De-badging problem

[Myotis1134]

Hello everybody, I have been screwed by my car once again.

 

Couple of weeks ago I decided to de-badge the lumina, and it looks a hell of a lot better. However... while pulling the strip off of the passenger side- the section between the door and the wheel-well, I discovered that a generous amount of bondo had been used to fill in an enormous dent. I discovered the bondo when a large chunk came off with the stripping, and feeling adventurous, decided to remove the rest of the loose filler with my trusty grinder.

Using the lightest wire-wheel I have, I took quite a bit of filler off that had been held on by the stripping, and during the process discovered a hole that had rusted through the fender. I worked on it only a little bit before I realized that it might not be wise to see how big it would get at the time, and stopped at only having a small/medium size hole in my fender.

 

The bastard is rusted all the way through, and maybe a little bit on the other side. I'm a little scared to find out just how big it actually is, but I need to fix it so I'm looking for opinions on the best way to do this. I figure I have two options: 1. grind the rest of the rust off, and fiberglass the shit out of it if possible. or 2. since the bondo looks extensive, and now there is a hole to boot, find out how big the hole is, cut off the area with the hole and the bondo, and have a piece of sheet metal fabbed up to be welded in.

either way is going to be a lot of work, but I'm leaning towards the new metal being welded in idea. At least that way I can count on a little more strength and longevity than with the fiberglass. I'd appreciate any ideas or comments.

[J]

thats a 1/4 panel, not a fender, fenders can be replaced and are bolted in. I'd clean it up and weld i a new piece if you can get ahold of a welder, if not get some fiberglass.

[Myotis1134]

yeah that's kind of what i thought would have to happen. thanks for the info, any thoughts on the gauge of metal i would need? I can measure an edge to get exact, but would there be any benefit to going slightly thicker?