April 2004

This is a shot after 10 hours of grinding and sanding. I prepped the trunk area by first washing down with muratic acid, then rinsing with water. Then I used an angle grinder with heavy duty wire brush to knock out the rust. I finished with DuPont's purple plastic wheel. This wheel doesn't take any metal off.

This close up shows the PO attempt to weld in a new rear trunk piece. I'll grind down the welds, then fill with AllMetal to finish.

Close up of the repair on the passenger's side.

I still need to finish the upper right panel. After these shots, I applied Ospho. This will convert the rust to iron oxide (black spots). Once it dries, I will sand and/or grind out the black spots, apply final coating of Ospho, then paint with etched primer. The large hole is the plate removed. That is the concrete showing through.

Removed the passenger's rear fender. This process took 4 hours, as opposed to the 12 hours needed to remove the driver's rear fender. This goes to prove that experience is worthwhile. This shows the PO attempt to repair the rear trunk floor. Instead of spot welding the pieces back together, they completely welded then covered with bondo.

The rear fender removed.

Close up of the door stricker rusted out. This piece will need to be replaced.

This is the only rusted holes on this side. These holes are the result of the battery bracket welded in the engine compartment.

This shows the air-tube and the factory putty.

This is the jacking plate. It looks good, but I will remove and weld in a plate to cover the hole.

This shows the rear suspension mounting plate.

This shows the inner targa plate with minor rust.

This shows the rear taillight panel, between the rear fenders. I drilled out the spot welds, that are attached at the trunk floor. Also drilled out the angle brackets, underneath the car, at both ends.

This is the tow bracket. I removed it completely, but you must drill out the piece that is attached to the front of the taillight panel. I also cut the pipe in half to expidite the removal.

This shows the rear inner fender section, on each side, removed. I also removed a small section of the trunk floor, on each side.

This shows the other side. After all of the rust is removed, I'll remove the pieces from the donor car, then spot-weld them to this one.

Removed the battery tray to check for rust and to fix several rusted holes that were evidently made when the original battery tray was replaced.

Finished removing the rust from the passenger's rear inner fender.

Removed the door stricker, it had completely rusted out. Also, removed the air-tube and welded in the replacement plate.

This shows the inside view of the air-tube replacement plate.