Decided it was time to investigate the rust bubble on the lower left bottom of the fender in the mud flap area.  Too late. 

 

 

I have to check my parts car, but I'll be surprised if this area is intact.  Anyone have a wreck with this area rust free?  Or only lightly rusted?  And have a way to cut off a section and ship it?

 

It sucks that the design of the plastic, mud flap and metal is so effective at trapping water and dirt so well.  Part of this repair will be changing that.

 

that is disapointing to find, while you wait for a replacement, spray paint the spot so it doesn't keep growing? thats the problem with mudflaps and chrome wheel well trims, they look great, but do have their consequences. Salt and whatever else you want to imagine gets trapped in there and eventually starts rusting.

 

i do have a blue parts car thats completely rust free but don't have a cutter/grinder/welder. wish you were closer, you could have the part for free but its not really a removable part

Edited November 27, 201510 yr by Subasaurus

Yeah, it's not a bolt on part. Angle grinder with a cutoff disc, or sawsall would be my first choices. I'll weld it back together. I'll be driving my 93 while repairing this one.

ill help you out, ill ask my friend if i could borrow his grinder, where do you need it cut off? i know its sort of hard to explain on a 3dimentional part..

and as long as you pay for the shipping and don't mind the blue this could work out..

Edited November 27, 201510 yr by Subasaurus

Ill try marking up a picture and posting it.  My retired car is rotted out about as bad in that area.  It was rusty as heck when I got it, I considered it a beater, and ran it a lot longer than I expected.

 

This red one, is still mostly rust free, except in that fender rust making pocket.

 

I have not opened up the passenger side, but I'm thinking it may be pretty bad also.

Here is a mark up.

 

 

Roughly the area in the square.

 

Before cutting, or even fully removing the fender - remove the lowest bolt, in the flange at the bottom.  I think the hole is barely visible in the picture.  Remove the bolt above that, hole is visible behind the door.  With the door fully open, a 3/8 drive 10mm socket can get it.

 

Remove the bolt near the top, that is hidden by the door.  10mm combination wrench with the door fully open, if you don't want to bugger up the paint on the edge of the door.

 

At this point, you may be able to move the fender away enough to see if the underlying frame is still there, since that is the part I'm needing.  The mud flap mounting screws may have to be removed if things are still intact.

 

The outer layer is the hardest to re create.  the inner pieces, if they become too difficult to cut out, I can fab from sheet metal.  But it might be just as easy to cut the section out, since they are spot welded along that flange on the bottom.

 

 

i work all day today, tomorrow also, monday im free, i will look then and probably cut the section out, sorry about the long wait.

That cool. Let me know what you find.

Unfortunately about 100% of the time by the time you see the bubble in the paint it's already to late for an easy fix as this type of rust comes from the inside and rusts out. Only fix is to cut all rust out and weld in new rust free panels, then undercoat all the metal that water can get to. 

Decided to look at my 93.  WAY better condition, but the design that traps dirt and moisture was doing it's job very well.

 

This is step one of my modification of the mud flap.  Step 2 is to close up the square hole that allows water and dirt thrown back and up by the tire to get right into the pocket formed by the flap and the sheet metal.

 

 

do you need the part cut out or are you going to start fresh and weld in new sheet metal? i don't know if my parts car has any bubbles, gotta still move the plastic and fender out of the way to see...

I was going to wait to see if your parts car was intact in that area. If not, or its too far gone, or you discover you need it for your car, that's ok. It's a hidden area, so I can make up something to patch it. I am also modifying the mud flaps and the fender to remove the pockets that crud collects in in the first place.

well bad news, the paint has 3 bubbles, and a bunch of tiny ones next to them, i guess not even Subarus are safe in south Texas :/ talk about poor design/rust protection on the body...

 

sorry about the inconvenience dave.

Edited November 30, 201510 yr by Subasaurus

Ok thanks for looking. The 93 I got from CA is in amazing condition in that area. It was full of dirt, but no damage to the paint or rust yet. Have to mod the other side now.

Mud flap mod continued.

 

 

 

Also requires snipping a bit of the fender flap that goes down under - just enough so it does not have to go through the square hole in the original mud flap, which I have welded closed using pieces removed to eliminate the pocket that dirt collected in.

The snip also leaves an opening behind the flap that debris can drop out of, instead of being trapped inside between 2 layers of sheet metal.

 

Pulled the right fender off of the 87 tonight, the rust is bad, but at least there is metal still there....