Rust problem

paint it with anything you like, the rust will soon return. spraying inside the sills with waxoyl will give the longest protection.

mrcheerful . ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Spraying inside the sills with waxoyl several years ago might have.

The only thing to do now is to cut the rotten bits out and weld 'em up.

Are the sills structural on the Escort?

On an eight year old Scort? You have too much time on your hands!

If it was mine, I'd slap on some underseal to hide the rust, then just use it until it falls apart.

With a monocoque (is that spelling right?) chassis like nearly every other car on the road, I'd say yes. They are.

Sell it. Ford Escorts are shit. It sounds like it'll fail the next MOT on rust.

Depresion (blank@128.0.0.1) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Of course.

Anyway - even if it was a separate chassis, they'd still be a fail because of proximity to seatbelt mounts.

Willy Eckerslyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, because I'm not daft enough to own an aging Scrote.

And - even if I did - I'm certainly not daft enough to do anything but scrap it. Which I did very nearly suggest as the only appropriate solution, but decided to be helpful instead.

Personally, I find it more helpful to tell people what I'd do in their situation rather than make suggestions that I then admit they'd be daft to follow. But, each to his own, innit.

It's difficult to put a stop to rust in that area. Strip it down to bare metal beyond the actual visible rust so there's nothing but good clean metal. Assess the damage and whether it needs any welding. At that stage you'll probably have an engine, wheels, interior and glass left. ;-) Get some epoxy based rust inhibiting paint, not the usual cellulose stuff. Ask at a decent car shop- they should be able to help you out. It's extremely durable and I've yet to find anything better for treating floor or sills etc. Paint the bare areas and allow to harden. Recoat if necessary. Get some liquid waxoyl, preferably the kit with the long tubes etc. If there aren't already any factory holes where you can access the interior cavity of the sill you'll need to drill one or more yourself (check the instructions that come with Waxoyl)- enough so you can get waxoyl into the sill and cover all of it inside. IIRC usually one hole at whichever end is easiest is enough. From distant memory- the tube is pushed right to the end of the sill, the spraying is started and the tube drawn slowly back to the hole and out. Make sure the rim of the hole you drilled is coated with waxoyl, primer or silicone gasket compound etc. before fitting covers or it'll rust.

When the primer is absolutely dry, cover the repair with waxoyl based underseal.

All this should retard the rusting for a few hours until it sets in again ;-)

Dave

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions.

The annoying thing is that the car is truly in excellent condition apart from this - no rust anywhere else on the body and has obviously been waxed, polished and looked after all its life.

I'm still not clear if the strip of metal hanging down at the very base of the car are the sills themselves, because the area directly under the doors is completely rust free, as far as I can determine. (Not very good with cars, me!)

Anyway, thanks for the help.

Evan

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When did it last pass an MOT? If it was a month or two back, it's unlikely the rust's gone that far (though it is a Ford, so you never know).

Had a similar problem on an old Cortina once. Bashed the sills in and had someone weld on some over sills. Waxoil on the inside and paint and undercoat on the outside. You can't use the original (and crap) jacking points but the result was ok.

Doki ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Hmmm. Assumptions being made about the MOT, I fear. Especially if it was an "MOT it to sell it" ticket...

Ahh the seams - common to have surface rust here on even quite new fords.....

If it hasn't yet spread to the sills/floorpan you should be OK. You might get away with rubbing down and painting with hammerite...

Thanks very much. You learn a new term every day :-)

I th> > Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions.

Thanks very much. You learn a new term every day :-)

I th> > Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions.