This topic has been discussed to DEATH by AE86 enthusiasts. Honestly, it's really not that big of a job if you use the proper tools and supplies for the job.
One of the only problems with the Kouki (86-87) AE86's vs. the earlier 1985 models is that Toyota decided to put mouldings over all four wheel arches. What's so bad about this is that those moldings are not only attached to the car through little drilled holes that are prone to rust themselves, but the mouldings are actually metal encased in plastic. Once that metal rusts, it spreads (and quickly) to the area of the car it's in contact with.
The front fenders are fixed easily enough by swapping in early style Zenki fenders, but the rear arches can't exactly be replaced.
Before getting my hatchback painted, I knew I had to finally deal with the rear arches appropriately. Beyond a whole bunch of welding, the best way to do this that I could think of was with the use of POR-15. If you don't know what that is, do yourself a HUGE favour, and learn about it and the other products available from this incredible company. ( http://www.por15.com )
Here's what I did:
- Using a grinder, I ground the entire area that needed to be filled (where the mouldings used to sit)
- I prepped the surface with the proper POR-15 agents
- I applied a layer of POR-15, and laid small sections of thin fiberglass sheet (also from POR-15) over each individual moulding hole, and then covered them with more POR-15
- Once completely dry, I used Straight-Line body filler (another POR-15 product) to fill in the rest of the gap
- I finished with some block and hand sanding to make the arches look as unnoticeable as possible
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