity???????

Still interested in finding someone in Seattle area that has experience with this specific area..........I dont need to pay someone $50/hr to learn and experiment.........

As I get further forward, it appears that replacing only from right flange of frame rail outward wont be adequate.....Thinking I will need to use more of the patch panel...

Thanks to all...................

Since my last post, I've continued to cut away spot welds and remove misc bad metal. Below are pics, showing what I currently have and some older pics showing more OLD metal.....

The demolition is almost complete. I'm not prepared to put this together, and would still like experienced "professional" help, but not sure I can find it. Lots of shops out there charging $50-$75 per hour want to learn or practice on customers car.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFloorR-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFloorR-7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFloorR-12.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFloorR-13.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFloorR-14.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-14.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-15.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/CamarosRus/Chucks%2069%20Camaro%20COPO%20Clone/tn_69COPOcloneWheelHouseTrunkFlo-16.jpg

Chuck, I understand wanting to save some cash by doing this yourself, and I also understand that finding a quality shop to do this work can be difficult to find.

"I'm not prepared to put this together"

I hope that you can find the answers to your questions, just not sure if you will on a board. I can say that it might be more expensive to have a shop finish a job that is already started rather than if they had done the work from the beginning.

Dave, Thanks so much for responding

I can assure you that the MANY HOURS I've already invested in cutting welds, removing metal and cleaning did not change anything in respect to installing replacement new metal....Everything is straight forward and ready to go

I'm just looking for expereinced advice, rather than a inexperienced amatuer like ME!!!!!!!

This might not be of any help, but I use poster board to mock up patches, then plug or lap weld them. heres a little bit.

http://www.1969supersport.com/wheelwells.html

Rob
Rob,
Too bad you don't live near me in Florida. You do some pretty awesome work! Very impressive indeed.

Thanks for your photos,info and posts.

Great thread guys. I am also in the save as much of the original metal group. I am doing mine right now , working on my right rocker. This forum is a great help. I have a rusted hole right behind where the shock tower meets the right inner fender. It wasn't visible, I tapped on it with a plastic hammer and it went through. It is about gold ball size an it really isn't into the inner fender. I think I will cut back a ways around the hole and see how far it goes. It's really strange it seems so solid except for that spot. I think I will form a small patch and weld it in.

Rob,
Too bad you don't live near me in Florida. You do some pretty awesome work! Very impressive indeed.

Thanks for your photos,info and posts.

Thanks Todd, that was a really nice compliment, but in all actuality I'm really slow, and retired, so if I don't get it right the first time, I have lots of time to redo it.:)

Rob