[roger1]

I started digging foam caulk in the trunk area out. Take a look at what I found here after removing caulk in the corner:



This separation and the splits had to have been this way when it left the factory and they just filled it all with the crappy caulk. Looks to me like the machine they used to bend and join the panels together splits them and they just fill with caulk and called it good.

The other side which isn't rusted has splits too but fit somewhat better. This is what it looked like there after removing the caulk:



I squared up the big rust hole to see what all I was going to have to do to repair it.:



It's interesting what the factory does here. There's a vertical flange that's part of the rear tail light panel that serves no purpose. It's not attached to anything and there is a gap between it and the quarter panel. They just filled that gap with foam caulk that traps moisture and promotes the rusting.
Here's a photo from the inside on the non-rusted one on the other side after I dug out all the foam caulk:



Next I cut off what was left of the flange with no purpose and I could see that the bottom part of the quarter that wraps under had to be cut out. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case but it was too far gone. I drilled out the spot welds and removed it.





I'll weld up the folds and splits when I restore this area. I guess I'll finish this process up before going to the p/s inner wheelhouse issue.

It does look like it will be just as bad as the other side was. I removed the caulk from above and see the rust in the floor just about the same and a rust hole in the brace on the underneath side.