Rear Chassis Leg Help?

Greetings all,

I'm looking at rescuing an 83 Rabbit GL Turbo Diesel, and before I get too far in, I thought I would ask the pros here their opinions.

It looks like a portion of the underside where the rear axle pivot mount meets the frame is rotten. I've seen a lot of terms online (chassis leg / repair plate) and I've been scouring the forums, however, cannot for the life of me figure out if this is the correct panel I would need:

https://www.vwheritage.com/171801392-rear-chassis-repair-mk1-golf-1983-right-side

I can't get an actual pic of my underside yet, however, this stolen pic illustrates exactly what I am missing (including the two threaded studs!)






Is she a lost cause if this piece is 100% rusted away?

Any info would be most appreciated - and let me apologize right now if these pics belong to a member here. 

83hare

Apologies for the late response but welcome to the club first of all! ☺️

Well I'm no real help but let's see what our members can do for you.
I'm sure with our depth of knowledge we'll come up with some answers for you. 😉👍🏼

Sent from my Smartphone 📱

hi this is a very common area for golfs to rust and yes the panel in the link is the correct one to repair that area. there should be another structural panel underneath the outer panel that the studs are attached to

Thank you SOOOOOO much for those pictures!

I had no idea there was a structural piece with the studs beneath.

sporttrucker - do you have any additional pictures you could provide? If PM is easier we can take offline.

This is a bigger job than I had previously thought. I have to practice my welds before tackling something like this.

Here's to learning.