Need opinions - rust discovered!

[Chumbaside]

Right, I need your opinions and you advice!

I noticed my nearside sill had bubbled, so thought I'd investigate further...





Surprised to see it this bad, no evidence from inside, no foam blocks (I removed them) and a copious covering of Dynax!

So I thought I'd check underneath the rear bumper...




















Now, I have a mate who can help me fabricate the sills but the rear quarter really worries me. I know that Toyota sold the rear quarter panel (no doubt at great expense!) so this could all be put right, but is it worth it?

Options as I see it:

1. Repair and keep
2. Break it
3. Re-shell it (finding a rust-free shell could be trick though)
4. Turn it into a TRD replica!

So simple question, what would you do?

-Mark[/img]

[Rob]

Having been in the same position and spanking 1.5k on both sills, inner rear arches and rear turret rust I would cut your losses.

If I didn't have sentimental attachment to to mine I would have just got a newer better example.

The question is, as the rot is so well hidden, are all mr2s harbouring this problem?

[thomp1983]

Voted repair, mine was considerably worse and i fixed it. You need to take a wire wheel to it on a grinder and find out where it stops, the rear quartes tend to be from boot floor level down, you could cut those sections from a breaker, i patched mine.

You couldn't do a trd rep without fixing that lot so your options are fix or reshell.



That shows how much i cut out of each side, the arch repair was there before, mine hand also gone straight across the rear where it meets the boot floor

[Herts66]

Sills from the group buy coming up and rear quarters modify and patch.

If there is no more you should be OK.

[mark_buk2003]

"Vote repair" if you know some who can do work? Its not end of world! If the rest of the car is good/solid and mechanically good. mine has gone in corner of boot/inside rear arch the same as yours? Wonder if this is common area??? Im gonna get mine sorted in summer

[Chumbaside]

Thanks for the responses, really helpful and encouraging!

Chatted to my friend earlier who offered to do the sills and he voted repair too

Now on the search for a breaker with a good near side rear quarter in the Birmingham area...

-Mark

[strawman]

Sad to see that on any 2
personally I would buy a good uk late spec and swap all yer bits over.
I see your from Sutton , not seen you about I'm in new oscott matey

[Chumbaside]

I take the '2 off the road over winter (ironically) so not been around for a while.

The problem I have with a late UK is that it's just as likely to be rusty, especially as they were all T Bar or a Moonroof, so drains into the sill area! Thought about a later import, but I'm beginning to feel it's better the devil you know...

-Mark

[Rob]

The moon roof drains out of the quarter light vent, not into sills.

[rev3gtturbo]

Rev3 turbo car still performs very well against modern cars. So the other way to view it would be how much would you spend to get something reliable with similar performance without rust?

My old rev3 turbo had rusty sills and boot floor done for MOTs and when I eventually had the bodywork restored as part of a full respray there was a lot of hidden rust in the back end that all got sorted.

I think someone was going to get sills fabricated and do a group buy?

There are older classic cars that are still on the road and look great so you can be sure some owners think they are worth saving and enjoying.

[rev3gtturbo]

Watch the repeats of Wheeler Dealers on Quest tv channel if you need a bit of inspiration for having an old car refurbed.

[Chumbaside]

Definitely going down the "save it" route, it's far too good to give up on, rust not withstanding!

And I agree, what would I have to spend to get something with equivalent performance and fun factor? A lot more than putting this right...

I'm now looking at this as an opportunity to modify

I should edit my Poll to choose between Tom's, Border and AB Flug kits instead!

[masterbateson]

dont be to quick in deciding to save the car.

You need to go off what you find when you start poking holes in your car finding the rust and take a look at what you've cut out.

I did this with my old xjs, I started cutting out rust on what looked like a good solid example, the amount of rust and body work I ended up taking out and refabricating was ridiculous.

Looking back at it now, i wouldn't do it again.

I'd say spend a weekend doing an exploratory, cut out as much as possible to see where you stand and then make your decision.

If its bad news you can always salvage the good stuff as donor parts for a clean shell/car.

[Rob]

As I said before, think very carefully.

You will inevitably spend quite a lot of money on paint alone.

Then after its done you will find more that you didn't expect.

I would seriously invest the money in a tidy replacement car and swap your fun bits over.

You should only restore these cars at their current value if the difference between restoring and replacing is wider than it currently is.

I've been there over the last 2 years, it will make you doubt your judgement I promise.

If you have friends that work to a great standard of quality for cheap then that's a different kettle of fish.

[Chumbaside]

If you have friends that work to a great standard of quality for cheap then that's a different kettle of fish.

This is where I am extremely lucky. I have a mate whose company fabs stainless steel kitchens and who in his spare time restores cars. He also races, in fact he just converted a Fiesta ST to a Focus ST engine, turbo'd it and converted it to rear wheel drive - all in his garage! His fabricating skills are awesome, and best of all he's offered his skills for free

You're right, paint will cost but I almost look at that as a maintenance item on a 22 year old car. For £100 I can get the sill and lower quarter painted in 2-pack, I can thrown Dynax and stonechip at everything.

And I've just been offered a rust free shell (rear at least!) for patches

Got to be worth a shot, if for nothing other than the experience! I don't stand to lose a lot of money, just time. Being my hobby, I don't mind that bit of it at all

[SonicSW20]

I would seriously invest the money in a tidy replacement car and swap your fun bits over.

That's easier said than done.

If the car is otherwise excellent, then I would repair it. There's not much point looking at the economical side of it - if you're concerned about repair costs exceeding or coming close to the cost of the car, then you probably shouldn't have bought a ~20 year old turbo sports car.

[Rob]

I would seriously invest the money in a tidy replacement car and swap your fun bits over.

That's easier said than done.

If the car is otherwise excellent, then I would repair it. There's not much point looking at the economical side of it - if you're concerned about repair costs exceeding or coming close to the cost of the car, then you probably shouldn't have bought a ~20 year old turbo sports car.

Easy enough - for starters just get the seller to take photos of the usual problem areas. If they don't know how to remove the necessary trim to take the photo's then chances are the car is not tidy and has never been checked for rot, so walk away.

There are plenty of garage queens out there that have been garaged since being imported.

[Rob]

If you have friends that work to a great standard of quality for cheap then that's a different kettle of fish.

This is where I am extremely lucky. I have a mate whose company fabs stainless steel kitchens and who in his spare time restores cars. He also races, in fact he just converted a Fiesta ST to a Focus ST engine, turbo'd it and converted it to rear wheel drive - all in his garage! His fabricating skills are awesome, and best of all he's offered his skills for free

You're right, paint will cost but I almost look at that as a maintenance item on a 22 year old car. For £100 I can get the sill and lower quarter painted in 2-pack, I can thrown Dynax and stonechip at everything.

And I've just been offered a rust free shell (rear at least!) for patches

Got to be worth a shot, if for nothing other than the experience! I don't stand to lose a lot of money, just time. Being my hobby, I don't mind that bit of it at all

From what you have said above I change my stand point. Your mate sounds a legend - I wish I had a mate like that!

Go for it! Personally I would just chop the rear wells out of a solid shell and weld them in at a nice convenient point where the seams don't meet.

[Nails]

I would seriously invest the money in a tidy replacement car and swap your fun bits over.

That's easier said than done.

If the car is otherwise excellent, then I would repair it. There's not much point looking at the economical side of it - if you're concerned about repair costs exceeding or coming close to the cost of the car, then you probably shouldn't have bought a ~20 year old turbo sports car.

Easy enough - for starters just get the seller to take photos of the usual problem areas. If they don't know how to remove the necessary trim to take the photo's then chances are the car is not tidy and has never been checked for rot, so walk away.

There are plenty of garage queens out there that have been garaged since being imported.

yep I'd agree. Having owned 3 and none of them having any rust issues and then outrun went and bought a rust free one after a brief fling with a mk 1.5 and a welder.

looking at the design of them though a tintop is least at risk from tinworm.

[mr2garageswindon]

Defo repair it!! We dis a rev 1 which had almost identical corrosion. Car cost the customer £300 yet he loves it so much he got us to repair it then spanked money on brembos all round even though the old brakes were perfectly ok and a full service to top it off. Nitrous and a flame thrower exhaust is next on his shopping list.