Weld, or reshell??

[James N]

Hi everyone,
I have a 1990 FC turbo II, which is pretty nasty and rotten. Was just wondering what you all think would be the best plan here? I can weld, but i\'m not confident attacking this thing at all, its pretty bad..
I\'ve seen a couple of shells on here, but dont know how much i\'m likely to be looking at.
So, do you all think it would be best to find someone who could weld it for me, or should i reshell it? Any advice would be good. Anyone got any idea what the going rate for a decent shell is?
Cheers :WaveBye
James

[kimducati]

James,
The problem is that any shell you find is likely to be rusty - they\'re all at least 16 - 17 years old at least.
I would vote for restoring your own - assuming you\'ve got something to weld to.
I\'m currently doing a \'92 FC Turbo 2 Cab which is now 90% done - only one inner sill and inner wheelarch to do (hopefully next week) before getting it MOT\'d. A lot of what looked like bad rust was only bad surface pitting once the underseal was scraped off and the metal cleaned up - maybe the same for you?
Good luck anyway.
 
Kim.

[James N]

Kim,
Thats exactly the problem i have, there is very very little to weld too.. it definitely isnt surface rust, as its actually a bloody great hole. Well lots of holes to be honest  
I have my Skyline to drive so there isnt a rush, but it really is a huge amount of work.
James

[Bob Monkhouse]

My advice is-Don\'t weld it!!!! If its that bad then re shell it.I\'ve done quita a lot of welding cars in the past and now only do it for me or my sons. Once you start you literally don\'t stop because to me there is only one way of doing welding on a car and that(though it might sound like the bleeding obvious), is to do it right and that means a thorough chopping out, prepping and welding it so you can\'t see its been done. If you pay someone then they will just patch it and clag it with underseal and,if its as bad as you think(and once you get grinding it, it will be a lot worse than your original estimate), it will cost you a fortune. Have a look on a thread that I put up titled \'Coming soon, the reason why I hate RX7\'s\'. Scroll down and look at the Firebird I am doing for my lads,if I was asked to do that again I would say no, I must have put 200hours in so far and the first thing I did was sandblast it to get it back to some decent steel to weld to. When I\'ve finished it I might put a thread up titled \'Why I hate Pontiac Firebirds\' and then another \'Why I hate RX4s\'. You see these aren\'t even my cars!!!!!!Bob.

[pdtaylor18]

If they were your cars then you would love to hate them!!!  I hate anyones elses car that I have worked on especially when it draws a drop of my blood.

[Bob Monkhouse]

Oh, I\'ve spilt more than a few drops of blood over these things alright, not to mention the burns, bits in my eyes, smashed finger ends, pulled muscles, lumps on myhead etc etc. S\'funny though, I don\'t hate my Mustang anymore (all the hard grafting is finished) and I can look at Grants RX7 and feel pleased with it at long last, now its finished and back on the road-well, it would be if the weather was fit to take it out!  
      One thing I would say to James is this- Take the wheels off one side and jack the other up as far as you can get it, 2-3feet. Make sure you put some strong crates or similar underneath it before going under there-safety first-and start with a stiff paint scraper or an old wood chisel and scrape the paint/rust off round all the seams. If it keeps going through then it\'s not going to be worth the trouble. Me and our Grant have just chopped up a rare Elford FB for the engine and axle, it broke my heart to do such a thing to a rare car but even I thought it too much work  to save,good luck if you do decide to weld it(and you do need to be a good welder to do such a job), cos it sounds like you\'ll need it!!!!Bob.

[James N]

Yeah, i can weld fairly well, but i\'ve never taken on a job this big before so i\'d rather reshell..
Found a cab shell, but really cant decide. I much prefer the coupe, but i\'d also like to save the car...

[grinder]

how bad are we talking - have you checked out the rust pics on my web site .. see sig

[TiddlesRX7]

I\'ve just had the drivers side done and the passenger side patched up. Cost me £250 for it to be chopped out ground back welded and undersealed. I did remove all the interior for the chap though otherwise it would have cost more. It may or may not be worth it but I love my FC and to me me £250 was worth it.

[Bob Monkhouse]

My advice to anyone having welding done is not to let the buggers clag it over with underseal, on classic cars you should insist on it being pepped up with a good anti corrosion paint(zinc oxide or similar), and then covered with stone chip. I hate underseal as it covers a multitude of sins and is a .... if you ever need to weld anywhere near it. Stone chip is a bit easier to remove and looks neater.