BF Quarterpanel rust + Holes

[FirstGenLegacy]

So, I bought my Legacy wagon from it's original owner a couple weeks ago, since then I've gotten a muffler, tint, audio system, and lowered, and now I'd like to work on some of the rust + holes.
if you check out my display photo on SL-I.net, you might be able to see what I'm talking about, according to the original owner, it was hit, so he decided to drill about 50 holes, to pop the dent out, and I've been considering sanding all around + Bondo.
and then a Repaint.

Another question is, So the other owner of this car, installed an aftermarket sunroof, but he cut the roof in the wrong spot, and I'm noticing around the sunroof glass the metal is splitting, and leaking, (No carpet or headliner in the car)
What should I do?

[Huffer]

You'll have to find a good bodyshop that is willing to cut and weld new metal in.

The roofskin and the quarter panel shouldn't be too bad, but if the panels have any kind of curves or contours, you'll have a hard time finding a replacement body to cut parts from, or finding a shop with the skills necessary to make it look right.

I'd ditch the sunroof!

[FirstGenLegacy]

I really like the sunroof.
But if I absolutely HAVE to get rid of it, I will.

If I remove the whole sunroof setup, could I possibly just JB Coldweld around the cracks, and reinstall the sunroof?

as for the quarterpanel, One of my buds had the same issue and decided to try out the cheap bondo + paint idea, and it's held up for a couple months without cracking/showing through paint.

What do you think on the Bondo idea? is it even worth trying?

[Navi271]

Bondo is just a band-aid, and is very temporary. Every time I've used bondo to fill holes in my car, or friends on their cars, the rust always comes back. Sometimes it takes a few months, sometimes a year or so. I did it because I'm not sure if I'll ever be willing to spend the money for a shop to fix/repair ALL the rust on my car. So this just slows the rust down and makes it look ok for a while.

Unless you have professional welding and metalwork skills I'd take it to a good bodyshop as well for a more permanent solution.

Also from what I've seen, aftermarket sunroofs tend to leak at some point. They're just not the same as stock sunroofs. Otherwise I have no experience on sunroofs.

[FirstGenLegacy]

Well, I'm going with the bondo idea, I don't have the money for a bodyshop to work on it, so more than likely I'm going to bondo the holes, after sanding the metal down as much as possible to get that rust off, and then paint over the bondo, I'm considering going with the stock Subaru green, or matte black, one of my buds actually just did his friends first gen with plastidip and it held up, also looks pretty sick.

Along with the roof, I'm going to be removing the sunroof, and JB cold welding around the cracks, it'll be a temporary hold, until I find out what I want to do, as I stated before, I really like the idea of having a sun roof.

[Navi271]

Ok, as long as you know it's probably all temporary. Actually with the holes, if they are small enough you might be able to weld them shut, which is more permanent. But that's if you have a friend with a welder and can then smooth it.

Just keep a close eye on it so you can touch it up if necessary and the rust doesn't spread much further or come back. Good luck!!

[Huffer]

I wouldn't bother with bondo. If you had to, just have someone weld the holes shut and then paint over it. The bondo will just fall off.

Same thing with the roofskin.

[FirstGenLegacy]

Huffer, I actually never thought of welding shut, it seems like that is one of the most brilliant answers I've gotten so far, I am going to look for prices on getting it welded closed, and as for the sun roof, I cold welded it, and it hasn't leaked since! Woohoo!

[Huffer]

My only concern is that you've stopped a leak coming in via the sunroof... but if you have an existing pinhole leak it'll allow water into the roof skin cavity and you'll get problems later.

But, I wouldn't want to spend too much money on a 20yr old car. Unless you were going for crazy mad restomod. :)

[FirstGenLegacy]

I'm looking for a roller right now.

Considering restoring/rebuilding a foxbody mustang.

Maybe I'll leave this guy the way he stands, and just use it as a DD