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Samurai Rust Repair / Patching

16K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  87samy 
#1 ·










Looking for some advice on how to repair rust in this 87 tin top.
There is some rust in the floor that I plan on cutting out and welding in new metal, rust and a dent in the passenger front fender, so I'm going to replace the whole fender with new, rust in both rear wheel wells where the rear quarter panel connects to the wheel well. There is also rust in one of the rockers where some previous owner damaged on rocks.......then the rust set in......

The floor rust looks pretty easy and straight forward to replace as it's pretty flat in there and accessable.

The rear wheel wells / quarter panels have me stumped. How should I best tackle this........cut one full length "C" shaped patch and try to form it to fit the wheel well where I'll be cutting out? Then add new metal to the rear quarter panel to mate with the new wheel well metal?........sounds hard......

Should I cut a bunch of 6" x 1.5" strips of 20 guage metal, fold each into a "V" shape, pinch the bottom 3\4" of the "V" together forming the lip, then form one of the V sides to fit to the wheel well curve and tack in, repeat all of the way along the wheel well until repair complete? Dunno.......never done body work before.....

The rocker panel looks the most complicated, so I'll leave that till last after I have a few new swear words [ experience ] under my belt......

This is going to be a DD plust weekend 4x4. Yes, I plan on fabbing and installing rock sliders, and some sort of fender flares, but, I'd still like to repair the body work if for at least the experience.

Any ideas on the wheel well repair?
 
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#3 ·
First thing I'd do is find out what parts you can just buy. I know you can get front fenders, I think you can get rear quarters, and who knows what else you can get.

Buying pieces may cost more, but you'll save A LOT of time. At the end of the day, you basically have to buy/make something close to the original part, and replace it.
 
#4 ·
Use the brackets for your fender flare to weld up your quarters...then re drill holes for your flare to mount up.
They are the perfect arc and you need to drill them/yank them off anyhow to do the repair.

Sealed my rear quarters up nicely this way 2 years ago.
Still goin strong.
 
#5 ·
The rar quarter is not as hard as you think... Just redid the rear wheel openings on my toy box did it in 2 stages and will never rust again... I used some light guage steel probably about 1/8" or so and traced out the wheel opening and cut it out and tacked it into place. then on the inside i just used some 2" wide steel and bent it to the opening and tacked into place.. you can't even tell i used the steel and not body metal and is strong as hell... for your rocker thats is a easy fix too just get some square tube and cut out the old rust and weld into place... gives you a nice set of sliders at the same time
 
#6 ·
Zrock, are you saying that the .125" steel traced for the wheel opening was welded onto the quarterpanel, inplace of the rust?

I'm thinking a combination fix between Bushpiggy's idea of using the front fender flares for rplacing the rusted metal in behind on the wheel well and Zrock's idea of .125 steel inplace of the quarter panel rot might be just the plan.

Got a question about original body manufacturing processes by auto makers.......why is there even a "lip" [ formed by the quarter panel and wheel well ] that sticks down into the wheel well opening? For ease of welding the two panels together? Add rigidity to the structure? What?
I'm thinking it's nothing more than a tire-slicing water trap destined to rust away.......and not necessary......
 
#7 ·
buy the gun and use body glue, no warping, i used it on my tracker and my van, cuts down on some serious time especially the van, i pre rock guarded the inside of the panel before installing, the screws were used to hold until it set as the original side was bent a bit, but the tracker i just held with a clamp

 
#11 ·
I fixed the rust on my samurai in the rear fenders by cutting out the curved section that joins to the rear quarter panel and replacing it with some 18 or 20 gauge sheet metal that I tacked on flat. The rust on the rockers is not as bad it first appears, most of it is from the sheet metal brackets for the plastic trim. you can remove the bracket by drilling out the spot welds; there are over a dozen holding it on. the first few pics are of the fender repare and the last is the rocker.



 
#12 ·
Chris,
Hey, thanks for sharing the great pics detailing your rust repairs. That is exactly what I've got to do to my 87, in the back wheel tubs and quarter panels.

What guage metal did you use?


Did you cut out the rust and replace metal also on the outside of the rear quarter panel / wheel tub lip?
I'm thinking of cutting some new metal, say a strip of 16 or 18 guage 3" wide or so in the shape of the fender opening and spot welding it on over top of the quarter panel skin to replace the rusted portion [ fender lip ] and to strengthen the quarter panel, for mounting the Bushwacker fender flares. Having metal sandwiched together like that might be a moisture trap = more rust, however......

I've got all of the fender flares off and removed the rusty metal trim parts that mount the plastic pieces. Just waiting to get some supplies to begin the metal cutting / patch welding part.

Think I'm going to buy a new front passenger fender to replace the dented one.......
 
#14 ·
No problem, I think every samurai owner has to deal with rust at some point.

I think I used some 18 Gauge sheet metal.

I left the metal on the outside of the rear quarter panel because I am still using the stock fender flares. Once I find some jeep flares I will be cutting out all the unnecessary sheet metal. By using the jeep flares and removing the metal you don't need anymore, you can gain a lot more tire clearance.

The suzuki sheet metal is VERY thin and hard to weld to. So if you are welding to it, choose some new sheet metal that is slightly thicker than the existing metal. The thicker piece will act like a heat sink and the old metal will not just burn away.

About the metal being sandwiched together, just get some paint on truck bed liner and cover those areas on both sides. I painted the entire floor and inside/outside of the fenders with it and it seals everything up nicely.
 
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