Rust repair

[ZAchole]

I just bought a '91 4 Runner. I live in the midwest, so of course it's getting rusty. I'm having trouble finding patch parts to weld in. Can anyone tell where to look? Rear wheel wells, and front cab corners.

[fourwd1]

Try here and here.
If you search a bit you'll find more.

[GOT BOOST]

Originally Posted by fourwd1

Try here and here.
If you search a bit you'll find more.

I ordered my Passenger rear quarter from Alpha steel in the second link.

Here is what it looks like when it arrived.




Here was my rear quarter...



Building the underside and test fitting... Note.. the rear quarter was trimmed to fit for the repair. Please note that all the rust was ground out, sandblasted and sprayed with rust converter and weld through primer. I did not weld new metal onto all that rust. LOL



before cleaning and welding...




Old bracket cleaned up and welded in place..

[GOT BOOST]

All welded, smoothed, fiberglassed for rust proofing on the welds, light skims of body filler, pinholes filled in and ready for primer.



3 coats of primer.



Cab corner was cut out. The old one was used as a template on sheet metal purchased at Princess Auto, then welded in place. No pic of the welds on it yet. Sorry. It is installed.




Sorry for all the pics but I wanted you to have an idea as to what you were getting into.

I am doing a complete restore on the 4runner.

[fourwd1]

Nice, when you're done you can come work on mine

[99blackSE]

That looks really good GOT BOOST.

[GOT BOOST]

Thanks guys,

There is a lot more to go on the truck but I am making progress.

I did not show the pics of the repaired and primed passenger fender as it was not relevent to the thread.

I have a few more rust spots to sand blast and cut out, weld in new metal etc.

When the truck is done she will look like she rolled off the factory floor.

Here is an engine shot. Yes I know the rest of the engine bay is pretty dirty... but it will get clean when the truck is finished.

[ZAchole]

Thanks guys.
Looking good GOT BOOST. I'm not going to go that far, and whatever body work I do is getting covered in truck bed liner. I just don't want to try and fabricate everything. A good portion is just going to be some sheet metal I hammer close and then slap some bondo over to make it close. Snow's coming and I don't have unlimited time or cash.

[GOT BOOST]

Originally Posted by ZAchole

Thanks guys.

Originally Posted by ZAchole

Looking good GOT BOOST. I'm not going to go that far, and whatever body work I do is getting covered in truck bed liner. I just don't want to try and fabricate everything. A good portion is just going to be some sheet metal I hammer close and then slap some bondo over to make it close. Snow's coming and I don't have unlimited time or cash.

If you repair it like that it will be a very rough repair and noticable..

Are you going to be welding the metal together?

Make sure you fiberglass the weld marks or the seams to prevent it from rusting further. At the very least use seam sealer. Otherwise all that time and effort will have been wasted.

If you just slap body filler on there, the filler will absorb moisture over time. It will cause it to crack and fall off. As a general rule you only want to have about 1/8 of an inch deep of filler on a vehicle. If you do not sand and feather out the edges, you will notice it when the primer and paint is applied.

[ZAchole]

Perhaps my wording wasn't off.
I'm going to weld the pieces in. It's all going to to get ground somewhere close to smooth, probably primed. Then filler, maybe fiberglass depending on depth, sanded smooth. More primer, and bed liner to top it off.
It's not going to look 'good'. But, it should look decent.
I'm running out of money, otherwise I'd replace all the rusted pieces with new. But funds are dwindling, and I think damage control is more the direction I'm heading in.

[GOT BOOST]

Originally Posted by ZAchole

Perhaps my wording wasn't off.
I'm going to weld the pieces in. It's all going to to get ground somewhere close to smooth, probably primed. Then filler, maybe fiberglass depending on depth, sanded smooth. More primer, and bed liner to top it off.
It's not going to look 'good'. But, it should look decent.
I'm running out of money, otherwise I'd replace all the rusted pieces with new. But funds are dwindling, and I think damage control is more the direction I'm heading in.

No worries,

I did not know how you were going to do the repair. I have seen some very questionable repairs.

if you are looking at damage control I would recconend:

1) Weld through primer.
2) Fibreglass resin. This will water proof your welds. you can add a small application of body filler on top.

Both items are very inexpensive to purchase and will go a long way in the repair.

[Sustain26]

Originally Posted by ZAchole

I just bought a '91 4 Runner. I live in the midwest, so of course it's getting rusty. I'm having trouble finding patch parts to weld in. Can anyone tell where to look? Rear wheel wells, and front cab corners.

**************** dot com, but they say they're backordered up to June 2011!

[ToyPick]

Originally Posted by Sustain26

**************** dot com, but they say they're backordered up to June 2011!

Ya and they're way out of price.