Chassis and Underside Advice Request

[ukkid35]

I have just bought a 4.5 and would be very grateful for any advice on the condition of the underside of the car. Thanks in advance.


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Pic 25

Edited by ukkid35 on Thursday 5th May 23:55

Edited by ukkid35 on Friday 6th May 06:51

[JensenA]

Well I have seen worse, but that's not pretty. You've got some busy weekends ahead of you! Rust seems to have taken hold in a lot of places, but it does appear to be surface rust, but needs attention soon. In Pic 4 it looks pretty severe, check that area again thoroughly, feel with your fingers, prod with a screwdriver, and grip it with some mole grips to check how solid the metal is.
You've got a lot of work on, ideally you need a body off job to get the chassis sorted.

Sorry to be the (possible) bearer of bad news, but wait and see what others say.

[ukkid35]

Pic 4 the corrosion around the weld in this pic seems to be a repair, it's the repair itself that I'm concerned about, but it does look like surface rust.

Pic 6 looks really bad, but is it something that can be halted?

Pic 13 drive shaft boot R&R, hopefully no jotchas there

Pic 24 corrosion is bad on the upper A, but that's just R&R.

Pic 25 coolant pipe looks poor, are they still available?

The trouble with these cars is that they don't suffer from enough oil and ps fluid leaks - that would keep the rust at bay

[JensenA]

Sorry - I meant Pic 5 - That looks bad.
Pic 6 is your exhaust manifold, not lot you can do with that really.

It would be an idea to edit your post and give Numbers to the pics, then idiots like me can identify the correct pics

[sweeper]

As mentioned, poking into the critical areas with a screwdriver will tell whether it is surface rust or worse.

[ukkid35]

JensenA said:

Sorry - I meant Pic 5 - That looks bad.
Pic 6 is your exhaust manifold, not lot you can do with that really.

It would be an idea to edit your post and give Numbers to the pics, then idiots like me can identify the correct pics

I've added numbers that match the jpg numbers themselves to clarify - thanks

[Tyre Smoke]

Nothing to be overly concerned about.

How anal do you want to be?

The coolant pipe is corroded, but will leak, not suddenly burst.

Keep your eye on the outrigger corrosion and treat surface rust as it happens.

I don't think that's a chassis repair, they're really welded that badly in Blackpool! The powder coat has come off and needs the bare metal treating and covering up again.

A weekend with a wire brush, hammerite and patience is all you need.

How old is the car?

[900T-R]

^^^^ Agree with that, however I'd use some tougher stuff than Hammerite, you don't want to have to crawl underneath on your weekends too often...

[ukkid35]

Tyre Smoke said:

How anal do you want to be?

All I want to do is keep it structurally sound, I certainly haven't bought a garage queen as you would see if I were brave enough to post a pic of the comedy paint job.

The car is a 98, seems to run ok, steady idle, temp, oil pressure, but I haven't driven it.

[GG33]

are you brave enough to tell how much you paid?

[Tyre Smoke]

In that case, stop fretting. It looks fine.

Get it on the road and spend some money on super
unleaded!

[Jimii]

Might be some nastys under the wax oil on the outriggers, also does the clutch work ok? looks like the slave has been leaking. If it drives go drive it

[JensenA]

I still got it wrong Pic 6 was the one I thought looked bad, but it seems OK now I'm wide awake!.

In the meantime this is good stuff, easy to spray on to keep everything at bay until you get the wire brush out.

http://www.rejel.com/rejel-store/categoryid/28/lis...

You just have a few busy weekends ahead of you, but wait till winter and enjoy the car for summer.

[VPower]

Tyre Smoke said:

Nothing to be overly concerned about.

How anal do you want to be?

The coolant pipe is corroded, but will leak, not suddenly burst.

Keep your eye on the outrigger corrosion and treat surface rust as it happens.

I don't think that's a chassis repair, they're really welded that badly in Blackpool! The powder coat has come off and needs the bare metal treating and covering up again.

A weekend with a wire brush, hammerite and patience is all you need.

How old is the car?

+1

I fitted poly bushes to the front of mine last year and painted the arms and as much as I could get at of the chassis, looks so much better. (Need to do the rears this year)

But as already said look for real rot, and if just surface rust cover it all with some nice rust proofer and it will be OK for years to come.

[Dutch_Cerbera]

i am not even sure if it really is waxoyl, that black stuff looks more like rustcoverter.

ok, mainly surface rust, so clean chassis and use a couple of layers of rustconverter and i would go for cold galvanizing, primer, paint couple of layers and clear waxoyl.

guess this will take about 1 - 2 weeks of work, but you will be happy.
the upperside of the tubes will be a bit difficult

Edited by Dutch_Cerbera on Friday 6th May 12:03

[Gazzab]

Is that a crack in pic 6?

[mikesr]

Don't despair. I think mine looked worse but a bit of effort over winter makes all the difference.

Still looks the same (albeit a bit mucky) 3 years on.

Edited by mikesr on Friday 6th May 12:17

[Dutch_Cerbera]

Gazzab said:

Is that a crack in pic 6?

i think it is just a crack in the powder coating and the previous owner just sprayed rustconverter on top of it...

[Dr G]

I don't think it's anything you and I couldn't handle over a few bottles of Peroni Paul; I've no objection to grinding and painting a few bits over a weekend.

You do need to post the comedy paint pictures, rude not to

[SGonzales]

Got a little outrigger rot myself .. so ordered some Dimitrol. thanks for the tip.