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this car was fairly low mileage for its age, and it sat unlicensed for 14 years. so the body is quite solid. one typical area that rusts is the fender skirts. there is a bracket on the back side of the skirt that holds the latch mechanism. this bracket traps dirt,road salt and moisture between it and the sheet metal and causes rust. the following is how i fixed it.
first you need the proper safety equipment.
next you need workspace. clearing off my workbench would have taken an hour probably, so i threw a piece of cardboard on the trunk of my car and presto! instant workspace. i removed the chrome trim and set the screws somewhere that i could find them later.
next i grabbed something with a straight edge and marked the area to be cut, and drilled a hole at each corner.
 i then used my air hammer with a panel cutting chisel to cut out along the lines as closely as i could.
 
i used some rust treatment that turns rust into primered metal. does it work? it looks like it. is it better than bare rusty metal? i'm sure of it.
 
next step, measure and cut a piece of metal to use as a patch.
 
i then test fit the patch and used my thumbs to shape the metal to the right contour, a welding clamp helped with the contouring also.
i spot welded around the edges. my middle son bought an auto dimming welding mask not too long ago ( the prices have come down drastically since they first came out) they work great and take the hassle out of welding.
these pics were taken with after i put the trim back on to see if the welds interfered with the fit. all that is left is grinding down the welds and applying a little body filler, primer, and paint.
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