Defender corrosion question

Well its only rust, it is not as if you were dealing with some monocoque c*ck up.

You could probably stuff old newspapers under there and pass an MOT.

It is really the chassis that matters, If you want a temporary repair you can rivit bits of tin can in, or use fibreglass matting or whatever, even welding is not going to last forever.

It really is a question of what you want out of it and what you can either do yourself or afford.

Having purchased a total rust bucket disguised with filler, I have found it is better to know what you are dealing with rather to have it hidden, and there is nothing out there that is not quietly rotting away in secret places

Worth bearing in mind, however, that corrosion rules for "prescribed areas" still apply, i.e. within 300mm of steering column mounts, pedal box and brake servo mounts, seat belt mounts etc etc, even though it is a separate chassis. Body to chassis mounts are only a fail if there is sufficient corrosion affecting a number of mounting points to the extent that the body is no longer secure on the chassis. Badger.

Funny you should say that I was at the autojumble/blizzard at Garstang on sunday and there is a guy doing replacement footwells ( I was looking at his Disco inner wing bits) If you want his email I got his card which is somewhere in the misc file. Derek

Do you have anyone else around that can go look at it with you... I wouldn't say that it is impossible that there is no more rot on the vehicle, but a vehicle that age that is showing significant rot in one place is likely to be hiding it in others too.

Bottom of doors? Can you peek behind the rear door trim to see if the door is cracked? rear cappings OK? top hinge area on bulkhead inside and out?

If the above are OK, and the rear crossmember (use magnet on rear crossmember to detect filler) then rest assured, the problem is probably spilled brake fluid that has cleaned the paint off and allowed the rot in. But best thing to do is get a second opinion from someone who knows 90s/110s in your area, they can confirm this.

Regards

William MacLeod

It can be all very deceptive until it comes to the crunch (literally) I had a dumb iron that was rotting away and gave me more of a crush zone at the front than I expected when some miscreant rammed it one night.

Mind you it was still drivable albeit difficult to steer and you can't say that of many other vehicles.

Yes obviosly there are some vital bits of bulkhead you need, but you don't really need a floor do you so long as you have somewhere to put your feet :) trouble with fibre glass as a repair is it lasts longer than what it is attached to. I only turned to it in desperation and poverty. But then I am not driving any concours rivet counters car.

At risk of starting an argument, Gary (our machanic) has just done his MOT refresher, and apparently the wording is something along the lines of "should failure occur then if the steering or brakes are compromised then it's a fail" now. He actually asked the question "What about the middle of a Defender crossmember being badly corroded, as in not there". The reply was that it could pass an MOT - the fact that you could hitch a 3.5 trailer up to it and cause a really good accident doesn't count.

Richard

Kind of like if it fails on the doors shutting securely, take the doors off put them in the back and re MOT it :)

of course an MOT can only proceed on what is immediatly apparant, you are not yet allowed to take a hammer to the cross members to see if they disintegrate.

Click on the footwells and doorpillars links for images of the likely repairs that **MAY** be required.. at least it'll give you an idea.

If your still interested get a quote to have it all fixed by an independant, should give you some bargaining power.

Lee

Lee I was looking at the repair section for J Lo when you were doing the bulkhead hinge was the repair piece stepped or did you butt weld it against the bulkhead Derek ( currently disco-usted at his progress viewing motors)

Derek uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Butt welded and ground flush. I can't remember but it was either JLO or Percy, one of the two that had absouloutely no filler to make good the repair (to the naked eye, I'm a bit fernickerty about the finish). All using a gasless mig with the gassless wire (sounds obvious but it'll do both gasless and gassed IYSWIM) The heavy stuff I use a Arc for but purely because the Migs running out of steam on heavy chassis work. Lots and lots of dressing with the grinder to get it just right before committing to the weld stage, plenty of tack welds and away you go.

Lee

Why did the juxtaposition of 'J Lo' and 'butt welding' get me all of a dither?!

GRAEME ALDOUS, Yorkshire