VK removing rust from the boot/buper area

[Zort58]

i need to cut out some rust on my VK from behind the rear bumper right across the back and some around at the edge of the wheel arch
is there any structural meber in this area that i need to b aware of to make sure i dont cut by mistake?

thanx for the help

photos added hope these links work

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...8/P1011264.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...8/P1011265.jpg

[ari666]

wow, thats worse than mine!


the rear wheel arch is pretty straight forward, just make sure you seal both inner and outer panels together really well, or the rear wheel will kick dirt up inside it and itll break out again in a year.


the back panel is good and f'ked. best just go to the wrecker and cut a whole panel off so you know your mounting points for the bar are in the right spot. otherwise you will never get the bar sitting straight. on the plus side, at least you know that getting the spot welds off will be a breeze! i doubt there are any left by the looks of it.

you sure you wanna do this? if its that bad there i hate to see the windscreen scuttle and the parcel shelf...

[Darren_L]

that's fairly developed cancer mate. You can buy a replacement lower rear guard section from rare spares for about $60. Might be easier than trying to fix that
https://rsp-secure.com/rarespares/de...DORE%20VB%20VL

as suggested above, might be more trouble than the car is worth. Looks like it's been sitting in the weather for quite a while. The more you dig, the more rust you are likely to find.

Probably cheaper and easier to find another bodyshell

[Zort58]

what u see is all the rust other then some at the top of the guards under the quater window simple bog job thou

i have another car to cut up that has no rust but the rest of the car is f****ed i just wanna make sure there is nothing i should cut b4 i cut and then say "oh f*** shouldnt have cut there"

[ari666]

60 bucks for that panel is very reasonable. i would probably do that, rather than cut it off your other car. much easier to weld new steel.

anyway, these are all just guesses cos' i havnt got to my back panel yet but i think its something like this:


happy to be corrected. but i think the only thing structural is the 'bar' on the boot floor and the spot welds joining the floor to the panel. as long as you just drill them out you wont hit anything too important.

be careful of the fuel tank.

[Zort58]

[QUOTE=Darren_L;1769831]that's fairly developed cancer mate. You can buy a replacement lower rear guard section from rare spares for about $60. Might be easier than trying to fix that
https://rsp-secure.com/rarespares/de...DORE%20VB%20VL

just followed ur above link to rare spares and it takes me to a blank page and im unable to find the lower rear panel

[VBRED]

Mate That is bad. I would be jacking up the vehicle and checking all the sills, floor, chasis bits, inside the front guards, under the screen rubbers and anywhere else to see if there is any other rust to determine if it is worthwhile repairing.

[75hjprem]

alot of the vb-vk's rust here.
purely because of the towbars that are put on them, mate if there is no rust anywhere else and you have the time and effort to put in to fix this one i say go for it.

[Darren_L]

[QUOTE=Zort58;1769953]

that's fairly developed cancer mate. You can buy a replacement lower rear guard section from rare spares for about $60. Might be easier than trying to fix that
https://rsp-secure.com/rarespares/de...DORE%20VB%20VL

just followed ur above link to rare spares and it takes me to a blank page and im unable to find the lower rear panel

ah ok, sorry don't know what happened
go to Holden/VK Commodore/Rust repair/Rust Panels Quarter panel section

[Darren_L]

alot of the vb-vk's rust here.
purely because of the towbars that are put on them, mate if there is no rust anywhere else and you have the time and effort to put in to fix this one i say go for it.

water also gets trapped in that rear panel when the tail lights leak (which is very common)

[75hjprem]

yeah my taillight filled with water , was quite frustrating

[Guzzoline addict]

Drill out the spot welds like ari said ,but cut along the top a bit higher so that black plastic bit and tail lights can cover any mistakes(like minor panel worp)Also try to drill out the spot welds on the seams instead of cutting.

[ari666]

the answer to water filled tailights is a 1/8th drillbit

[ari666]

hey OP, if it makes you feel any better, i just foud this:

[Drewie]

You want to have a look under the rubber that runs around the boot opening that the boot lid seals against, this is where our VC SL is rusting, I think if I was to pull off the rubber seal
that in some spots it would break away the vertical lip that the rubber locates on. I have treated ours the best I can and siliconed it up but it will eventually either have to be scrapped or a major panel job done. The rest of our VC is in pretty good order apart from that boot lip area. I have been tossing up whether to sell it to some one to restore or just keep using it till it dies.

[Baphomet]

check it all over for rust like people have said, you don't want to be investing all that time in cutting and welding, if you find out theres more areas like that afterwards