Saving a rusty car

[ph9]

I've got an old Mk1 Yaris which has reached the end of the road.

It has a few mechanical issues, but nothing too major.

Unfortunately, the underside has seen better days!

Inspection shows holes in both sills, holes near the rear spring mounts, and holes in the floor (probably within a few inches of the seatbelt mounts).

I know a welder who could patch it up, but I think it's got to the stage where it would continue to disintegrate and require further welding each year in order to pass an MOT. More importantly, I think any patches would be stronger than the surrounding metal, so it just wouldn't be safe.

Presumably, it's not possible to buy a new body shell, and finding an old Yaris which isn't rusty is probably an impossibility, plus it wouldn't make sense to transfer bits from my rusty car to one which isn't as rusty!

So, I'm curious - is there a 'proper' way to safely repair a car with these rust problems, and if so, what would need to be done?

[steveo3002]

cut away rusty metal and weld in new ...how do you think all these classics are repaired , would be safe if done well

or find a cleaner car and swap bits over

realistically its finished..beyond economical repair,would have been better to put the effort in years to protect it better

[sgtBerbatov]

You need to cut the worst of it out, and keep going until you get to stronger steel, and then base the repair from that.

[ph9]

Thanks!

If I were to strip the car to a bare shell, would that make the repair easier?

Also, would it a good idea to look for new panels (if they're available for a Mk1 Yaris) including sills and floor pans?

I'm just mulling over the options. I know repair would cost more than the car's worth, but I'd prefer not to scrap it, and presumably, if it was repaired and protected with Bilt Hamber's finest (for example), it could last a good few years.

[steveo3002]

doubt it needs to be a bare shell , certainly need anything thats in the way of the rust to be removed plus any interior trims that could be damaged

yes replacement panels would make things easier

even a moderate welding job can run into many hundreds of pounds ...price it up before starting work

[spikeyhead]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-YARIS-1999-2005-...

and a few similar bits

and a welder

and some practice, what could possibly go wrong?

[ph9]

Thanks!

It;s funny, but I actually discovered the sill repair panels the other day. However, I'm not sure these would be sufficient to fully repair my car. Are they just the outer layer, or do they also contain the (I'm not sure how to describe it!) bits within the sill and the panel which wraps around to the floor?

I'm thinking about going to see the guy who's done welding on the car up til now, and see what he reckons about a longterm repair using these panels (and other panels). He was surpised at how much the car had deteriorated since he'd welded the front subframe last year, and said he personally wouldn't repair the car. However, I'd still like to know about a repair.

[droopsnoot]

Normally a sill panel like that is just the outer skin, and you'd need to source (or fabricate) separate repairs for the other bits that are needed, but I've no experience of that specific car. Hence people asking for a price to replace a sill, then finding that the price goes up because once the outer sill is off, it usually reveals how bad the stuff it joins to (inner sill, bottom of inner wheelarch, sometimes the edge of the floor) is. And of course you'll probably have a lower seat belt mounting somewhere down there, so it needs to be very solid.

[steveo3002]

call the dealer and ask whats available , some brands make lots of repair panels ..others almost nothing