Howdy gents, this is a classic example of: how to pour money and time into car and find out later that it so rusted its not economical to have it fixed by professional but you cant back off anymore. I had my Loyale pre-inspected to find out if it would pass/fail tests, I thought it might need carb adjustment and maybe new valve cover gasket and thats it. Mechanic poked around with hammer and results were that both rear wheelwells are crumbling. Rear crossmember is a mess and he said thats not allowed to be welded and needs to be replaced. Also strut tower is compromised. Problems are on both sides off course. Planning to replace rocker panels as well.

Would be a good idea to drill spot welds in strut tower to remove it and do the welding at bench? I'd imagine it would lead to better results than doing via wheelwell & trunk even thou its seems more troublesome. Any dos or donts in this matter?

http://imgur.com/a/VASst




 
  

If youre going to go to the trouble of removing spot welds can you get better sheet metal from a donor car?

 

You should strip back some of the paint around the bad areas with a wire wheel to see what youre really dealing with. There might not be enough left there to work with or it might not be so bad.

And I call nonsense on the rear crossmember not being allowed to be welded. It's just a piece of steel that's bent and welded anyway...

True, don't just weld up any holes, but cutting out the correct sections, and properly welding in a sleeve inside with plug welds and then a good weld around the outside is perfectly ok.

Ground back & repainted he'd never ever know

Removed covers from passenger side and it looks like its been repaired before with wheelwell from donor car? Lower part felt like it was held together with seam sealer or glue, and top has holes that might be drilled spot weld? Last picture is driver side crossmember end. Do I have to weld bar from side to side to stiffen chassis if I remove strut tower from one side, like its too flimsy?

 

http://imgur.com/a/qv376

I just bought a rust free one from CA to avoid that much rust repair.  I'd rather rebuild the drive line than have to do that much sheet metal.  If I had to, I'd just fabricate / replace / patch the bad parts.   The suspension tube is a bolt on part, maybe try finding one in better condition?

I don't envy you guys who live with snow. Never see rust like that in our cars here.

 

I didn't realise that's where your crossmember was rusted, but you should still be able to cut that off, insert a new sleeve on the inside and make up a new bracket for the arm to swing off.

Apart from that, can't help you sorry. Better off getting advice from the US guys. They more have to deal with rust.

I can relate to the rust. IF the cars are cheap and easy to come by, swap into a cleaner body. But i can also relate to these models being rare, where you will want to make the investment into it to keep it. Likely any other cars in your area would be in equal condition.

 

The rear subframe can be repaired with sleeve and tube as i have seen it done. 

 

There is some seam sealer and body glue from the factory in the rear quarter wells. 

 

You will want to remove the interior panels  from the trunk to do metal repairs. The inner wheel wells will rust through behind the strut tower mount on the exterior of the car. Dirt settles in between harboring moisture.

 

The rust on the rear quarters would be from water infiltration at the tailgate where it collects there. Especially with sedans and the quarter window.

 

Same can be said for the tube frame as sand and salt will settle inside of it over time. 

 

I have done as much with a subaru legacy 1995, but i did have a whole donor car to chip out by the spot welds and patch in while wheel arches and rocker sills. I did end up swapping a whole subframe and gas tank in that example as well.

 

Good luck to you. 

Does that strut mount with bolt holes come off along with strut tower once i remove remaining spot welds next to green line or do i need to separate bracket and tower?  Drilling those welds aint too bad, much more fun than drilling broken bolt out. =)

 

http://imgur.com/Id2PnBu