NA and rust repairs

[Gad-Westy]

bmv6197 said:

Everyone has their own experiences and opinions on rust - and to some degree they’re all right because if it’s happened to them, they fairly assume it’s true for everyone. In my view the main killer in the UK is salt. Keep your car off the road in those months (and don’t leave it stuffed in a damp shed or garage) and you will slow rust down to a mere trickle, even on an mx5. I now live in New Zealand and like a weirdo I tend to have a look under daily driven NAs and NBs whenever I see one in a supermarket car park and you would be astonished at how much cleaner they are than UK ones. Still out in all weathers but no salt. Just as much rain as the UK, just as damp/humid, but they just rust much more slowly, if at all. I often see clean, original black suspension arms too.

I bought a 95 NA in Scotland in 2007 that was pretty much rust free (a couple of little bubbles here and there that I had cut out and then got it dinitroled) and in 9 years in Aberdeenshire, and 5 years in Devon, with it sorned each winter and stored in a dry garage, it has never got any rust - and I recently pulled it apart to check.

So my rule is - get a clean car or sort a rusty one properly, then dry garage Nov - Mar, and rust will be stalled for many years!


On the subject of getting a rough one or getting a sorted one, one thing I would say having owned a few Mk1s and looked at many is that if the state of rust is bad, often the rest of the car is too. So even once you’ve cut, welded and resprayed, you still have to replace seals, bushes, worn interiors, tired plastics, deferred maintenance etc etc. I would always pay the premium for a tidy car unless all you want is one that’s structurally solid but has lots of patina elsewhere…

Cheers. Too late!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Going through this with a fine toothcomb at the moment. It is definitely not rust free! It will need welding and paint in all the usual areas, sills, rear wings windscreen surround. To add to that it needs some repairs to battery tray, passenger floor and a small area on the N/S Inner wing. I'll no doubt find some other bits when I get really stuck in. It's not going to be cheap to sort and there is definitely a strong argument that I should have just bought a better one but I see two big advantages in doing it this way that are hard to put a price on. Firstly the satisfaction of rescuing something from death's door. This is a very neglected car was barely even much use a as breaker. I like the idea of turning it into something lovely. And secondly that once finished with this car I will know it inside out. There will barely be a thing on it that I haven't touched. And to add to that, I'm really enjoying working on it. I'll update that thread once I've got stuck into some of the remedial work. It feels like I've just spent the last couple of weeks removing things.

Edited by Gad-Westy on Tuesday 14th November 09:27

[Belle427]

My last one cost me £900 and looked fairly solid on first inspection, it had been sat neglected and someone had half taken the engine out to do a Turbo conversion but stopped.
I had it transported home and set about just putting it all back to standard.
Final on the road cost including getting it home was £2800 but i didnt cut any corners, that included a small sill repair as the rest was good.
The roof wasnt great and nether was the paintwork when finished but this didnt really bother me.
Sadly decided to sell it as i had the chance to buy a Lotus for my 50th birthday but i do wish id kept it now, it sold for £3250 so i did make a few quid for my troubles but i sort of fell in love with it.
Im seriously thinking of finding another one in the future but it is a difficult car to buy as on the face of it there are some tidy looking cars around for £4000 ish but your never sure if its been tarted up for sale.