Here are some pics of what I have been doing on the Scout(since I know you guys love my updates).

Instead of tackling everything at once, I decided to start in one place and finish it before moving on to the next "mini project". This is the first corner I plan on mangling fixing. Rust through in the corner and along the lip that holds the door seal at the bottom of the door. Figured it would be easier to hit both problems at once with a big patch than with several small ones.


I bought a cheapo smeetmetal brake from Harbor Freight. It will bend 16 ga metal up to 18" in length. This if my first patch panel I made.


I cut out the hole for the patch. I didn't get it lined up exactly right when I made the marks for cutting, so the hole is slightly off center. But close enough I can weld it all up.


I spent half the day gathering rust killers/inhibitors, Primers, paints, etc.... Then I slobbed the rust killer all over the area. After that dries I'll prime and paint it with rust inhibiting paint. Then weld in my patch.

Dude, it's, it's....beeeuuuuuteeeful!

Welding rod is cheap, tomato soups cans are cheaper....

nice work :)  what year/model Scout?

I hate rot!

I have only had 2 Land Cruisers with rot.......sold 1(fj45 wagon) and the other(82 fj40) is heading away next month.........I aint a body man and never will be, those that are I highly admire :)

How do plan on welding in the replacement panels? I need to replce the floorpans in my Scrambler, but I'm probably just going to farm the work out.

Coat hangers make good automotive welding rod.

Quoted: nice work :)  what year/model Scout? I hate rot! I have only had 2 Land Cruisers with rot.......sold 1(fj45 wagon) and the other(82 fj40) is heading away next month.........I aint a body man and never will be, those that are I highly admire :)

It's a '77. I'm definately not a body guy, but I'm not going to pay someone else to do it. Figured if I take my time I can make it look decent enough.

Quoted: How do plan on welding in the replacement panels?

For the panel in the pic I bought some buttweld thingys. You slip them in between the 2 pieces of metal to hold everything in place, then weld in between the butt weld thingys. once you get the panel in, you disassemble the butt weld thingys and fill in the gaps. Eastwood sells them 4 for $30. Harbor Freight sells them 8 for $5.

From experience gained from battling rust induced by road salt Id make every effort to get rid of all the rust no matter how minor it looks. Im unfamiliar w/ the rust killer stuff but it better be really good b/c sooner or later it will come back. Are you uplanning to blast down to bare metal then prime?

Quoted: From experience gained from battling rust induced by road salt Id make every effort to get rid of all the rust no matter how minor it looks. Im unfamiliar w/ the rust killer stuff but it better be really good b/c sooner or later it will come back. Are you uplanning to blast down to bare metal then prime?

I've ground down to bare metal, but there is still some pitting. If I ground out all the pitting the base metal would be so thin there'd be nothing to weld to. The rust killer is just phosphoric acid. It changes the rust into a black inert material. Then I will prime and paint over the top of that to seal it from moisture and prevent it from rusting again.

Quoted: I've ground down to bare metal, but there is still some pitting. If I ground out all the pitting the base metal would be so thin there'd be nothing to weld to. The rust killer is just phosphoric acid. It changes the rust into a black inert material. Then I will prime and paint over the top of that to seal it from moisture and prevent it from rusting again.

If you can blast it b/c that *tends* to clean up the putted areas. In the process if the metal becomes too thin Id cut it out and weld in a patch. I figured once I primed/painted I didnt want to have to mess w/ it again....at least not in that particular spot. Perhaps since you have no road salt here the game is a bit different. I dislike rust as much as crows and likely go too far to dispatch it.

Thin metal = less weight = more HP to make the wheels go around.  

Since you have so much rust, why didnt you make the cutout bigger?

Quoted: Quoted: I've ground down to bare metal, but there is still some pitting. If I ground out all the pitting the base metal would be so thin there'd be nothing to weld to. The rust killer is just phosphoric acid. It changes the rust into a black inert material. Then I will prime and paint over the top of that to seal it from moisture and prevent it from rusting again. If you can blast it b/c that *tends* to clean up the putted areas. In the process if the metal becomes too thin Id cut it out and weld in a patch. I figured once I primed/painted I didnt want to have to mess w/ it again....at least not in that particular spot. Perhaps since you have no road salt here the game is a bit different. I dislike rust as much as crows and likely go too far to dispatch it.

Heres something to consider and it might work out better than the rust killer (or whatever it is youre using). You could pad braze or float out some lead solder to fill up the pitted areas. Ive never tryed this but floating out lead is certainly a time tested method of body work. I imagaine the pad brazing would work also exc not as easy and fast as the lead. Just a thought....

Quoted: Heres something to consider and it might work out better than the rust killer (or whatever it is youre using). You could pad braze or float out some lead solder to fill up the pitted areas. Ive never tryed this but floating out lead is certainly a time tested method of body work. I imagaine the pad brazing would work also exc not as easy and fast as the lead. Just a thought....

If I was going full resto I'd probably do something like that. The metal is still good, just pitted badly. I'm just doing enough to get it to last me another 10 years or so. Then I'll drop a fiberglass body on it(after I win the lottery).

Quoted: Since you have so much rust, why didnt you make the cutout bigger?

My sheet metal bender only bends pieces 18" or smaller. Plus smaller pieces of metal are cheap(relatively speaking) if I fuck them up