£350 saxo vtr track day project?(Rotting under floor pan)

[macca6]

Hi guys.

Me and my brother found a cheap vtr 1997 with 100k on clock.
We got the car for 350 and bought it over the net without seeing as we thought we can fix it up or if things are bad we can sell for parts.
Any way the car runs fine.


We then later decided to have a look around for rust and corrosion. we found the usual places such as rear arches and also under the ecu and fuse box.

we then looked underneath to find it looking pretty bad.

Mechanically me and my brother have no prolems but body work and chassis we dont have much of an idea of how bad things are and can they be repaired.


The main area is drivers side under the floor pan. next to the sill.
It looks like a box section that is now complety gone through rust.


here are the pics. can anyone give me an idea if this can be fixed. i have access to a mig welder.

cheers.


http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0521.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0592.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0595.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0596.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0598.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0598.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0600.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0603.jpg


As you can see from the pictures the floor pan is good metal and solid.
I can only think that at some point someone has used the box looking section to jack the car up and then it has simply rotten away.
Would i be right in saying the section rotten away is the chassis arm?
Can this simply be replaced with a new section? Could i make some plate up to weld back in.

I would like to use this car to get us going on track days. we will also be towing it so it will not have mot or tax, so does not need to be mot worthing.

we just want to make sure its solid.

If the answer is yes we can do it then we can get things rolling.

otherwise it will be stripped and sold for parts.

Again is it too much work and should we look for something else?


cheers carl and liam.

(Track day novices!)

[MiniGibbo]

No floors gone id recommend you try either silicone (make sure it's white) or duck tape (silver ideally)..

[macca6]

the floor of the car is ok. next to the sill is suppose to be a leg then a square section that has totally came off the car.

[Nik_L]

Tbf, that looks like its been in a smash aswell.

Is that plates that have been welded on on the inside rear strut area??

[macca6]

ye plates have been welded in from a previous time where there was rust in the arches.
it doesnt appear to have been in a crash.

[Nik_L]

it doesnt appear to have been in a crash.

Headlights, grille and bonnet says otherwise.

[macca6]

we started to take the head lights and grill off. a piece of the grill has snapped off.

There is also a small crack in the bumper. that is all

[devilsadvocate]

Once rust gets bad enough to need a fuck off plate welded on the arch you are just prolonging the inevitable by trying to treat any new rust patches.

Can pickup a shell for peanuts these days so why mess about welding a rotten one.

[0rang3peel]

anything can be fixed dude, that doesn't look too bad imo

[macca6]

I just dont have a clue about body work that is the problem, alot of people have said many diffrent things, what exactly is the area that we are looking at? is it structual to the car, or is it just a case of cleaning it up and boxing is back in?

[blackie_2k5]

anything can be fixed dude, that doesn't look too bad imo

this

for a track day car i wouldnt worry about it, can easy repaor it to a safe standard

for an MOT its a diff matter :p

as that box section you speak of is the chassis :y:

[macca6]

so if i was to cuttill i find good metal then box it back in the car should be strong enough for track usage?

[f13sta]

cut out the rotten part and make you own chassis leg. it's just a 'c' section of steel mate.
hadrians' did a universal chassis section unsure if they do now though.

get some 18 gague steel. bend it in a vice to make 3/4 of a box (same size as original chassis) put some lip on there ( to weld to.) add some triangel strengtheners into the box section before you weld it to the car and will be mint again.
some rust killer on the rusty bits.
some anti-corrosive primer.
top coat.
3m wax shit stuff thats like stone chip but not overpaintable.

[macca6]

cheers fellas you have no idea how good that info is and especially to you fiesta very detailed.

I will be making a proper project thread soon and thanks again guys.

[stevo67]

Hi guys.

Me and my brother found a cheap vtr 1997 with 100k on clock.
We got the car for 350 and bought it over the net without seeing as we thought we can fix it up or if things are bad we can sell for parts.
Any way the car runs fine.


We then later decided to have a look around for rust and corrosion. we found the usual places such as rear arches and also under the ecu and fuse box.

we then looked underneath to find it looking pretty bad.

Mechanically me and my brother have no prolems but body work and chassis we dont have much of an idea of how bad things are and can they be repaired.


The main area is drivers side under the floor pan. next to the sill.
It looks like a box section that is now complety gone through rust.


here are the pics. can anyone give me an idea if this can be fixed. i have access to a mig welder.

cheers.


http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0521.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0592.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0595.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0596.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0598.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0598.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0600.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq230/tosh91/IMG_0603.jpg


As you can see from the pictures the floor pan is good metal and solid.
I can only think that at some point someone has used the box looking section to jack the car up and then it has simply rotten away.
Would i be right in saying the section rotten away is the chassis arm?
Can this simply be replaced with a new section? Could i make some plate up to weld back in.

I would like to use this car to get us going on track days. we will also be towing it so it will not have mot or tax, so does not need to be mot worthing.

we just want to make sure its solid.

If the answer is yes we can do it then we can get things rolling.

otherwise it will be stripped and sold for parts.

Again is it too much work and should we look for something else?


cheers carl and liam.

(Track day novices!)

Thats a common place for a saxo to rot mate,where you have those,what look like pre-cut holes.These are in fact drain holes which get blocked & the water has knowhere to run hence rust forming.From the pics it looks like it can be welded.(just hope you`re good at welding mate):drink:

[macca6]

Lol I have never welded in my life but i wanna learn and have a go if I'm
Still crap I have a few people who are welders by trade so I have some good back ups!

[Gandi699]

Contact a local welder, a couple of hours work and they'll nail that plus it'll be neater and cheaper than doing it yourself but I cant blame you for having a go!

[macca6]

we had thought of that but the car has no way to be transported to a garage and i couldnt get a price for work till they seen the car. so it would mean hiring someone to pick the car up getting work done then back again. To be honest we want to try it ourselves first as me and my brother dont have much knowledge to do with this sort of thing and want to learn so if next time we can be able to do it ourselves.

the whole point in this car is to learn from it and hopefully get it on track and have a bit of fun. once we feel confident and want to go further doing track days we will move onto another car.

[Gandi699]

Get a mobile welder out? if you are in the wolverhampton/birmingham area I know of a good guy who comes to out to you and does it for a fair price. If you arent there are always people like him knocking about. Nice to see someone getting stuck in, if you dont know then hands on learning cant be beaten!

[macca6]

well i live in the north east in stockton on tees near middlesbrough. so dont know anyone who is a mobile welder. i will be making a full project thread when we get started, cant wait to get stuck in, not sure on timescale of things. its all money that will slow us down as the house needs work and that comes first!

ideally by end of summer we can get a track day in!

[macca6]

i think hadrian still do universal legs any idea as to what size i need?

[xxo0pko0xx]

get a grinder and grind ALL the.rust off even if it goes through.
once you reach a solid part where theres no more rust get a sheet of steel and tac weld it in.place
once its in properly give it a good weld and then completly cover your bottom.with underseal. this will help prevent it happening again
for extra secruity weld aroubd the inside off the plate aswell from the inside

[xxo0pko0xx]

you could always go to a scrappy, cut off thr lebgth of chasis leg you need and weld it on. if you grind the welds down and completly cover it i doubt the tester will take much notice and just look for holes

[macca6]

cool thanks for the reply i was thinking of fabbing some plate up but might be vwey tricky to get the shape of it. Might go have a look at a scrappy somewhere

[shell-vt]

to be fair is it worth saving,,, by the time you spenf ££££££££ on welding you could of purchesed a good shell.. aly has one with cage..