Vintage VW Rust Repair in the Rear Wheelwell

Lots of rust holes. They are ground down and clean of all rust.

 After stripping the paint, I could see all the rust holes. Here are some holes in the left rear fender well. There are a lot of holes and I want to cut them out and replace them.

I drew the areas I wanted to cut.

 Instead of using just one sheet of sheet metal, I decided to cut out constellations of rust holes. I figure a few small repairs may be easier to make than one large one. You know, the "how to eat an elephant" philosophy.

I cut out a small section for practice.

I decided to mark out areas to cut and see how it goes. I began with an easy square shape. I used a grinder with a 6 " cutter wheel to remove the piece. The piece became distorted and shrank a bit, so I made some compensation by adding a little dimension as I traced the new shape on the new sheet metal.

Here is the original on the replacement metal. I compensated 
by cutting the new piece bigger and grinding it down.

The piece I cut out needed to be bent to fit the wheel well contour. It cut out the piece, cleaned out the excised area on the VW, ground out the rough edges of the new metal with a bench grinder. Cutting was slow as I took a bit at a time.

Next I used an anvil and a hammer to countour the metal.

I haven't welded the new piece on yet. It took a while to fabricate the replacement, but I think I'm ready to go.

Almost there. I just have to clean up and bend the metal.

Right contour, right fit.

               










This looks like a great sheet metal book. My next buy...