Rivet?

[kgordon]

hello all,
i have been getting into doing minor rust repair on my car as well as other things. This forum has helped me greatly just by reading the posts already here and i have learned a great deal. I have a 95 grand am and on the passenger side rear wheel well there is a large amount of rust. It is in the front near the back door. Now i went out today to see how bad it was and turns out it rusted right through the sheet metal there. My idea is, since i dont have a lot of money to sink into it and its just enough to fix it up and paint it, i would just cut out the bad piece. Sand down the edges and get rid of the rust. Then to finish it since i cannot weld and dont know anyone that can i thought about taking a piece of sheet metal and using pop rivets into the surrounding good metal. Then bondo and fiberglass over it to strengthen it further. Then sand and paint. Does this sound possible?
Thanks for all your help.
Kgordon

[Nighthawk243]

Eh, pop riveting it wouldn't look decent.

As far as welding, it isn't that difficult. Get a few scrap pieces and rent a welder for the weekend (Not too high in price). Do a few practice pieces in order to get familiarized, and then go ahead and put the new piece on the car. Think of it like soldering. Stick what you want together, hold it, and add the new metal to hold them together. One or two tac welds (Basically just welding a bead to hold the two pieces together) will hold it well enough to go for the good hits of the welder.

Actually, trying to get anything to look decent using pop rivets is harder than using a welder... especially anything that you want to last.

Just remember that when using the welder, make sure to shield your eyes, wear gloves, and keep your welding work cooled (Windex or water is perfect for this in a spraybottle.) Make your welds carefully, and stagger them apart so you don't warp the steel. Keep dotting the welds on until you get a nice line. Once you're done with that, grind the excess welding metal down smooth, and then you can go ahead and Duraglass any rough spots to prepare for painting.


If you want to see some pictures, you can see BigJoe's rust repair thread. He drives a 1994 Grand Am.

http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75509&highlight=Rust+Repair+ECM

[kgordon]

thanks for your reply, however i dont see how using pop rivets would be hard to make it look decent. Just duraglass right over the rivets and down the metal feathering the ends. Am i wrong in that? wouldnt that work?

[kgordon]

also what kind of welder would i use for this application? Tig?

[sudden_impulse]

If you are just starting welding, I'd say use a MIG (wire feed) welder, since they spool the extra metal out, you don't need to hold the stick on the piece. Also, pop rivits would stick up from the car, and no amount of bondo would make it look very good (high spots where the rivets are), and when you go to grind them down, if you try making it flush, the rivets will probably pop right out, since the head is what keeps them in.

[kgordon]

well after looking at it and doing some minor work the metal is just peeling off. Thus i am going to look for a quarter panel at a junk yard and just swap it out. Thanks guys for your input though, i learn something every time.

[Nighthawk243]

Originally posted by kgordon
well after looking at it and doing some minor work the metal is just peeling off. Thus i am going to look for a quarter panel at a junk yard and just swap it out. Thanks guys for your input though, i learn something every time.

The quarter panels are welded on, they're not bolted.

If you need a diagram for the welding of the panels, I can provide that since I do have the 1995 Helm Manual.