Taking the plunge...

[appletonn]

No, not buying a car, but sending my little mk1 1.8iS (UK car) off to CBS in Nelson to have the rear arches sorted out.

I'm hoping that it will be quicker afterwards, due to removing the 100kg of filler in the arches and replacing it with virgin metal?!!

Now, financially this doesn't make sense, as I'll never recover all of that money come sale time, but having ummed and arred for months, I just thought that the car was generally clean and honest enough to save.

Probably madness, but I'll enjoy driving it this year, knowing that it's rust free'ish!

Just need to find some rust free s/h front wings now, to complete the process!

[Richyvrlimited]

appletonn said:

I'm hoping that it will be quicker afterwards, due to removing the 100kg of filler in the arches and replacing it with virgin metal?!!

I'm hoping that's not a genuine question...

No it won't be quicker, I seriously doubt there's actually 100kg of filler in the arches, and metal weighs more than holes, the net weight will be as near as damnit the same.

[appletonn]

Richyvrlimited said:

I'm hoping that's not a genuine question...

No it won't be quicker, I seriously doubt there's actually 100kg of filler in the arches, and metal weighs more than holes, the net weight will be as near as damnit the same.

No, my tongue was firmly wedged in my cheek!!

Actually arches have been 'repaired' by previous owner, using plenty of filler by the looks of things, hence my half jokey question. The whole profile of the curve (looking from above) is slightly wrong, so must be lots of filler beneath the bubbles under paint.

[GC8]

Errmmm.... Itll need the sills doing too, in all liklihood, where the two skins touch. I think that youll see a return in a couple of years when all Mk1s are struggling and yours will be one of very few with new metal not old bodges.

[appletonn]

Hmm sills seem very solid and appear to have been done already - certainly passed the MOT in Dec and I have been clouting them with hammer to check!!

I'm also hoping that the structural integrity (ie currently similar to that of a damp lettuce leaf) can only be improved by some fresh metal!

Still not too bad for a 17yr old UK car that has seen more than a few salty winter roads...