I bought a 1200 coupe a while ago. It appeared really tidy, minimal rust (so I thought). very original, appeared to be low km's due to the condition of the interior and the exterior panel condition.
At some stage it has had a repair on the front left inner guard. It was repaired pretty poorly, rust has got into the repair and eaten into the chassis rails. The whole inner guard looks like it needs replacing and possibly the chassis rail. I'll get some picks up to show the damage.
I am in two minds as whether to scrap and start again or repair it if it is possible.
It is an auto tunnel coupe, which I have put an A15 in, and will go ca18 at some stage.
Any thoughts?
cheers
Bruce

Only you know the answer to your question.If you have the skills and equipment,unpick the rail and inner guard and replace it with another...get a price from a panel shop and pay them to do it or as you say start again.
Personally i'd repair it,but i would say that as i have done many repairs similar in the past and i have the equipment.

Like i said,have a good think about it and be realistic and honest with your ability.
Good Luck

i would say fix it its previously been done to my 1000 below the radiator support and they cut flat bat to go over it way past where to rust was and then bolted it strait through the rail and welded all the flat bars together as it was done the side and bottom and the whole front is done so u can tell its been fixxed but looks like a good job . . thats an ide for a quick fix?

if u dont have a mig welder i recomend buying one and doing it urself. its only bent tin :P

replacing the front bar under the radiator as andyroo had done is a simple thing but this has a lot more involved

I dont like your chances of getting it right replacing a whole skirt and rail if u r not a panel beater, everything must line up exactly including strut towers and top guard bolts, and especially if u are cutting and shutting the rail as well that must butt together perfectly and really good penetration in the weld and then tempered right.

might be best if u get some pics for us so we can see how much is really necessary, as u might get away with replacing a smaller section.

fix it, its only metal
worst case is you waste some time and scrap the car anyway

id be replacing the whole rail, dont cut and join it, will make lining it up a whole lot easier
then if its bent just become friends with an apprentice panel beater or someone at a tafe and get them to put it on a stretcher bed to straighten it, tafes like getting cars in for practise so dont really charge much if anything

make a jig to tie in strut towers,cross member,fire wall
when u reasemble bolt new bits to jig then weld

Hey Bruce if you decide to sell this one off let me know. Can't let Tommo buy everything can we?? (sorry Jason, sure your to busy fixing up the last coupe you bought to take on another!)

Cheers...Cadet1200

I know of course it's a different car, but this is an exceptionally common repair on aussie mopars, because when they built them, they used the US spec A body floorpan (more or less) but moved the steering box from the front K-frame (crossmember) to the chassis rail, and they tear the rail out (sometimes completely) either side of the steering box. They also can have issues of rust adding to it (sometimes the passenger side goes too near the idler arm).

If you look on aussie mopar forums - like moparmarket.com for example, there should be info on those repairs from start to finish. It would make a good introduction to what is required etc.

DUY with your own mig is definitely a good option, but I'd make note of how special these cars are, and the fact that some of the hobby level mig welders (even from reputable brands) just don't cut it. The bigger ones (probably nothing under around 160 amp in Aus) are not just better due to ability to work on thicker material, the 'larger' ones almost without exception have better transformers and astronomically better wire feeds and so forth..

If you want to do it, get a bunch of scrap metal and practice practice practice first.