Over the weekend I had a day to work on the Metro. It didn't go nearly as well as planned. I worked on welding up the control arm mounts. However, I didn't notice until I was virtually done that I had been using stainless wire in my welder... I was fighting with the welder all day long trying to get a decent bead down. I seriously thought it was broken. So, its incredibly ugly. Thankfully, you won't see it from the outside. It will be strong enough to last a while too.
Here are the hideous pics that show the process:
First things first, I cleaned up the rust as best I could. A wire brush on a drill and a roloc sander on a right angle die grinder did the job pretty well.
Next I cut some cardboard with a scissors and made templates. Then cut steel with the template. Its a lot easier to cut cardboard than steel. To form it, I just smacked it with a hammer.
More hammer smacking to make it fit nicely. Once you get an end tacked down, you can work the steel closer to the original shape with the hammer as you go along.
Here we have the outside all welded up. The hideousness almost brings tears to my eyes.
Moving around the front, I got a plate over the big 'ol hole that was there. At this point I pretty much just stopped taking pictures of the welding.
Primed!
And Painted. Here is the one shot of the inside. Sorry for the darkness.
I still have to do the other side. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get to because the engine is more in the way over there. But, we'll see. It also seems to be in better shape than the driver's side though.