Hi All

I have a fun pickup and the rear drivers side inner wing that the dampner bolts throught has rusted through and the dampner has burst through it. I think this is probably a common fault and was wondering if it is possible to get a new inner wing or else cut of part of another similar one and weld it in. As this type of pickup is uncommon I was wondering if anyone could confirm if it is the same as the one used on the felica car or estate. If anyone has dealt with this before please let me know what you think is the best way forward as any help would be apprieciated.

The top part seems to be an almost perfect metal circle connected to the dampner and only the joint seems to have rusted/burst.

Cheers

the rear strut towers always rust on them, there is 2 metal channels run down from top to bottom on the inside and they collect water..

it is possible to replace the entire panel but it is prohibitively expensive, better off getting a bodyshop to weld in a new tower, the tower is the same shape as a hatchback model but the surrounding panel is different, it could be grafted in fairly easily by somebody half good at body repairs

Tom,

Prevention being better than cure: where are these channels? Can they be easily accessed and filled in any way? (For those of us who are still rust-free ;-) )

Alex

have a look up behind the rear wheels, they are usually covered in undersealer but it chips off in places and allows water to get in

Thanks Teflon

Will have to try and find an old felicia in a local scrapy and try and get it repaired.

As for prevention I have not had it long and hoped it was just slight surface rust and could fix it in the summer. I think the suspension area of these pickup rust because if the back is not covered then the rain and winter salty spray get into the top of the dampner tower and due to the way the metal overlaps it sit on it and over time will corrode the welded overlap. Not a big problem for salons so hopefully will find one and chop chop and see if I can get it welded or try and weld it my self. The bit should be relatively cheap as the body is generally the part the scrappy scraps.

Living in hope