Oh my God, what the hell have I bought yet again!?
- Thread starter Lopéz
- Start date
Keep up the good work! , your welding in new pieces where you've removed the rust from the floorpan?
Yes - new metal will be cut tomorrow and welded over the holes. Until I actually made a hole in the outrigger today the rust shown above would not be considered an MOT failure as the tester cannot see it from below the car.
Which is why it gets left for so long and gets so bad as you don't tend to habitually lift up the carpets in your average car....
Possibly for alignment to a jig when the outriggers were originally welded on the production line?
Haven't got a clue about the larger holes in the drivers side though, very strange.
Thats the guy, he has/had a red S13 that was a bit rough when he got it but its immaculate now.
There is the on-going S14a restore too which is going to look better than it did when it first came out the showroom.
He's been doing it for plenty of years IIRC and has restored some classics over his time.
Soldato
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- 13 Jan 2004
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how weird is that....... a post i did but don't remember doing. wow... lol....
nice car.
for some reason i see lopez and associate you with car diy like when i see johnny69 i associate with old british type cars. and fox with bmws.
Soldato
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- 13 Jul 2004
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- Stanley Hotel, Colorado
How does it look now with the gel removed?
Soldato
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Awesome thread, I've really enjoyed going through it. Keep up the pics with your progress.
By the way what size is the engine and what sort of power did it put out when it was new?
By the way what size is the engine and what sort of power did it put out when it was new?
I was looking through the pics I took yesterday and it looks like I didn't take any after scraping the gel off, which is annoying because I was sure sure I had.silversurfer said:
I found a pic in my folders of some treated metal I did a few months ago though which was similarly corroded:
1.8 and when new it had something like a mighty 90bhp when newStonedofmoo said:
To be fair to it, it's a light car and at speeds of up to 60 or 70 feels urgent enough when the second choke opens.
Above that though it really starts to lose puff so I'd like to put something bigger in when I get the chance. At the moment it will do though
Didn't get as much done as I wanted yesterday but made some progress still.
Firstly, primed and stonechipped the rear end panel behind the bumper:
Then topcoated, lacquered and refitted my bumper. Looking out for a straight replacement as mine is the wrong colour and it's warped at some point.
Got the floor nearly done on one side before I ran out of MIG wire. I'm not a great welder but I've tested it with a lump hammer and pry bar and it's well attached. Needs lots more grinding down as gasless welding doesn't half make a bloody mess! When I'm happy with the welds I'll paint this area.
Also finished off the rear arch with some stonechip and then a coat of underseal. I'll dig out the arch spat today and refit:
Finally, tested the lights.
Sidelights:
Dipped:
Main Beam:
I've checked through the MOT manual and can't see anything illegal about having 4 sidelights. Not sure what UK lighting regs say but if I do get any bother it's easy enough to disconnect the inner ones.
Shouldn't be an issue, the MR2 has dim dips plus seperate sidelight units in the bumper from the factory.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I've got 4 front sidelights as well.
Well seeing as nowhere local could supply flux-cored MIG wire at less than extortionate prices, I abandoned the welding and ordered some online. I'll finish off when it turns up.
So instead I busied myself with the battery tray and washer bottle tray. Both these areas are notorious for corroding and allowing water in which then rots out the floors and chassis rails.
First up, the washer bottle tray. Out with the bottle and this is what we have. Not too bad but in need of attention to stop future rot.
After a bit of action with the heatgun and gasket scraper - I don't want that nasty sticky soundproofing holding water in this area like a sponge:
Wire wheel in a drill to take it back to bare metal where needed and apply some Bilt Hamber to bust any remaining corroded areas:
And finished off with a nice few coats of underbody sealant
Moving across to the battery tray. Once again, pretty sound:
Clean it off and treated exactly the same as the other side:
Replaced all the crumbling seam sealer with gutter + drainpipe sealant which I have been using as a seam sealer for years with excellent results! Then boshed on a topcoat and lacquer. Not overly tidy but it's only a battery tray after all:
All sorted:
Poured litres of water onto both sides and checked in the cabin...... NO water ingress Exactly the result I was hoping for.
Cleaned the car up and took her for some proper pics but will post those later
So instead I busied myself with the battery tray and washer bottle tray. Both these areas are notorious for corroding and allowing water in which then rots out the floors and chassis rails.
First up, the washer bottle tray. Out with the bottle and this is what we have. Not too bad but in need of attention to stop future rot.
After a bit of action with the heatgun and gasket scraper - I don't want that nasty sticky soundproofing holding water in this area like a sponge:
Wire wheel in a drill to take it back to bare metal where needed and apply some Bilt Hamber to bust any remaining corroded areas:
And finished off with a nice few coats of underbody sealant
Moving across to the battery tray. Once again, pretty sound:
Clean it off and treated exactly the same as the other side:
Replaced all the crumbling seam sealer with gutter + drainpipe sealant which I have been using as a seam sealer for years with excellent results! Then boshed on a topcoat and lacquer. Not overly tidy but it's only a battery tray after all:
All sorted:
Poured litres of water onto both sides and checked in the cabin...... NO water ingress
Exactly the result I was hoping for.Cleaned the car up and took her for some proper pics but will post those later
Soldato
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- 2 Mar 2004
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Great stuff.......looks a proper job!
Get the nasty feeling I'm going to be getting intimate with welding soon - still, it's a great skill to have and saves so much aggro and money. Top work!
Get the nasty feeling I'm going to be getting intimate with welding soon - still, it's a great skill to have and saves so much aggro and money. Top work!
As does the MX-5
I'm still not very good at it but I am getting better with practice. First lesson I have learnt is that solid shiny metal is MUCH easier to weld to than scrappy dirty steel. Cut out more than you need to or you will just blow holes everywhere!
Got the floor done on the other side, as I say, my welding still has a long way to go and my little Clarke gasless welder isn't the best but I seem to have made a passable job of it (I hope!).
It's definitely very solid anyway, tested with the lump hammer
Now all sealed up and painted and the same from the underneath. Hopefully that will keep her roadworthy for another year or two...
Polished her up and took some beauty shots:
Next up - find a replacement rear bumper, put the carpet back in, find some new door rubbers and rebuild the brake calipers.
Man of Honour
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- 5 Jun 2003
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Still deciding on whether or not you'll do much more to her?