strut tower rust fix.

[Boomer21]

Hey guys, first post on here. From southwest suburbs of Chicago. I've built a few cars from the ground up, a friends hatch, a Talon TSI AWD and an NA Miata. I've always loved drift, just never had a chance to get into it until a couple months ago I finally got my own garage. So I picked up an S14 and here I am.

The car has no engine or trans yet, going to swap in a GM 5.3 NA build motor and a T56. Before I start that though, have to deal with some rust in a bad spot. Between the strut tower and frame rail on the driver's side. Then I'm building a tube front end tied into a cage, probably 8 point.

Now I know this is a common problem in these cars, so if there are any questions about how I did anything I'm leaving out let me know.

So, I started cutting out the rust....
http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69116&stc=1&d=1396836116

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69117&stc=1&d=1396836256

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69118&stc=1&d=1396836293


From there, I ended up cutting off some of the front end for easy access to the engine bay, since I'm building a tube front end for the car. Also dropped the front subframe while I do all of this so I can stand in the engine bay easily and somewhat comfortably. I then started to weld 16 gauge into the hole I cut out to rid of rust.

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69111&stc=1&d=1396835121

you can see how well the weld penetrated from the backside, even though I was using a triggering technique to keep the heat down for the thin metal.

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69112&stc=1&d=1396835164

Now in the image above and the image below you can see a couple pieces of scrap metal laying around that I welded to the actual mounting point on the strut tower to keep it from moving even the slightest bit while I weld and hammer metal on the lower portion. Don't want the thing shifting on me.

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69113&stc=1&d=1396835173

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69114&stc=1&d=1396835181

I'm going to stitch weld all of these glue joints after I finish, just because it's simple and it'll strengthen the whole assembly before I tube the whole front.

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69111&stc=1&d=1396835424

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69112&stc=1&d=1396835435

to make this piece, I welded a flat piece to the left side of the tower, and the adjacent end of the sheet to keep it from moving. Then I hammered it and cut it to fit the shape of the curve somewhat to get a rough shape going. Welded everything in place until I can get back to it to trim it down and put some finishing touches on it.

http://zilvia.net/f/attachment.php?attachmentid=69115&stc=1&d=1396835439

It isn't finished completely, I'll probably take care of the rest tomorrow or tuesday. I need to trim the last piece I welded in, make a cut, hammer a bend into that sharp corner I welded together, then make a piece to fill the gap afterwards so it somewhat resembles the original shock tower. Nothing two ball peens and a baby sledge can't manage!


Then it's tube time!


Hope someone benefits from this, I know I didn't find any help when I looked for a how-to or any guidance on this topic.