more rust

[ade]

have been busy cutting out metal in last few days (she's nearly rust-free!), except....came across rusty front jacking area chassis members, see pics....my idea is to slice off the bottom 4" of the a-panel to access the rust for repair, then rivet them back on to aid future inspection...anyone any other ideas?
also, the curved u-section pieces behind the rear door window seem to have a lot of rust on them...do these rust from inside?
thanks for any help.....ade

 

[malcolm]

Those sections behind the rear window do rust from the inside, though normally at the top and bottom. Look for rot and distortion. Possibly yours didn't get painted too well. The early ones (pre 81) are held on with clips and have a bit of black sealant behind. Not sure how the GTL ones are held on, but possibly the same clips and a lot more sealant. They'd come off with a good heating up with a hot air gun.

The apex panel can be bent outwards to deal with the rust on the side of the chassis. Pushes back afterwards quite well. If you are really keen then a tiny bit of filler and paint will make it perfect after bending back, but most of the bend is hidden by the plastic cover panel so a bit of touch up paint where the paint has cracked is common. Replace the double skinned bit with a thicker single skin (I think I used 2mm last time) and you'll not need access again.