Rear fender welding 1990 Camry

[skilcal]

Hi, I am about to weld new rear fenders onto my 1990 Camry(195k). Using a mig welder with Argon/CO2 gas.

1) Should I remove the gas filler as the new panel would be close to this. Dont relish the tought of trying to remove the gas tank on a car this old.

2) Was thinking about just cutting out old rust and using an overlap weld. Does not have to look nice just be together. Its a winter beater car in MN.

Anyone done this before?

Thank you,
Skilcal

[Jimnist]

Would be neater to use an oxy. With the MIG, you'll have a bit of grinding to do.

1) I Would highly recommend removing the tank as well as the gas filler to prevent spontaneous combustion.

2) Don't do an overlap weld as water will get trapped between the two surfaces and rust, a bit pointless imo.

Are you going to remove the rear windshield or are you not going up that far?

[skilcal]

Hi, Thanks for the input the new rear fender only go up about 6 inches. On the side with the gas cap it would stop just below the gas cap door. Was thinking about removing the gas filler away from the weld area.

From what I have seen on some welding sites most people recommend a butt weld so no water can enter. Some others recommend making a flange but then you still have a place for water to enter on the other side. As this is a MN winter beater I figure the whole car is going to a rust bucket. MIG is my only option oxy/act would be nice but that would be more bottles to rent/buy:-(

Not to worried about what it looks like as long as its intact again. Already replaced the 2 front fenders. They got a $10 rustoleum paint job which was close enough.

Thank you,
Skilcal

[midnightrunner]

If you got a tech school nearby, the instructor may let you use their tig machines, maybe. 100% duty cycle sure would be nice but probably not needed. In any case, where did you get the fenders from? Were they cheap?

Also, a tip I saw in a video was to use clay as a heat sink near the repair area.

[skilcal]

Hi, I have my own mig welder with gas will probably not hit the duty cycle. Had it for about 6 years and never ran into a problem

Got both rear fenders at http://rustrepair.com/ . They cost $95 including shipping to MN. Website is kind of funky but they ship quick!

Bye,

Skilcal

[txturbo]

actually a simpler way is to flange it and then use panel adhesive to glue the new piece on. Then there is no chance of warping the sheetmetal with to much heat and the adhesive seals the water out of the joint and is stronger than a weld.

[skilcal]

Txturbo thanks for another alternative. Do you need air tools to make the flange? I seen a tool in harbor freight for $19.99 that you hook up to the compressor. Also what sort of panel adhesive? Maybe a combination of panel adhesive and weld at the bottom of the fender might work. So many choices maybe I will need to take some picture of before and after.

Thank you,
Skilcal

[txturbo]

there are pnuematic, electric and hand operated flanging tools available. Several companies make panel adhesives. They are used on most all modern cars. They are a two part epoxy that requires a special chaulk type gun to mix and apply them. I use 3M Duramix. Its not cheap, but it saves time.