Now I need some advice! I started wire brushing the areas of the bulkhead that had been corroded by brake fluid and rust over the years, and it now looks like this...
My question is: if I clean off all the visible surface rust and treat the metal (kurust), will that be enough, or is this area doomed? The surface of the metal is a bit rough and pitted, but it doesn't appear to be excessively thinned. I don't want to have to replace the bulkhead for obvious reasons, but I'm a bit worried that if there is rust in all the nooks and crannys its just going to come back to haunt me pretty quickly. I've noticed some people have taken off the braces to the inner wing and engine damper mount just to clean off the rust behind them. Would I be daft not to do this too?
In the meantime while I was getting stressed about that, I made my first sheet metal repair! Whoop!
Offending area marked to be cut:
Chop chop!
Pro-style card template made and sheet marked out:
Repair section dry-fitting:
Tacks! (Note the old floor in the background. There must be about 10 layers!)
Slightly rough but functional seam weld:
Dressed down a bit, but not immaculately, as it won't be seen. (Not on this side anyway.)
As for what to do next, I really need to get rid of the knackered OS scuttle corner to be able to even test-fit my new inner wing. The old door post is also in a worrying mess (dodgy bare welds badly rusted) so that might have to go too, which will require much more bracing if I'm to have any hope of keeping the car mini-shaped. I will also need to source (or fabricate? lol!?) a bonnet hinge bracket and surrounding area as that rotten too.
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