I had mine on a rotisserie and could not get in there, so I ended up cutting the mudguards off not far from the seam and along the right angle section along the top as I figured that it could be welded back into place with a lot of patience, but ended up putting on new guards as they had been damaged previously. There is a 90% chance that there is a lot more rust than you can see. Both sides on mine required replacing, made the upper brackets out of 1.2 gal metal. The headlight brackets and the front apron where it meets the headlights also needed replacement/repair which was much easier with the guard off. Wondered why whoever put the headlight bracket in place went mad with the spot welder, about 32 spot welds just holding that in place on one side
Graham