Tire Well Rusted Out

[VWScott]

Unlike the floor pans that were rusted out this issue with tire well I knew existed when I bought the car. Well now its time to fix it since the welder is still warm from floor pan repair. So I'm looking at this closer now it doesnt look like the vids I've watched on youtube.Those must have been earlier model cars. As you can the center support in first pic kinda kills lip access asnd second pic shows outside support doing the same thing.My my first thought was to cut those supports and bend up the metal and give me full lip access asnd then once new insert welded in bend the support back down and plug weld back to original location. My preference is to not cut the insert but cut the car to match the insert if possible. Presently working on removing the tank before anything however. Of course the square nuts gave crawling under the car ugh...

 

[OldRoller]

Hey V dub... did you get the full bucket with flange or just the bucket for replacement? On the 76 we trimmed the bucket with a cutoff wheel midway of the radius of the lip, cut the old bucket out the same. The rails and flanges were in good nick. Trimmed where needed and welded around after spotting in. Took the time, moving around the perimeter in small sections. 

Ground the welds down and cleaned it all up, primed and painted. Done. Much easier than separating flanges and trying to work in a confined area.

[VWScott]

11 minutes ago, OldRoller said:

Hey V dub... did you get the full bucket with flange or just the bucket for replacement? On the 76 we trimmed the bucket with a cutoff wheel midway of the radius of the lip, cut the old bucket out the same. The rails and flanges were in good nick. Trimmed where needed and welded around after spotting in. Took the time, moving around the perimeter in small sections. 

Ground the welds down and cleaned it all up, primed and painted. Done. Much easier than separating flanges and trying to work in a confined area.

Roller this is what I have on my bench

[HobieDog]

9 minutes ago, VWScott said:

Roller this is what I have on my bench

That’s the exact piece I welded into my 76. Did it similar to how roller mentioned.  
 

I first cut the rusted well out of the car about 2” down from the lip all the way around.   Then took the repair panel and pushed up from below (mind the location of the “tow” loop!”)

 

 It had a nice friction fit over the remaining 2” I left on the car. I tacked it in a few places from inside once it was in the right position and then cut through it along the line where the it overlapped the car metal with a .040 wheel.  That leaves the two butted together nicely for you to weld up.  You have to do it in sections. Worked nicely.  Will see if I have photos for you.  
 

how are your rockers and inner sills?  My floors were like yours.   
 

when you pull the tank check in all the areas in front of and behind it.  Use a pointy hammer and don’t  be shy! 

[VWScott]

3 minutes ago, HobieDog said:

That’s the exact piece I welded into my 76. Did it similar to how roller mentioned.  
 

I first cut the rusted well out of the car about 2” down from the lip all the way around.   Then took the repair panel and pushed up from below (mind the location of the “tow” loop!”)

 

 It had a nice friction fit over the remaining 2” I left on the car. I tacked it in a few places from inside once it was in the right position and then cut through it along the line where the it overlapped the car metal with a .040 wheel.  That leaves the two butted together nicely for you to weld up.  You have to do it in sections. Worked nicely.  Will see if I have photos for you.  
 

how are your rockers and inner sills?  My floors were like yours.   
 

when you pull the tank check in all the areas in front of and behind it.  Use a pointy hammer and don’t  be shy! 

Hobiedog the rockers and sills were good to go. I was happy and surprised.

[tech71]

Not sure it would work with that repair well but try to extend  the depth just a bit.

Will allow you to keep a 185 70 13 spare in there without your floorboard sticking up like they do.

I did that years ago with a tire well I got from Dave Lumbra but I think it was from an E21

 

Edited March 8 by tech71

[HobieDog]

Here’s a couple photos.  Definitely trim the piece to match the car and avoid the braces.   

[VWScott]

3 minutes ago, HobieDog said:

Here’s a couple photos.  Definitely trim the piece to match the car and avoid the braces.   

I believe this is generally how I will proceed. I'm glad I asked people that have done it. Avoiding the braces sounds like a plan.

[HobieDog]

You’ll enjoy this repair. It was a breeze after the floors and just as satisfying. 
 

also, if you haven’t ordered them yet, here’s the plugs you’ll need for the holes in the new well. 

 

(41 12 1 907 233) Plug 20 mm x2

(41 12 1 907 234) Plug 35 mm x1

[VWScott]

11 minutes ago, HobieDog said:

You’ll enjoy this repair. It was a breeze after the floors and just as satisfying. 
 

also, if you haven’t ordered them yet, here’s the plugs you’ll need for the holes in the new well. 

 

(41 12 1 907 233) Plug 20 mm x2

(41 12 1 907 234) Plug 35 mm x1

Parts discontinued as far as I can tell. Probably just put solid rubber grommets in there. Yeah I look forward to getting rust repair on this car behind me. I have to be honest the floors were a bit more of a challenge then I thought they would be. It's a lot easier on a VW Beetle just seperate the body and pan and weld in entire new pans without having to contort ones self into the footwell area. Plus my suuport beams were pushed upwards from what I guess someone had lifted the car by them and bended them up.Anyway its done and the is solid.Thks