To all estate owners...

[Poodle]

Check your NSR arch. I know it's a known problem area, but it won't generally get picked up on MOT and it has the potential to be highly dangerous since it rusts out around the seatbelt mounts, so check it yourself! I knew mine was an issue since i had a look and promptly poked a hole in it a few months ago, but closer inspection revealed a much worse case of rot than i expected:

   

By the time i had cleaned up the area and gone back to metal thick enough to weld on to i was left with this:

   

You can't see from the picture, but i've had to extend the patch out underneath as well to rebuild a bit of the arch, could have done even more tbh. I expect the area around the seatbelt to be a lot worse, will probably need to totally rebuild the mounting points from scratch. 

The sooner you check and find the damage, the cheaper the repair will be, once it spreads into compound curves, mounting points and the like it's a total bitch to work and will probably write the car off in terms of cost. If it's that bad it's probably best to do a plate repair and just remove the rear seats for good. Checking is easy - get it jacked up on the NSR corner and take the wheel off, then get in there and get aggressive with a screwdriver lol. you'll find the worst of it up near the top of the arch, as you can see above.

[bashbarnard]

Yeah mine had a little on as well. Had to weld mine


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[Nexus]

Thanks for the photos, will keep it in mind next time I'm messing around in that area.

[Uberderv]

Just thought I'd dig up an oldish thread because I have just bought an arch liner thinking I might be lucky but alas...... after a good splashing in the puddles I decided to lift the boot carpet to look for evidence of rust. What I found was water and bits of rusty looking metal coming from behind the plastic trim 

 As photobucket is a load of wank I can't look at other peoples rusty holes, anyone else got any pics, tips etc.....

[bashbarnard]

Just thought I'd dig up an oldish thread because I have just bought an arch liner thinking I might be lucky but alas...... after a good splashing in the puddles I decided to lift the boot carpet to look for evidence of rust. What I found was water and bits of rusty looking metal coming from behind the plastic trim 

 As photobucket is a load of wank I can't look at other peoples rusty holes, anyone else got any pics, tips etc.....

ive welded a fair few now man. They vary from needing a full inner rear arch to little holes. just have a nose. I welded lus up reecntly and done a little video have a nose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-w2zb283pk&t=14s

[Uberderv]

Cheers Bashbarnard I wanna whip the covers back but once I see the rot I'll need to sort it asap. Welding isn't the problem it's the prep time, 70 mile a day work commute = car needed all the time.

[Uberderv]

Think it will be OK with a lick of Hammerite?  

[Uberderv]

After a bit of a poke

[bashbarnard]

Standard. Get the welder out. Would offer to do it for you if you were local


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[Uberderv]

Going to get some gas and fire up the old Mig, got a liner on there now so fingers crossed it should never happen again once fixed. Took the seat belt etc... off so at least no one will sit there till its done.

[Ben]

Not just an estate problem my old 5 door ph2 had a huge rust hole!

[pug306driver]

Our estate was similar, but welded 2 to 3 years ago.

I have been using the mig spot weld method for years now and works well with a 7mm hole, 6 being too small and 8 being a bit too large, material thickness dependant. I slightly countersink the holes so no jagged edges of the holes and a good fit for the repair piece.

I have been using mig spot welded "inner plate" but you must remove the swarf and ever so slightly countersink the holes on the "inner side". This means that the hole seen in the green video, has inner plates protruding into the hole area, with a plate made to fit the hole.  The plate can then be drilled to mig spot weld to the inner plate, as well as welded on the edges. More work yes, but a better repair imho, and stronger. Repair piece fits flush to original level.

No issues MOT wise, so far.

[Uberderv]

Our estate was similar, but welded 2 to 3 years ago.

I have been using the mig spot weld method for years now and works well with a 7mm hole, 6 being too small and 8 being a bit too large, material thickness dependant. I slightly countersink the holes so no jagged edges of the holes and a good fit for the repair piece.

I have been using mig spot welded "inner plate" but you must remove the swarf and ever so slightly countersink the holes on the "inner side". This means that the hole seen in the green video, has inner plates protruding into the hole area, with a plate made to fit the hole.  The plate can then be drilled to mig spot weld to the inner plate, as well as welded on the edges. More work yes, but a better repair imho, and stronger. Repair piece fits flush to original level.

No issues MOT wise, so far.

  What sort of spacing between the inner plate spot welds? So if I'm understanding this you spot weld a plate inside the arch then fit a plate which is an exact fit in the hole and fully weld.?

 Not going to be sorting mine till November probaby so good to get a plan, what do you do with the backing plater for the belt mount?

[pug306driver]

Basically yes. the "good fit repair piece" can be mig spotted, to hold, then seam welded, to original steel, to inner piece and good fit repair piece all in one op.  You should not have any "blow thru " holes to attend to and minimum grind back. Practise and get it perfect for your app and no grind back needed at all !!


Will do a mock up and post some pics, but every inch, even double row aircraft style.......18swg, bit difficult to cut and bend but strong and easier to weld.

I assume you have a sturdy bench with a good vice. Get a good pair of shears, relatively easy to cut ( for me at least, porrage and some years experience ) to line.

Some stout angle iron pieces for bending etc.

I am making ( or I was until the almera died etc... ) a metal  folding "clamp" like I used to have access to, 10mm x 75 x 75 by 4 foot angle iron, 2 pieces, clamped flat and 5 holes bored to take tow bar ball size bolts, and one iron welded to vertical welded to 2 old car wheels.

So undo nuts sufficient to slide in sheet and clamp. The upper surface of the angle is "true" and level, so a "true and level to size fold can be made via correct size hammer and finisher etc.. Its not rocket science, a really handy clamp.

So bent sections can be made 3ft 6inch long, and say 4 foot wide/deep ( a good working height for me ) max, so make folds etc for body panels and sill repair pieces for the rustbucket of a fiesta.

Almera sill £70 each + vat, sod that !!

Max length I could make with small angle irons and bench vice was 15inch long and not very wide/deep.

From memory, sill vertical 15mm, 90 degree bend then  4cm wide, kick up 45 degrees ish x 4mm, kick down back to  horizontal to allow for fold around curved part of sill and weld line about half way up sill.

Some horizontal repair bits where also needed to beef up sill and have good metal to weld corresponding flat area of outer repair piece to weld to, as well as some vertical inner sill wall etc.....

Remember, mig or arc welding ( or any other type of welding for that matter ) is mostly all about prep, no paint, no rust, no filler, no seam sealer,  no underseal etc.., no volcano !!    Machine set up and practise is equally as important and always have a minder for fire watch !