Bah, another one with a rust issue.

[kherseth]

Well, do i really have to tell where?

Rear fender + arches is rotten, poked a hole in it with a screwdriver and the thing feels like a bag of nachos on the inside Not a huge surprise, but a gut wrenching feeling anyway. The worst part is considering where i live, the whole fender will probably be gone during the winter. It gets covered in salt everytime there is wind outside, and considering the vikings called it "the windy island", thats about every day.

Ok, how hard is it really to replace/repair these panels? I have never done any delicate welding, and certainly not anything where the beauty of the welds also counts. Any comforting input is VERY welcome, but please keep it realistic

Those panels at twosrus.com, i see they are zink-covered, will that be a problem for the welding?

I am completely blank on the subject, so any tips and tricks would be great.

Thanks
Kim

[LimeyMk1]

The piccies my other half put up here are of my first bit of bodywork welding:

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=125220

It's not too bad a job, just take your time and keep the power settings down. We did cheat on the inner arch and cleaned them up por15'd and fibreglassed.

The panels are fine to weld. Also the welds don't need to be pretty, that's what angle grinders are for.

[Polypedates]

Hi,

Never tried them myself but certainly the panels off ebay seem to come with a variable standard of fitment that means the panels often need a fair bit of fettling to fit. No idea if the twosrus.com panels are any better.

The zinc coating will not interfere with the welding, indeed you can buy a weld-thru zinc primer in rattle cans for just this sort of thing so no worries there.

Alfaparts seem to do a whole quarter panel repair section if you are feeling flush. Much more work to fit obviously but no wavy arches if you're worried about the welding. More of a restoration orientated solution than a repair though:

http://www.alfaparts.net/mr2.html

Good luck.

[kherseth]

Thanks for quick replies, helps stop the bad feeling

Those panels at alfaparts looks great, gotta check`em out as they are actually cheaper than the complete set of smaller parts at twosrus Then again, i have no idea how much more work it will be. It`s not that i`m really worrying about welding, but i do know that some things are harder than they look, if you know what i mean....

Man, i wonder what people did before the internet and forums

[PW@Woodsport]

A mega cheap but equally good repair is to use Datsun Cherry N12 model rear arch panels, about £20 for those and don't take much modifying to fit. The current ones available have always needed modifying anyway so for me it doesn't make sense paying over the odds for something you have to cut and trim, might as well cut and trim the Cherry ones!

Man, i wonder what people did before the internet and forums

We found our dads magazines.

[5705]

Man, i wonder what people did before the internet and forums

We found our dads magazines.

Proper coffee-keyboard moment!

[Boddney]

I used these panels and although a little pricyer (if thats a word) they fitted almost exactly. I was well pleased with them. I think alot of MR2ers have used these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-MR2-MK ... 35b5e07aee

[kherseth]

Hmm, my dads magazines, can`t say i recall any MR2`s in them, but i guess when all else fails it will cheer you up

When you mention it, i do remember reading about those cherry panels, should probably change the whole panels anyway as the left side one is mostly made of putty. Problem now is, i cant actually find any old datsun/nissans either :S Could you get them that cheap from a dealership?

[Charged]

I would advise getting the car up in the air and checking the whole of the underneath, you do not want to start welding up a rotten pear.

[kherseth]

Have had it up many times, not really found much other than the panels. But i`ll give it a better look this evening when changing brake fluids. Anyway, i really dont want to scrap it if it is possible to save, only 180 of them in Norway, and most of them looks like a freaggin ghettoblaster(yes, i am a purist when it comes to MK1`s).

[LimeyMk1]

Hmm, my dads magazines, can`t say i recall any MR2`s in them, but i guess when all else fails it will cheer you up

When you mention it, i do remember reading about those cherry panels, should probably change the whole panels anyway as the left side one is mostly made of putty. Problem now is, i cant actually find any old datsun/nissans either :S Could you get them that cheap from a dealership?

Have a look here:

http://www.clevelandpanels.com/datsun/d ... 79-82.html

or here:

http://www.autopanels-castleford.co.uk/ ... cherry.htm

[kherseth]

Thanks for all the links, i Just sent some questions to alfaparts, i like the idea of changing the whole panel as they are in pretty bad shape. Will not know exactly how bad before i cut them open of course, but from how it felt, there may be rust halfway up the panel.

Have anyone ordered from alfaparts before, are they serious enough to thrust? Thinking of both delivery and quality of packaging, long trip and don`t want any damages

[kherseth]

Just ordered the quarter panels from alfaparts, Should have them late next week. This is either going to be great or I`m going to mess things up badly :S

In the meantime i`ll try to adjust the door hinges, changed them yesterday but cant make the window fit properly. Then try to get the inner lining mounted again, they where just popped in place. And of course continue on the GPS-laptimer project, but that is another project

Thanks for the help, be sure that this is not the last you hear about this job!

Kim

[Polypedates]

Kim,

I'd be interested to hear what those quarters are like. I managed to get a Toyota one for my project but not sure if they are available anymore so these may be the only alternative now.

Let us know how you get on

[kherseth]

Will do mate.

Don`t hang around though, will have to take my time planning before getting the grinder out. Think it would be possible to do the swap in a weekend? It is supposed to be my daily driver, so if i could be able to do at least one side during a weekend that would be good.

[LimeyMk1]

Will do mate.

Don`t hang around though, will have to take my time planning before getting the grinder out. Think it would be possible to do the swap in a weekend? It is supposed to be my daily driver, so if i could be able to do at least one side during a weekend that would be good.

I'd want to take at least another day just in case. But then I'm not a fast worker when it comes to bodywork.

[Polypedates]

I'd take at least 3 months

[kherseth]

I'd take at least 3 months

Thats probably where it ends up i fear

[kherseth]

The panels arrived from alfaparts today, incredibly quick due to some luck.

They do look good, there are some small wrinkles on it, but I guess it should be expected on these kind of products. Did get a very slight bend on one of the corners during transport, but nothing to worry about really.

A little piccie of the panels in a corner of my livingroom: http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 9716_n.jpg

Will start a new thread when the work begins

btw, do fensport still deliver new front panels?

[LimeyMk1]

Those look like a decent set of panels.

I think Fensport do still sell the front panels (you should get 10% discount as an IMOC member). If you fancy fibreglass wings the honeybourne ones are good.