Back end not looking good
Tags: bodywork boot restoration rust welding
Got a call yesterday from Lance warning that Mark had been having a go a the boot now that I'd taken out the petrol tank and it wasn't looking good, so I headed down there today to take a look.
He was right. Mark said he started cutting away the rust metal and pretty soon there was a big hole. The problem (apart from the sheer amount of rust about) was, as before, dodgy welding covering up, rather than solving, some serious problems.
In particular, the chassis member, which comes from the front of the car (see previous posts for more stories of rust on these), joins up with the spare-wheel well, which takes over its job of adding front-to-back strength. It's a neat design, as long as it's all in reasonable condition.
We knew the spare wheel well was in pretty bad shape and had got in a replacement from Amazon Cars some time ago. However we didn't know that the chassis member was in such a bad way, partly because it was covered up with a dodgy plate which was doing nothing structurally.
Anyway, by the time I'd got there he'd made up an excellent replacement, which would add some really strength back in and remove the unintentional crumple zone which was there.
On other news, after another look at the petrol tank, I've decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one. There no knowing what horrors may lie in there without opening it up, which isn't really practical. Also I had a further go at cleaning the boot and found yet more rust, particularly near the offside wheel arch, which seems to be adjacent, rather than welded, to the floor.
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