Strut Tower Rust Fix?

Alright, I know its a bad problem, and my car has it bad. The black 88 I bought from the bank has rust holes on the towers... the biggest being about 1 inch by 3 inch, with soft material around it. I haven't been under the car too much yet, but the rust seems to be fairly isolated to the shock towers.

So now the question... what's the best, most sure fired way to fix this problem? Seems like a guy could just get some pieces of sheet metal and weld them on. Doesn't have to be pretty, POR15 it and call it done. I'll try to get pictures so you know what I'm dealing with. I was planning on pulling the motor soon anyway.

If its too bad, I'll just roll like it is until its too bad and keep the drive train for a turbo Ranger or something... I always wanted one of those.

Seeing how the shock towers are key structural members for the front end, I wouldn't short cut it. The only real way to do it right would be to replace them. Unfortunatly, that would quickly become more costly/time consuming than just buying a TC with out rust issues.
That car sounds like an organ donor.

This not an area where you want to screw around. Like Jangus says, this is structural area. Sounds like it's unsafe to drive.

If you have rust in that area, you NEED to check the condition of the brake and fuel lines all over but pay attention to where they cross the back of the K member.

Sounds good. I'll be sure to check out all those areas, Pete. Real shame man. Pretty straight car, but it was neglected. JERKS! At least I got a good deal.

it is not a structural issue as long as it is limited to the bottom of the strut tower and not the frame rail. there is a lot of structure at the top of the tower that does the "heavy lifting" of the strut movement.

cut out all of the rust and replace with like material. as mentioned, check everything else for other rust related issues.

if it makes you feel any better.....i had a v-8 powered circle track mustang with the same issue. i repaired it just like you suggested and raced it for 3 seasons, sold it and the guy is still racing it today. no issues whatsoever and it has been driven harder than you will ever drive that TC.

that said, i part out or build race cars out of every car i run across with cancer.

Good to hear, 5.0. I was going to investigate further when I yank the motor.

Thumper, I've posted this link before. In case you missed it, if your car looks like ours did, RUN, don't walk, RUN AWAY!!

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg4/f...TC-RIP.jpg

I noticed on my tc the otherday when i was under it that the drivers side strut tower is starting to rust.... Hopfully i can actually start working on it here soon instead of just letting it sit in my garage.Doubt it though specially now since i gotta figure out wtf my 02 power stroke is puking out oil hopfully its just a HPOP o-ring or gasket.

Originally posted by FLSTCI71:
Thumper, I've posted this link before. In case you missed it, if your car looks like ours did, RUN, don't walk, RUN AWAY!!

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg4/f...TC-RIP.jpg

HA! I saw that a while back. I actually searched for it last night to show my wife... "See? Ours isn't THAT bad!" Lucky, its not in the frame portion of the unibody yet... just on the tower as I can tell.