Fix or Break?

[Evilgoat]

Fitted a new bumper and bullbars to Serenity today and found more bad news :( In fact enough that I'm now thinking she may be better off broken for parts come the MOT.

So rust and welding wise she now needs :

Inner wings (complete, the whole thing, not patches, on both sides.
Both Headlamp trays
Both Footwells
Front body mount and metalwork surrounding it.
The lip that holds the headlight surround on the drivers side is just not there.
All the side mountings have gone for the wing and bumper end caps to the headlamp trays, I removed the old bumper with a hammer, it was THAT rusty!
End of the chassis rail (the very end cap portion) on one side is well on its way.
Boot floor, rear cross member, side panels, inner wing, boot floor x-members and rearmost body mounts, all shot.
Drivers Side and Passenger side front doors have had it.

I dont see the return in fixing her, I'm really not happy about the degree of rot on her now, I knew about a lot of it but its getting silly. Found numerous fibreglass patches over rotten metal too. I cant beleive that a car the same age as the Zook and The Audi (both more or less rust free) can be this rotten.

Not had the carpets out either, given the flood of water when I went through the ford I dont want to.

The engine and drivetrain are all A1 so sureley the best return for money here is to break it and sell the engine, gearbox, t-box axels etc?

Any suggestions. Will be having the outer wings off at some point soon to get another club member to give some thoughts on here. But at this stage I'm thinking a donor body may just be easier if I had the option.

Replacement for her almost certainly wont be a green oval either :(

[chuggaman]

s :( d as it may be.........from the language you use to describe this you may have answered your own question.

i am sure it will not be your last offroader   :D


mike

[stuntman]

SNAP, mines a pile of [PooPoo] aswell, I've done the boot floor, the front pass and drivers floor, both sills, front inner wings.

I've now discovered quite bad rot on 5 out of 10 body mounts, I need a new rear cross member, and there's a nice hole in one sidde of the chassis, how can these things rust so badly!

I'm really thinking of trying to get some time and stripping the whole thing down and finding a replacement chassis. Blo*dy thing

[Evilgoat]

SNAP, mines a pile of [expletive deleted] aswell, I've done the boot floor, the front pass and drivers floor, both sills, front inner wings.

I've now discovered quite bad rot on 5 out of 10 body mounts, I need a new rear cross member, and there's a nice hole in one sidde of the chassis, how can these things rust so badly!

I'm really thinking of trying to get some time and stripping the whole thing down and finding a replacement chassis. Blo*dy thing

My chassis is pretty much untouched. The end of the front rail needs a patch and I think it needs a little patch under the boot floor someplace, but its nothing I'm actually worried about. Watched the job Solihullmick did but I just cant justify that time and money even if I had it.

In comparison, my fathers L reg paj (one year newer) isnt even undersealed and has NO rust.

I think chuggaman has a point though, I think I may have already decided.

[mentalmoshio sophs V8i]

what is it with disco some r rustbuckets and others of the same age have no welding done on them at all. if u do weld it all it would make a great rolling rebuild post again. what age is yours anyway?

[Chris Putt]

Mine has had a LOT of work welding wise done on it. Its weird though.

My bootfloor, rear seatbelt mounts and drivers side sill were absolutely fine (bar one small patch needed on the rear of the sill) in contrast, we rebuilt the inner wings, the headlight boxes and had to do a bit of surgery on the front body mounts to make them strong again (before covering them in rust hardener and then sealant). Also had to do some pretty substantial platework on the rear crossmember too!

I have access to a quite good shell if you are reasonably proficient with small welding jobs?

Chris

[denviks]

mate you have a pm regards a shell  

[eugene]

it sounds like a lot of work evilgoat my mate is taking his j redg disco of road mid january needs boot floor i know but last time i was looking at it shell was ok had sills and inner wing done. he has sold all running gear i know but as for shell he will probably scrap.just a thought

[Evilgoat]

Just thinking about the offer of a body. Now I dont have the time or space to do a body swap, but amd I right in thinking seeing as its a ladder chassis using whole panels (EG a whole inner wing) should be acceptable?

If so that alleviates a lot of the seriously fiddly, nasty stuff and makes it attractive to fix.

[stuvy]

good luck with repairing it mate, my RRC was rusted through at the back end, and not worth fixing so out with the old in with the new!! i was gutted after letting it go for £300 but i did batter it the last week before she went!!!

[burgerman]

I get wierd days off,( as you know) but would be prepared to come alond n lend a hand with repairs/swap, I could not face the sadness of a breaking for parts though  

[redhand]

You have to work out realistically what parts you will need to replace + what the welding will cost, + metal + gas & wire etc etc then compare that to likely return for parts. 200tdi Engine & gearbox will go for about £400 plus £100 for axles seats etc. Add that to cost of keeping it and ask your self could I get a better vehicle for the same amount. If the answers no then keep it, if the answers yes then why spend all that time and effort getting it sorted when you could just as easily buy another. I've just sold my K reg disco for £400 because the MOT was about to expire and It needed about £600 spending on it. That gave me a budget of £1000. So I brought a 90td off LRUK for £600 it needs no welding and just needs finishing touches and wants brakes sorting to get it thru an Mot. At the end of the day it's just a rover car and you have to cut your losses and move on.

[Evilgoat]

The biggent investment in doing her will be time tbh. Three people have now said that whereas most of the welding comes to about a day, The reconstruction of the headlight trays and rear body mounts could take a day each alone. If I can use whole panels then it becomes more attractive.

I dont have the money to replace her right now, so if she was broken I'd be off the road/back to the Audi until summer time. Given I paid £700 for her as long as it stays below, say half, I'll be ok.

I see your point though, and tomorrow is going to be spent taking stock of it. Will be taking carpets up tomorrow, wish me luck.

[wheels244]

Sorry to add to your woes - but a day's welding to put all that right seems incredibly optomistic, even if you had all the panels to hand.

It took me me two full days to make and weld my sills and inner wing panels.

Sorry  :(

[Evilgoat]

Sorry to add to your woes - but a day's welding to put all that right seems incredibly optomistic, even if you had all the panels to hand.

It took me me two full days to make and weld my sills and inner wing panels.

Sorry  :(

Shows how much I know, but this would be just welding, I cant weld so the person doing it would already have all the prep done :)

[python]

http://www.yrm-metal-solutions.com/page3.htm try these guys. might be worth doing, there not too pricey.  :D

[wheels244]

Sorry to add to your woes - but a day's welding to put all that right seems incredibly optomistic, even if you had all the panels to hand.

It took me me two full days to make and weld my sills and inner wing panels.

Sorry  :(

Shows how much I know, but this would be just welding, I cant weld so the person doing it would already have all the prep done :)

I wouldn't give up on it - use thicker than standard steel, like I did and you'll only have to do it once and it'll last another 10+ years. Do it in bitesize chunks, then you won't get sick of it. It's a shame your so far away, I'd have given you a day on it. What about other members closer to you ? Blitz it with people ????

[wheeler]

hi im local to you and can help out with the welding if your going to repair and you can help with some the striping which will make it cheaper
let me know if i can help

[ChrisW]

We used panels from YRM when doing my rebuild, can't recommend him enough, very helpful chap, panels are good quality steel, thicker than standard and are cut generously.

[Evilgoat]

Thanks for the offers of help guys. I'll be trying to get a good idea of what the actual damage is tomorrow after I look at this body shell. WIll be taking wings off, carpets up etc. I know what the score is with the back end so no worried about that. tis just the front that I need to evaluate.

[nicr1]

this is getting getting scarey..i'm also about to repair the boot floor end of a 200tdi...the drivers and passengers footwells look ok from underneath but the inner wings look as though they could be on their way..not sure about the sills.....hav'nt dared poke them too hard in case it gets any worse.....

[Evilgoat]

Well I knew the inner wings were gone and the boot.

However its only doing the bumper (which was also toast) I found all the rest.

Looking up from behind the bumper I have lost the bottom of both light trays and the sectopn along the rad and including the body mount section on the drivers side. All invisible with the plastic and bumper in place.

Footwells I spotted from the inside after removing the plastic kick panels, it seems the rot starts with the holes in the bulkhead for wiring harnesses. Sills have been done but the roots of the a pillars look a bit ropey, again I knew about this before hand.

Back end, have the panels all out and the carpet, have lost my floor right up into the corners and I'd advise others to check. Also my safari lights leak badly but it all runs behind the trim, so its unseen. Of course, not fixing this will mean a rotted floor again.

Also noticed spots that havent gone but are starting to , or will do, these seem to include:

Welding seams where bulkhead meets inner wing, the seams are breaking down. Again, looks like a bad spot thats probobly there on all of them.

Arches on the rear have been trimmed, this is causing road dirt to build up on the inner surfaces of the back doors, this is going to rot out for sure if I dont get on top of it.

Niel has a good point, theres a lot of patches where just lack of undercoat is responsible for this. Even the zook has a liberal layer of undercoat, I dont think the Disco over had any and the rust seems to start in places where this would really be needed. Also seems that the seams and welds wernt treated either, hence the inner wings going where they do.