Bought a rot box, how much to fix?

[Blue Oval84]

Oh dear. Last week I finally bought myself an ST200 Limited, a car I have fancied since pretty much the day I passed my test. Unfortunately my joy has been short lived as when I put it in the garage to get a couple of bits looked at, they've discovered some nasty rot behind the bodykit (outwardly, the car looks great for it's age).

I'm already in too deep to give up on the car, and to be honest, any model I replace it with stands a chance to have the same issues as even the youngest ones are now 15 years old. Just thought I'd get the opinion of people on here as to what may be vaguely reasonable for a repair.

There are the three patches of the sills that are very poor, and also worth mentioning that there will be a few other bits of underseal to be blasted off and redone (it appears that a previous owner has clagged underseal on top of rust... ).

NSF area


OSR


NSR


Any advice appreciated but please don't anyone say to scrap the car, I appreciate that the sensible thing to do would be to sell it on ebay for parts and use the money as a deposit on a diesel Golf lease. However, I want an ST200, and this one is actually lovely up top, the interior is spotless and well looked after, history is good etc. I can't see any point in selling it for scrap to then try and buy another and probably end up with the same problems, especially as I believe there are only about Limiteds 100 left in the UK...

Edited by Blue Oval84 on Wednesday 20th July 00:06

[spikeyhead]

Sounds like an ideal opportunity to learn to weld.

http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/mig-welder-r-tech-i...

[paintman]

Whilst I can't give you any idea as to cost - I do all my own welding - I will advise you to get it done properly. That means cutting back to sound metal & then welding in new. Will cost more than a quick plating job but it will also last a lot longer.
You'll probably be surprised how much rot you find when the job's started

[Blue Oval84]

Yeah it'll be getting done properly, the car is likely to be kept for a long, long time so failure to do it right will only be storing up problems.

The plan is to get the body done before the mechanicals, that way if we uncover horrors I can always reassess whether it's worth saving. I suspect there's more under there though as the garage were pointing out areas of fresh underseal...

[lilwashu]

All from looking at pics so may be wrong:

That doesn't bad at all to me - some surface-looking rust on one sill, a bit where someone has grounded out on the underside and a bit where it looks like an MOT place has jacked it up wrong on the other sill causing it to crumple and let water in.

I would be tempted to get the car back and hit the offending areas with a hammer, if they are still strong, grind the rust back as best as possible and put some treatment and underseal on there.

[Blue Oval84]

lilwashu said:

All from looking at pics so may be wrong:

That doesn't bad at all to me - some surface-looking rust on one sill, a bit where someone has grounded out on the underside and a bit where it looks like an MOT place has jacked it up wrong on the other sill causing it to crumple and let water in.

I would be tempted to get the car back and hit the offending areas with a hammer, if they are still strong, grind the rust back as best as possible and put some treatment and underseal on there.

Sorry I should have said, the OSR bit at least is crumbling when poked with a screwdriver, the other bits are slightly better but not by much. The garage reckoned it's a definite welding job (although the bodyshop are yet to see it themselves and give their opinion).

You're right about the causes though, it's clear that most of this damage is caused by careless jacking.

[e21Mark]

Whereabouts are you? I would take time to find somewhere suggested by someone who's used them before. Some places just aren't interested in doing thorough, long lasting repairs. I would also take time to protect the underside, if it's a car you intend keeping for the foreseeable.

[Blue Oval84]

Based in Brighton, the car is currently in a nearby BMW specialist who came recommended to me and have done exceptionally good work for friends.

They are recommending a bodyshop who will come out and look at the car on Monday to give me an idea on price. However I thought that I'd ask around to try and get a vague idea of what may be the right ballpark. I normally get major body repairs done up north at a guy in Sunderland who is excellent and cheap too, but as this has potential to be a lot of hassle, if the price is sensible then I'll just get it done down here.

I've no reason not to trust their recommendation as the garage themselves have an outstanding reputation to protect so I would certainly expect the bodyshop to be a good one. I've no intention of cutting corners that's for sure!

[996TT02]

If you don't have the money to do it properly right now, apply lots of rust converter, then cavity wax to get into the nooks and crannies, then some undersealing spray bitumen or similar. And also apply the latter two all over wherever there is no rust yet, too, be very thorough. At least that will stop the problem getting worse until you sort it out.

Anywhere crumbling and flaking - remove all you can by hand, stops rust spreading to other panels in contact.

[steveo3002]

when you get quotes be aware that theres 2 styles of work that can be done

some places will only be interested in a quick patch up , so welding a plate over the rot as a way to get another mot on it

if its a keeper you need them to cut away all the rot then fabricate a new panel to butt weld and make a lasting repair

big price differance

[Blue Oval84]

steveo3002 said:

if its a keeper you need them to cut away all the rot then fabricate a new panel to butt weld and make a lasting repair

The garage specifically mentioned that if I wanted to take it to a different bodyshop then I should ensure they are skilled at fabrication, which I guess means that their own bodyshop guy IS skilled at fabrication. Will certainly ask the question though when the quote comes in, thanks!

[Blue Oval84]

996TT02 said:

If you don't have the money to do it properly right now, apply lots of rust converter, then cavity wax to get into the nooks and crannies, then some undersealing spray bitumen or similar. And also apply the latter two all over wherever there is no rust yet, too, be very thorough. At least that will stop the problem getting worse until you sort it out.

Anywhere crumbling and flaking - remove all you can by hand, stops rust spreading to other panels in contact.

I think I'm going to have to get it done properly unfortunately. It seems as though a previous owner has taken the "economically restrained" approach to fixing it before as there is definitely new underseal covering good chunks of it...

From what I understand, the car lived in Scotland for 11 years. It really shows!

[steveo3002]

if money is tight you could offer to remove the interior yourself to help with labour , id imagine at least some of it will need to come out

[Ozzie Osmond]

Blue Oval84 said:

Last week I finally bought myself an ST200 Limited,

I'm already in too deep to give up on the car....

Seriously, how much have you spent on it in the week since you bought it? IMO everything about that car says run like hell before it eats you alive. A winter in Brighton's damp and salty air isn't going to help things at all.

[Blue Oval84]

Sadly I just don't have the time or space to do any work myself, I have one car parking space at home (currently filled with my other car that refuses to sell!) and no other convenient places to do that sort of work.

[swisstoni]

Has the OP checked out some Ford based forums or clubs? This can't be the first Mondeo to rust and there must be plenty of people who have dealt with similar issues.

This will certainly be a labour of love and I'd put money on it posting way more than the purchase price - not a criticism - just that these things can easily turn into bigger jobs than they look.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

St200's are a real future Classic at reasonable prices at the moment.
Been looking at them myself, they do suffer from tin worm quite badly and there are some real shockers out there!
Yours however OP doesn't look bad at all really.

More pics needed

[Blue Oval84]

Ozzie Osmond said:

Seriously, how much have you spent on it in the week since you bought it? IMO everything about that car says run like hell before it eats you alive. A winter in Brighton's damp and salty air isn't going to help things at all.

Unfortunately, I spent quite good money on it to get what looked like a full history, low miles, low owner, well looked after car.

If I sell now as it is I probably lose £2K assuming I flog it as spare or repairs. If I spend £2K doing everything on it, then I have a car that's probably worth a spot more than I paid for it, but not by much...

[TooMany2cvs]

swisstoni said:

Has the OP checked out some Ford based forums or clubs? This can't be the first Mondeo to rust and there must be plenty of people who have dealt with similar issues.

The usual way of dealing with a rotting Mondildo has already been discounted by the OP. The second most common approach has already been taken by the person who sold it to the OP.

swisstoni said:

This will certainly be a labour of love and I'd put money on it posting way more than the purchase price - not a criticism - just that these things can easily turn into bigger jobs than they look.

Indeed. I very much doubt any repair panels required would be available, even before figuring in the labour costs, paint costs etc. This has the potential to turn a relatively inexpensive lesson into a very expensive one.

I have no idea what the spec difference between a "normal" ST200 and a "limited" are, but one thing's for certain - there's not going to be anywhere near enough future collectibility premium in this one to be worth lobbing the money at it. If you really, really want one - then buy a decent "cooking" ST200, and swap any spec difference bits that you're particularly bothered about onto it.
<quick google>
Right. Blue interior and some fake carbon, twice as many actually built as "numbered", and the dealers did the numbering anyway. Okay...
Anybody spot a cynical end-of-production run-out model? From Ford...? Surely not!

[mr_spock]

You'll save LOTS of fabrication time if you can cut repair panels out of another Mondeo shell, spend a bit of time cleaning them up (or have them sandblasted) - they'll fit for sure and then it's just paying for cut and weld. I've done that with my '57 Plymouth C-pillar which was too complex to fabricate, and my old '64 Pontiac rear deck panel. Mind you, I had them shipped from the US. You should find it easier with a Mondeo.