Inner and outer wheel arch separated - how to fix rust

[arp1981]

I am converting a 2013 Fiat Ducato into a camper. I bought it with a nasty scrape above the rear wheel. Three body shops have said in different ways that they can't help. I guess the van is too dented to be worth their time (fair enough). I don't care about dents or perfect paint. All I care about is avoiding rust as long as possible. I'm totally new to working on cars/vans.

The scrape seems to have caused two problems (1) scrape to outer paintwork and (2) inner and outer wheel arch have become separated and the inner has started to rust.

Question is, how best to fix this up myself?

This is where I'm at currently:

(1) Strip back to bare metal (wire brush bit for my drill), treat with rust converter/primer (I'm thinking Dinitrol RC900), filler, sand, paint, lacquer.

(2) I guess I need to reattach the two panels so water doesn't fly up between them. Currently it's just asking for rust. But first I need to do what I can to get in there and remove any current rust - there must be some. I'm thinking that I clean inside as best I can, get a wire pipe cleaner up there and give it scrape (I can't see anything in there so won't do much), spray Dinitrol, stick back together with adhesive of some sort (what??) and clamp, then touch up surrounding area as per (1).

Any help for this newbie would be very gratefully received. Cheers

[HustleRussell]

I can't help because I'm not sure how those panels are supposed to be fixed together but I am surprised that body shops are turning this work away. It's probably because it's a small job on a big vehicle. I'd try to find a body shop who will do it because whatever work you manage to do yourself, DIY paint is going to let it down in my opinion.

[V8covin]

Unless there's more to this than meets the eye I can't understand why any bodyshop wouldn't quote you for that.
Basically both arch lips need sanding back to clean metal and then clamping together and welding....not much of a job for anyone with a Mig welder.....and then the side prepping and painting.
Try some more bodyshops would be my suggestion

[arp1981]

Thanks for the responses. I'll try a few more bodyshops then. The three I mentioned seemed to not accept the idea that I was fine with dents and bumps. They wanted to only take the job if they could get the whole side panel back to a perfect shape, which seems like it's never going to happen (for a reasonable price on a van that I bought for £4K with 160K on the clock). Wobbly panels and dents really don't bother me. Hopefully I'll find someone with a more pragmatic mindset open to a small job. I guess with the cost of professional spraying kit, big jobs like full resprays are much more profitable. And it is a big van for a small shop!

Any ideas on a rough price that might be fair for the welding and repaint work mentioned taking into account I'm not after perfection?

And if there happen to be any good Sheffield based recommendations they'd be welcome too (ignore that if it's against forum rules - I'm not sure).