-
The only way to treat rust is cut it out and weld in new
Well, I hope it's not as bad as that; no holes thru, and when scraping old flaky paint and rusty dust nothing seems too deep. The actual chassis is still quite clean, no rust there, it's mostly stuff made with thicker sheets of metal, probably factory treated differently, like the control arms, etc that seem to have suffer.
If it reveals to be at a stage where welding panels was necessary, being an old cheap family car, I don't think I would do anything and would look for a new car!
The only way to treat rust is cut it out and weld in new. if it is surface rust you can grind it back to good metal and treat with something like Jenolite and spray then treat with a good underseal any shortcuts are just buying time before the inevitable.
SC Motor Factors in Ruxley/Sidcup actually sell squares of steel for fabrication and welding, that's where I got mine from for my E30.