Rust , repair or replace shell

[Huds1_2]

Trying to make an attempt to get the car sorted after many a year or it sitting rusting , would you lot just reshell or aim at cutting it out and welding a bit back in , rest of the car is fairly sound considering , suspect areas are just in front of each rear wheel under chassis , photos show the worst side , the other still mostly intact ,

 

[Sacrilegious-FD]

That's fucked dude,

 

[Jit]

Replace shell. I’d never be happy knowing that a repair to that was underneath

 

[jdmr_neil]

That is really bad and even any steel that's left looks very rotton tbh, new shell!

 

[Nas80]

It looks worse then it is.

Cut all the rot off and see what you got left.

 

[Efini-dan]

I'd repair it, cut out all the bad bits and replace with good metal, though that looks like the seat belt mount area and could be a tricky repair. If not and you're guna re shell it let me know, I may be interested in the shell, or what's left of it

 

[welshkid]

Cut it out and see what you are left with.
Decent place working on it and you may be surprised. Have a look at some of the mx5 repairs online, they suffer bad with rust and loads have been brought back from the dead

 

[Paulm]

I agree with nas, cut back to good metal. If rest of body is solid then ok. I would be dubious about repair if any of the key suspension mounting points are compromised though.

 

[Ceylon]

I repaired an FD about that bad, as long as you cut it back to good and give it a good dose of cavity injection after it'll be fine.

If she's that bad there... I'd also check the cavities behind front arches in the floor pan, rear legs (Bumper off and tank dropped job). rear arch seams (As they're only plug welded, probably worth seam welding them once you've cut the rust out).

It's just metal, and the beauty of metal is you can always fix it .

 

[Spendyrx]

Burn it and piss on the ashes kyle

 

[Nas80]

So it was sat outside in the weather? How long for?

 

[Huds1_2]

Sat outside for atleast 2 years but it’s the only serious rust on the car the rest is just surface , mainly in the engine bay where I left it with the vented bonnet on , seems a shame to bin the rest of the shell for something that can be repaired , where can water be getting it for it to rust thru on just them sections , unless whoever under sealed it trapped moisture in at that location

 

[Huds1_2]

Rest of car

 

[Huds1_2]

Other side

 

[Huds1_2]

Bottom pic is of the worst side

 

[Efini-dan]

The worst of that to repair will be that bit by the seat belt mount, the sills are easy to do if your a competent welder and jigsaw piece maker . Guaranteed once you start scraping away it'll be more than what you can see there but it'll be worth it if that's the worst bit. I did the rear of both sills and in the front of the rear arches and both the front floor pans on my montego blue one.

 

[Ceylon]

I reckon you'll be cutting out both sides there. It doesn't look like it'd pass the screwdriver and hammer test!

 

[Hellramsden]

I repaired something that was only half as bad as that in the same area, if it helps the shapes you have to copy are not bad, no weird bends to sort just butt weld patching - if you have the time id go for it

 

[Spendyrx]

My guess is, the rain was probably getting in the boot (spare wheel well) or you could have fucked door seals and the rain can travel in through the door seals. I had to break into my fd once and cut the door seal. Few months later I found lots of water in the car, didn't realise such a small gash could create so much juice!

 

[richie2912]

I had rust in the same areas but not quite as bad. But found it easy enough to cut it out and replace.

If yours are that bad check the full length of the sill both sides of the lip as i had to replace a fair amount of that also. As well as checking the rear section of the rear quarters.

Its all easy enough repaired though with time. Most panels are spot welded and they are easy to find. Just a jigsaw puzzle then.