Spare wheel well about to disintegrate - what to do

[soldave]

Need some thoughts from you guys.

When I got my car 2 years ago it had about 3" of standing water in the spare wheel well as it was about as watertight as OJ Simpson's defence. I sealed the leak and drained the water but the damage was done. There was rust all over the bottom of it.

The last bodyshop I took it to for a respray did a complete botch on the repair and it didn't help at all. And finally we get to today, when I notice a pinhole in the wheel well, and I'm sure if anything very heavy went in there (a mission or something) it would go all the way through.

So the question is what to do. The rust doesn't seem to be too high off the bottom of the spare wheel well, but pretty much the entire of the bottom is too far gone. The cheapest way I can see would be to cut out as little as possible and then weld a flat sheet across the top. The only issue I can see is that the spare wheel well stops some air flow to the bumper; don't want the bumper becoming a parachute and detaching itself!

Making a new box spare wheel well for a fuel cell later would be another option, but would be a lot more expensive. Any thoughts about this from people who may have done it?

Should also add I have no access to a replacement wheel well to just drop in and weld in there. I know that would be the best solution.

 

[Ian91]

I have the same problem, theres also rust around the boot seal, under the rubber, I was thinking about just cutting out the rusty bits and welding plates in or try find a wheel well from a wreck or something and then replace the whole thing, I didn't want to think about it at the time so I just coated it in rust converter and primer lol

 

[soldave]

I had the boot seal rust before, but touch wood that's taken care of. However, my boot is still soon to become Flintstones-esque unless I do something soon!

 

[BMGTZ]

no other CC lancers in the wreckers yards there?

I have a wreck here and it has the wheel well still in it. Is it viable to transport to you? I have no idea of cost or weight/size yet hence the first question

 

[soldave]

Almost zero chance of finding a Lancer from those years down here in this part of Japan. Don't think it'll ship in the Australian post though; they seem to have a girth maximum size of 140cm which is way under what I'd need.

Very kind offer though

 

[4piknup]

I had a similar issue with my parents camry.
I rust converted it, put fiberglass patches on outside and couple of sheets of fiberglass on inside, all the way up to the sides of the recess.
Painted over it with duram195 (thick rubber/tar type waterproof paint)

It lasted nearly 10yrs. And has only recently been cut out and replaced with a new boot section

 

[EV0300]

perhaps you could find a car with a similar size wheel well at a wreckers or something and cut and weld it onto yours? just a thought.

 

[caged]

Ditch the spare holder and flat plate it, just need to blend it into the front part that steps down. Bumper still stays put at 280kph.

 

[Liberoz]

cut out a cc spare wheel well from a wreak and cut out your fudged out and reweld in donor ftw

 

[evo-gsr]

Should also add I have no access to a replacement wheel well to just drop in and weld in there. I know that would be the best solution.

 

[BMGTZ]

what if I cut this one into quarters dave......it needs to be smaller any way to drop in on the other one

Im just going to chuck it out other wise. I will quarter it tonight and see if I can get a box from work. At least that way you will have some idea if the post cost is viable.

 

[Missile]

We still import plently of front cuts from japland - make a few calls as I am sure that there will be rear cuts available for you.
E.g. someone build Evo 1-3
Cuts it up
Exports front cut
Abundance of rear cuts sitting somewhere?

 

[EVO-00X]

^^^ true.
You should be able to find a Mirage or even a Mirage Asti there or something? A Proton? The wheel well is the same size, just that it sits in a slightly different place with a hump in the AWD one which you wouldnt need if you only wanted the wheel area itself. EVO 4 would even do. Hell as mentioned, depends where its rusted but you could get something from another car even. Whip out the tape measure and go looking for a replacement.

 

[soldave]

No Mirages or Lancers in any junkyards here in Okinawa. I called around and checked the junkyards online too yesterday. Think I've only ever seen one Mirage in my whole 9 years here, and not many more Lancers either. As for a Proton, I'm sure if I find one I'll also fine a Japanese girl with a nice butt as they're about as rare as each other!

An Evo IV is possible - there is one in junkyards in Okinawa, but I think it was involved in a pretty bad accident and not in good shape.

 

[Missile]

Call Mitsubishi
Quote below part no's:
MB835823
MR208884
Open wallet?

 

[4piknup]

Open wider...

 

[khubner1]

then cut out left and right kidney