Structural rust issue?

[Guest]

during my restoration I came across this rust issue behind the front bumper upon removal. Its located on the lower part of the front frame behind the front bumper where it connects to the radiator support. It approx 4inches long by 3 inches wide of rot. The sides of the frame are fine, but the lower part is where the damage is. Its only on the passenger side. Since the car is technically a unibody would I be safe to weld in some new metal and cut out the rust.

I resized this to the 800x600 on photo bucket. Sorry if I didn't do it correctly

[jopizz]

That's a very common area for rust to form. As long as you have good metal to weld to and you use the same or heavier gauge metal to make the repair you will be fine. That's very minor compared to most squarebirds I've seen that have spent their life in the northeast. I've had cars where most of the bottom of the radiator support is gone.

John

[Guest]

phew. car spent its entire life in california and was shipped to pennsylvania about 5 years ago and stayed in a garage. Got lucky and dodged a bullet.

[jopizz]

It must've been in Northern California. I bought a car from there once that was rusted worse than a northeast car.

John

[keith]

Could have been caused by a leaking battery.

[dgs]

It must've been in Northern California. I bought a car from there once that was rusted worse than a northeast car.

John

My '60 is a southern CA car, bought by my Grandfather in LA in 1978, and it's got bondo in both rockers and rust through in the fender shields. The passenger's side is much worse than the driver's side. The floors and the rest of the undercarriage is spotless, it's just the rockers & splash shields. I haven't dug into it, I'm hoping it's just the outer rockers and the structural inner rockers are still good.

It seems to be a life long LA car, I found old Beverly Hills Ford cards in the glove box & under the ash tray. My guess is that the car spent a lot of time near or on the beach.