In the eighteen months or so the car has been on the road the bodywork has deteriorated quite badly, with signs of rust coming up along the top of the windscreen frame, along the rear wing repair sections and numerous spots of corrosion looking like they might push through the paint. In addition to this, the drivers side sill was not put on correctly, giving poor gaps all around. Oh how I wish I knew more back then when I bought it.
In a bit more detail, the front of the roof has obviously had a fair bit of rust in it, meaning that it has been repaired, but not very neatly with varying thickness's of filler and was not sealed off properly, hence the rust starting to come through again.
Both inner rear wheel arches need replacing and there are dubious quantities in the outer arches.
The top of the windscreen surround looks to have been re-modelled as the curvature has been lost, probably replaced with flat sheet.
Both sills have been fitted too far back, not so much of a problem, but one side was also fitted way out of line of the door, see pic above.
It seems that when the sills and floor was replaced on the drivers side they did not bother to check the door gap, so that side will always be too small.
In addition to this there are numerous small patches of rust starting to bubble up through the paint
If it was just one or two of the above problems I would not have been so concerned, but I am not sure if it would still be economic to try and repair this body. It's not going to fall apart or fail an MOT in the next year or two, but I rather be prepared and catch it before it catches me.
Both inner rear wheel arches need replacing and there are dubious quantities in the outer arches.
The top of the windscreen surround looks to have been re-modelled as the curvature has been lost, probably replaced with flat sheet.
Both sills have been fitted too far back, not so much of a problem, but one side was also fitted way out of line of the door, see pic above.
It seems that when the sills and floor was replaced on the drivers side they did not bother to check the door gap, so that side will always be too small.
In addition to this there are numerous small patches of rust starting to bubble up through the paint
If it was just one or two of the above problems I would not have been so concerned, but I am not sure if it would still be economic to try and repair this body. It's not going to fall apart or fail an MOT in the next year or two, but I rather be prepared and catch it before it catches me.
All this makes me want to get one of Graham's T6 bodyshells, but at the moment it would cost too much. So that leaves me with a couple of other options, get another shell, with the risk of finding equally shoddy repairs already carried out on it or get mine repaired. I'm warming to the idea of finding a less molested body to restore and modify myself gradually over the next year or so in readiness to swap over as this will give me the opportunity to do some of my modifications a bit more neatly.
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