car needs welding , no surprise , cost?
Discussion
ive got a 106 gti, most of the parts are solid enough, just underneath its a bit of a rusty pile, im in the mindset of keeping this car , how much would it cost to make this shell brand new again? the actual panels of the bodywork have no rust (apart from the bonnet).
its quite a small car so cant see it costing the earth to do, has anyone got any rough idea what this will likely cost?
its quite a small car so cant see it costing the earth to do, has anyone got any rough idea what this will likely cost?
TooMany2cvs said:
FAR more than it's worth. Break it and buy a better one.
looking around the only better ones are fetching thousands, shirley welding up the chassis to keep it going for another decade will turn it into a nice one?i dont want to buy someone elses raft, my intentions are to turbo it eventually and would rather know exactly what work has gone into it, when i had the wheels off the brake lines etc are all in good condition, looking under the back end though it looks like a rust bomb has exploded, im assuming most of the 106s that are left will require some upheaval to get them up to the standard i will be happy tanking it on b roads, my last gti i spent 3k on, it was mint, regret getting rid of it now.
TooMany2cvs said:
I think you're massively underestimating the amount of work involved in anything other than short-term patching.
how many hours are we speaking for an entire refurb of the chassis? it would already be stripped to be worked on so there would be no engine/interior removalAdamIndy said:
It's impossible to say without anyone actually seeing it. Is there a couple of small holes? Surface rust? Does the entire underside of the car need refabricating?
It will range from £20 to thousands depending on what needs doing. If it's that bad then just reshell it. Take everything off yours and put it on a clean shell.
surface rust mainly by the looks of it, the bonnet underside is fairly rust ridden at the lower edge, it still handles solid enough on the road, when i had the wheels off the suspension looked good, the car has been sitting for about a year though there are no holes in the boot and i couldnt physically press any holes through any of the rusty parts, its not like the chassis is falling to bits on me while driving, theres rust around the suspension bolts and pretty much every other bolt butt thats to be expected on a car nearly as old as myself.It will range from £20 to thousands depending on what needs doing. If it's that bad then just reshell it. Take everything off yours and put it on a clean shell.
Digitalize said:
Sounds like the best thing to do is strip it to a bare shell, get the underside blasted and go from there, you might be left with very little good metal, or you could just need a few small areas patched and the underside re-protected.
A car that looks 'okay' can quickly become much worse when you start to dig around underneath it.
just got shot of my 645 that had nothing but electrical faults lol, time to go back to cars with little electrical components to go wrong.A car that looks 'okay' can quickly become much worse when you start to dig around underneath it.
plus cant beat throwing a hot hatch around on b roads, or maybe im just having a very early mid-life crisis.
SEE YA said:
It sounds like you have to make a choice.One you patch it for Mot or restoration project if you wish to keep the car a while?
I have done a few,luckily did a welding course for a year NVQ.
The rust you see,will always get bigger once you start cutting away to find good metal.
As my teacher used to say, at college the difference between a good welder and a bad one?
Answer is 1000hours he was right.
ive done a spot of welding on a marine engineering course, not sure id be able to apply gas welding miniature rudders to restoring a car chassis though, plus my welding always looked sI have done a few,luckily did a welding course for a year NVQ.
The rust you see,will always get bigger once you start cutting away to find good metal.
As my teacher used to say, at college the difference between a good welder and a bad one?
Answer is 1000hours he was right.
t, all the decent looking 106s available at the moment are going for thousands, a cheap shell will likely have just as much or more problems than this car, i should add it was booked into kwik fit as ive just moved house lol, not sure if their expertise is to be trusted.996TT02 said:
Buy a boggo clean 106 and transfer all the go faster bits to it.
It will cost you around 1/4 the cost of doing up the rust on yours, which do-up will probably need re-doing very soon.
the clean ones are going for 4k+ at the moment, the poorer quality ones are around a grand with alot of work needing done, most of these cars have been wrapped round trees by now, i witnessed with my own eyes a 106 gti die at the hands of a piss poor driver, came off the roundabout at aberdeen beach, floored it to impress whoever his passenger was, ends up wiping out a lampost in a straight line, standard brakes with a 1,8 engine.It will cost you around 1/4 the cost of doing up the rust on yours, which do-up will probably need re-doing very soon.
did have a good giggle at their expense so it wasnt for nothing
i will try get pictures up today of the cars offending rusty bits, it honestly doesnt look that bad to me, but my knowledge of cars is limited to say the least.
reason i asked what the price of doing the whole shell/chassis would be to cover all outcomes at the very worst end of the scale to see what id be looking at, staying so close to the north sea probably doesnt help matters, im surprised the engine even started as ive not really looked after the car, just used it for going to and from work on farm roads lol, with all the problems i had with my 6 series though im looking forward to going back to cheap and cheerful.
reason i asked what the price of doing the whole shell/chassis would be to cover all outcomes at the very worst end of the scale to see what id be looking at, staying so close to the north sea probably doesnt help matters, im surprised the engine even started as ive not really looked after the car, just used it for going to and from work on farm roads lol, with all the problems i had with my 6 series though im looking forward to going back to cheap and cheerful.
battered said:
You say it wants welding, are there actual holes? If not and it's just standard underbody corrosion then spraying Waxoyl (or just used engine oil if you are a cheapskate) underneath will hold it back for a year or two. Depending on the state of the rest of the car, that might be long enough.
gonna be taking it to my mate who races rally cars and get him to have a gander at it , not entirely sure i hold much faith in kwik fits opinion, tried charging my 500 odd a tyre for the 645 once, got them to 240 a tyre after telling them to wise up, i think the problem might be kwik fit.Djtemeka said:
shame its so far away 
im quite ocd when i get an idea into my head about something, i want the car to be as safe as possible so that if i do end up in the pastures that the car doesnt fold up and kill me in the process.going to go over and rip out the interior today and get some pictures of the damage
996TT02 said:
wouldnt it be a pissabout getting a 1,1 re registered as a gti though?i dont mind spending thousands if itll last another 15 years, i really dont want to buy someone elses problems that they have bodged to get through an mot, buy cheap buy twice is something i live my life by based on experiences
battered said:
Yes it will, don't go there. It will always be a 1.1 fitted with GTi bits. It's just an exaple of what you can do, it's always better buy buy what you want han build it.
Let's not jump the gun here. We don't yet know what it needs. Nor do we know how long you plan to keep it. There is no point in taking a £1500 car and investing £2k only to sell it a year later, because you'll never see the money back. Just do what's necessary for safety and appearance reasons and when you need to get rid, get rid. It's still worth what it's worth, regardless of "but I've just done £2000 of work!".
ill probably be keeping it as long as im alive for the most part, its like a road legal go kart with cheap and plenty parts, i dont want to end up with 2 gtis that need to be welded by next year, id rather just focus on 1 and make it brand new again.Let's not jump the gun here. We don't yet know what it needs. Nor do we know how long you plan to keep it. There is no point in taking a £1500 car and investing £2k only to sell it a year later, because you'll never see the money back. Just do what's necessary for safety and appearance reasons and when you need to get rid, get rid. It's still worth what it's worth, regardless of "but I've just done £2000 of work!".
if the options are start again with a standard 106 gti for £3k+ then id rather go down the re-fab of the car ive got , shirley its not going to need 3k worth of welding?
plus if they do start fetching millions
id hope to still have it by that time, when i get myself a job again ill be dropping a turbo in it for lulz.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff