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Bondo is a temporary fix for rustouts, ideally the rusted metal should be cut out and good metal welded in. Unfortunately not everyone has welding equipment in their garage.

Special 2-part adhesives have been developed recently for attaching non-structural panels including quarter panels, door skins, and van side panels at the factory. Advantage over welding is no heat to warp panels. Adhesive isnt cheap, I spent $100 for a tube of 3M 8115 and and the special caulk gun.
http://www.levineautoparts.com/3maupaboad20.html

Any tips on forming patch panels out of 22 gauge sheet metal for the usual spots behind the wheel wells? Would be nice if someone manufactured them. Wonder what % of BC's go to the junkyard still mechanically sound, but cant pass inspection with gaping holes in sheet metal. Looking for a fender no luck at U-Pull-It they are all swiss-cheesed.


Discussion of these adhesives on a Chevy S10 forum
http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f72/comme ... im-294629/

Use cardboard as a template and cut, hammer, form to shape with a metal block on one side and a hammer at the other. Our cars are pretty simple. A friend of mine showed me how to do it - it's pretty easy, but I recommend getting several kinds of sheetmetal hammers to make it easier. I did the back corners where the quarter meets the bumper.

This adhesive would make the job easier and more corrosion resistant, especially zinc-spraying the hell out of it.

Look for threads by LegacyT he did exactly what you are planning to do and it looked awesome.

I just patched a rust hole in a friend's Impreza with $3 of dryer duct aluminum and Gorilla glue. I was amazed how well it held (I roughed up the aluminum with sandpaper first so the glue would stick better). Still need to Bondo over it to smooth it out.

If any of the metal touches (and even maybe if the glue isn't thick enough), you're going to get corrosion again due to the dissimilar metals.

Ready for metal replacement. Bare metal is whitish grey after being sprayed with POR-15 Metal Ready which eats the surface and leaves a film of zinc. Have a sheet of automotive sheet metal, and one of each of the 3/4" x 3/4" and 3/4" x 3" as shown here:
http://www.rustrepair.com/repair_panels ... ?r=ru&p=sm

Unfortunately since I ground away the rusty sections no longer have the original contour to model. Guess I'll use two pieces of flex edge to form the arch above the bumper. Below the bumper there was no edge just a seam. Have a flanger tool on order hopefully can make a depression above the arch, to install the patch flush with original, instead of on top then having to bridge the gap with filler.

Any suggestions on how to best fabricate appreciated.

BTW the car was hit before I bought it. Just looked like a bit of scraped paint on the outside of the flexible bumper cover. Invisible underneath the plastic cover and mudguard, the quarter panel's lower corner at the bottom of the wheel arch was crushed and rusted.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t319 ... rch013.jpg

Rebuilding the wheelhouse...cut several sections of flex edge & clamped in place

Ya know, out here on the west coast we replace running gear and "upgrade" sheetmetal. Normaly don't have to worry about the rust out that ya'all back east do.

tahiti350 wrote:Ya know, out here on the west coast we replace running gear and "upgrade" sheetmetal. Normaly don't have to worry about the rust out that ya'all back east do.

No rock salt used where it snows? When sheet metal is blasted for years by rock salt, stones, and water, eventually the corrosion protection fails.