Fixing a Rust Hole (Patched on 1/18/09!)

[Archon]

What I used several years ago on a '93 SSE that developed that problem was pieces of roofing flashing. Easy to work with, and doesn't rust. It lasted at least a couple of years.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Bought the 22 gauge steel sheet, 3mm wide by 4mm long steel rivets, rivet gun, wire wheel, JB Weld and scraper today. Already have undercoating, but thinking of picking up some Rustoleum or similar coating to put on before applying the undercoating. POR sounds nice, but is a bit too pricey at the moment for the amount I'd use.

Archon, I looked at the roofing flashing in the little squares, and it looked like glorified tinfoil. Easy to work with, yes, but it looks like a good rainstorm would rust through it.

[Skippy1827]

grab a license plate off of one of the junkers. the plate will work fine and it's galvanized making it great for a longer lasting temporary fix.

"Long lasting temporary fix"
I find that funny somehow.

[Archon]

Sorry, I should have been a bit more specific. You may have been looking at some step flashing for shingles that is a bit thinner. The stuff I used comes in a roll. Too late now, but another option would be to use sheets of heating duct material that can be found at some hardware stores.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

More pictures of the carnage after a bit of scraping.

The whole thing from underneath, including areas that were not touched by the rust converter, and areas that chipped away really easily after conversion.



Where the hole is in the frame. That big, thick sheet looks kinda structural...Note the rubber grommet holding the wiring harness on the upper part of the photo for future reference.


And an image from the back to show where in relation to the strut tower the hole is. Note the rubber grommet for the wiring in both pictures.


I'm still planning on riveting a steel sheet and JB Weld sandwich over the hole itself and simply converting the rest of the area after wire-brushing the loose rust off, then topping the entire area with primer and undercoating.

Since that thick steel sheet in the photos looks sort of structural, I'm not planning on having a lot of rivet holes in there, and working as close to the front of that sheet as I can. That will likely be an inch or so back to have enough room to work, yet still have enough overlap to reinforce the area.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

A patch is in!




Now to let the JB Weld cure around the hole (har, har, it's 32* F and 100% humidity right now and it's covered in Saran Wrap so I could drive back from my friend's house).

Next steps are to smooth out the JB, throw a few coats of Rustoleum over top of the whole mess, and then a coating of undercoating! The end is in sight...

[tripscarcare95]

I had the same situation happen on my 95 in the pass rear wheel well, I ended up cutting out the rust hole and welding a patch in place, then resealing it with seam sealer and por 15d the whole area on both sides,

Looks like your fix will last a while,are you going to under coat the patch on the inside of the wheel well??

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Yep!

[willwren]

Forget the rustoleum, it won't stick. Go right to the rubber. Inside the trunk, too.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Okay. That's easy enough!

[Boreas]

I have the same thing on my 93 SE and now my 96 SSEi, which is worse. I have it temporarily sealed up and oiled the rust to slow it down. Looking to take it in to the shop soon to get it taken care of.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

I took care of this over a few weeks for about $120, including buying tools. It's now coated with rubberized undercoating. Another few coats wouldn't hurt, though. Ran out coating the rear wheel wells and the backseat. Amazing for sound reduction.

Here's one approach to fixing it that works. Other approaches will work also.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Yesterday I took out the seats and carpet to dry out the sodden sound insulation underneath the carpet. It's basically carpet padding, so it holds water exceptionally well. Drained off the standing water, dried the insulation overnight, then threw everything back in.

The air bag module was a casualty, so a used one out of a 98 Bonneville was ordered. From my reading of the FSM's it should plug and play without needing reprogramming. I'll see.

And discovered another small hole in the interior, so it got coated with undercoating inside the cabin and underneath the car since it's not repairable by non-surgical means. At least this will keep water from entering.

This car's days are numbered. Might be a large number, but they still are finite. No more mods, just keeping it going.

[klindstedt]

I just performed a similar repair on my LeSabre this weekend. However, I used fiberglass instead. I had the same rustout in front of that structural-looking piece, but also a larger hole behind it in the trunk. After removing the seat and all the trunk trim I sanded/wire-brushed to remove as much rust as possible. Then I wiped everything down with some naptha to remove any old wax, grease, etc.. and then sprayed the rusted areas with some rusty metal primer.

This was my first time using fiberglass. The stuff on top was easy enough with gravity helping and all, but working on the underside of the wheelwell was quite an adventure. Let's just say it will be awhile before my arm no longer shows signs of my fiberglassing adventure. Lesson learned - use short small strips if working overhead as they will stick better. The end result, while not pretty, was solid, strong and waterproof. I finished it off with a couple of coats of truck bed liner.

While it was a messy job, I should have done this sooner instead of letting the trunk mat and interior carpet and pad get so wet and nasty. It took almost as long to dry everything out as it did to perform the repair. Sorry no pictures, I was so sticky with resin I wouldn't have wanted to touch the camera.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Good job!

As far as I can tell, the repair is water-tight and holding up. So it's looking good for a long-term fix.