Fixing rust on side?

[landcruiser420]

HI All,

New LandCruiser owner here and a bit of a mechanic and car dunce, so I apologize for that. I live in East Africa so good auto shops are not so easy to come by! My question comes from some rust by the door on the passenger side of my 1990 J70. I'm keen to fix this before it spreads but I didn't know what the best technique was; remove and weld? Replace the whole section?

I basically need to know what to tell mechanics/welders here as to not cause more damage to the vehicle and not have them get ideas of their own that are not good for the long term health of the car!

 

[hj 60]

That looks nice and I don't think they would mess it up, I just finished the wheel arches so it starts with boldly cutting away the rust.
Then probably the part comes: don't cry, or cry a lot and lie down.
After that make a plan, rust usually needs 2 cm around to get clean metal.

So remove that plastic, remove the side step, remove that plastic near the carpet and might find more rust.
The part might be available like I bought for your model, but a good welder will slam a piece into shape without any problem.

not a good welder:

Probably the sheet metal drying after anti rust paint in Africa is better than my "shop":

I think you have more work but denial is the mother of all rust: