Crusty Rusty

Progress has been made on my second day of rust repairs to my wifes Vitara. The passenger side is complete (except for gringing off the welds). The first photos show the inner sill repaied ready to accept the outer sill.

After test fitting the outer sill this was welded into place. It took forever to weld on due to my welder playing up. There is some sort of kink in the wire feed tube and all too often the wire gets caught and then rucks up after the feed rollers. To clear it you wire has to be cut and re fed into the hose. A real pain and also a waste of wire because you loose whats already in the hose each time. None the less after today I did manage to locate the part of the hose that is at fault and intend to fix that before my next round of welding on wednesday.

Back to the rust. The outer sill went on. Plug welds along the bottom and seam welded along the other edges. Please no comments on the quality of the welds because I will blame it on the welder all day long.

With that done, it only left the closing panel at the rear of the sill to be sorted. I made a card template then cut out a piece of steel the right shape folded it drilled it and Bob's your uncle.
With that done I thought it was about time I lifted the carpet to check the floor out as this was a bad area for rust on her last Vitara. Yes I know I should have removed the seat and carpet before welding but you know what I'm like. Besides I did remove the fuel tank for inspection (and safety) The fuel leak was traced to the fuel pump return line spout which had rusted off the tank meaning that excess fuel that should be going back in the tank was simply being poured over the top of it. This is also a common fault with rusty old Vitaras as I had to weld up her last one. Yes I know welding petrol tanks is a bad idea and I was worried while doing it. So this time I decided to buy a new fuel tank and be done with it. Once the old tank has been allowed to air for a while I may still weld it and sell it on (or keep it for her next one, ha ha).

Anyway, below the carpet I was greated by a few more holes. The worst of which was arounf the body mounting point. This is a multi layered area and is a pain to sort if all the layers are rusty. There are actually four layers of steel at this point. Although the picture does not tell a thousand words in this case, believe it or not this rust is good rust.

The picture above was obviously before, while the one below is obviously after.

The only other areas needing to be addressed were below the seat where a strengthening rib runs across the car and forms a water trap.

This is the same area after the repair.

All I have to do now is.

1 hope I have not buggered up the wiring to the rear of the car when I welded the sill closed.

1.5 Remove the rear bumper (to allow repairs to the rear arches) and hope there is not too much rust behind there.

2 cut out and fit the arch panel to the passenger side (when it arrives)

3 cut out the sill and arch on the drivers side.

4 fit the new petrol tank filler neck (ordered this today as it was rusted through)

5 redrill the pertol mountings as 3 out of 5 had to be cut off.

I'm sure glad I booked this week off work. Mind you I did book it off with the intention of working on my projects (A40 and MGB) but you know how it is, the wife buys a crap car and you spend your life fixing it up. Well at least thats what I end up doing anyway.

Tomorrow is an A40 day and I hope to get all the last minute jobs done ready for an MOT Thursday afternoon. Wish me luck, boy do I need some.