Uh oh! I found rust

[dazsir]

Hi guys, yet again I come respectfully before you for wisdom!

FIRSTLY!!!! Right, had a fab weather day - so I could get underneath and have a good poke about, there has been one or two welding jobs on the underneath at the rear sill, which has had small plates welded across some holes, it appears that the rust was cut out, but I spotted one or two bits and saved them (hopefully) with a good old wire brush and some Kurust.  My question here is, how much welding can be done before the car is a wreck? Naturally I want to keep this old girl running and wonder what is the maximum amount of welding - ie can nearly all of the floor-pan be cut out and replaced or is that impossible?

SECONDLY!!!!!  I was having a poke about and took the rear seats out to give them a really good clean, and I came across a large pool of water between the two small bulkheads (one behind front seat and the where the rear rises up) - apparently the plastic grommets (x4) had begun to perish and water was getting in.  To compound the problem the sponge of the seats had soakes up the water and had begun to rust the inside of the rear arches - which leads me to ask are these a structural feature or are they just part of a larger box section?

THIRDLY!!!!  One of the plastic grommets has a wire running through it which had rusted, what is this?  I repaired the connection and was drawing about 12V through it (checked with a multimeter)  I am curious because the fuel guage does not work, and still doesnt after the repair.  The reverse lights are not working either!

Please help me!  Much appreciated

[MikeLMR]

if you have enough time or money you can replace just about everything with new metal ... theres not a lot that can\'t be replaced or repaired with enough time and effort. Its just ends up being a case of is it worth it or should I find a new car.

As for the rust in the inner arches, this is a VERY common problem, that area is structural as the leading arms for the rear suspension mount withing 12" of that area and if you look on the outside (in the rear arch) you will see a reinforcing plate thats tied into the mounting for the suspension. The double skinned metal is probably the reason why it rots out on 95% of the 1st gens in the \'rusty\' parts of the world.


can\'t think what the wire is for, +12v suggests that it isn\'t for the fuel gauge ... possibly for the fuel pump ?

[dazsir]

Thanks for that, I presume good old blighty is as we say "Rusty" I also guess that if I check where you say and scrape back some of the underseal that I might see the famous brown metal we so like to see!

Many thanks again.