Steve - I sympathise, but I'm pretty confident you're making the right decision. You would be fighting a losing battle keeping the rust at bay, unless you spent a small fortune having it stripped and rebuilt properly

I think you should break the car - you'll get a good few quid for all the Plus bits

Alternatively, buy a straight, low mileage 20VT and transfer as much of the Plus as you can - that way, you'll be back on the road in a (reliable) Coupe pretty soon

I was desperate to keep my Sprinty, but the rust was taking hold and I couldn't see the sense in spending double the car's value just to keep it out of the scrappy - so it had to go.

Good luck in whatever direction you choose, but I have a feeling that a lightly-modded Coupe will be in your hands before very long

I had fairly well hidden rust which would not have been found without removing the inertia and external trim and the under seal.

I would be interested to see some pics of the rust, so I can have a good look at mine.

It hasn't changed as far as I know and still stands.

i'm off to JBT's monday to take a load of pics, i'll post up and see what you experts think. i have no desire to apportion any blame anywhere, just interested in how such "extensive" deterioration could have been missed just a few weeks ago

I'm in the same boat Steve

Check out my thread - I've added pics of my offside sill - this was a resounding immediate fail! lol

Gutted to read this thread and see you leaving the fold

Typical that this would happen just as I find the reason for you wearing purple at Coupé events you closet Duran Duran fan you! When Simon LeBon met the rest of the band and there is a referance made to the Purple Clothing he wore

I hope you find better luck with your new steed of choice, the Fiat adventure has not been good to you

Ah bad times Steve

The car looked lovely at Spa last year (even if it wasn't running right) so it seems such a waste of a beautiful motor when the tin worm strikes.

I guess there is a point you have to accept the losses and walk away

just a short post to say i've been to JBT's today to see the utter chaos that the underside of my car is! i was going to take pics but i was too shocked at the devastation this car has endured in it's 11 years.

there are some great people on this forum and in this community, and again some of the offers of help (almost all free of charge) has been touching. and because of this it's too tough to just walk away. having had a chat to JBT's welder who was there and assessing with JBT what the costs or repair might be compared to starting again, i've decided to give this car one very very last chance. i realise there will be people on here who will question my sanity in arriving at this decision and especially if they'd seen the state of it underneath. i agree, i DO think i'm nuts and will probably live to regret this decision as much as my bank manager will.

so, in a few weeks i'll be handing over a large wad of cash in return for a car that's been nothing but the deepest money pit i've ever known. over £20k spent up to now not including the purchase price......

finally (not so short a post after all, sorry) a massive thanks to JBT and his unswerving honesty, enthusiasm and help not to mention vast amounts of skill.

so i'm back......let the games re-commence!!

oh, and my excellent purple jumper WILL be seen at Spa

That's amazing news!

I would dearly like to see some pictures if possible at any point, I have always looked at yours with envious eyes as its such a bloody clean example from the outside, I think it could/has serve to save a lot of coupes, a wake up call that rust is becoming a real big problem.

Which ever which way, Good luck with the repair work and I hope it all works out

You're clinically insane.

Despite the massive amount of money that you've ploughed into this car, your commitment is to be admired. Well done. (I think )

Good news then Steve. Didn't see this thread, been caught up with other things. Hope things go well for you.

Fantastic Steve, and a great up to the community and all those genuine folk that have offered to help.

See you at Spa

Steve - your commitment is legendary Personally, I think you're barmy - you HAVE to walk away at some time, but somehow, I can appreciate why you're still throwing money at a car that's worth a quarter of what you've spent on it.

I was interested to see the piccies, but for now, can you describe what the corrosion issues are?

Good decision! Surprise, but a good decision nevertheless, you know what has been done to the car and can take steps to prevent further deterioration so you will have a long term coupé, just like mine

Nice one!

Just picking on this comment:




This is *one* of the reasons we no longer allow comments in Coupés For Sale adverts: we were getting loads of comments along the lines of "Great looking car" or "I've seen this car in the metal and it looks great" but no-one can really tell how badly the car has been affected by corrosion or repaired following corrosion or a collision, and it has happened that people have ended up buying on the glowing comments.......!

At least we don't have to put away the "Big Purple Joke Book"

I agree with what your saying Stan, Any car is pretty much a unknown enterty until probed with a screw driver and a set of ramps, and judging by his MOT pass even then its not a 100% sure bet

I think the extent of the damage has took every one off guard, unfortunately serves as a reminder shiny on the outside doesn't always mean shiny on the underside

Yes, and remember that an MOT tester is *not* allowed to dismantle any part of a vehicle to inspect it. Now think of the number of people on here who have posted horror pictures of what they've found when they've removed the rear quarter panel behind the Pininfarina badges.....

Now imagine some of the hiding places the coupé has, by design, for example, the wheel arches front and rear are hidden by plastic liners.

However, I stand by what I said before: if this was likely to be spotted by a tester and was going to be a safety issue within three months it should have been a fail, and an advisory if it would rear its head within six months. VOSA would be interested if this was structural corrosion and not detected when it should have been. Well worth the cost of a phone call.....

Still, glad that Steve has decided to give a coupé one more chance to breathe again. Hopefully the issue with throwing the belts has been sorted finally too?

The weather you have in the UK is not good for the Coupé.
I have a 14 years Coupé and no problem with rust

thanks for your support Nigel, much appreciated as always. in retrospect i wish i'd taken pics because, as they say, it paints a thousand words.

corrosion issues were on the floor beneath the rear seat area where there looks as though there should be draining plugs? they've all corroded off and replaced with something like 10 - 12 x 2cm holes of pure rust, some of these within a couple of cm of what i am told are guaranteed MOT failure sites. the compensator spring was rusted through and ganging down compltely immersed in rust. JBT (having been an MOT inspector in his past) was astounded it passed the MOT on 17th Feb this year. plenty of rust around the subframe and rear suspension and according to JBT's welder somewhere in the region of 48 hours welding.

other issues discovered were cracked alternator, unsecured brake pipes, some clips left undone/missing.....

i realise my "affection" for this car is probably on a par with a crack-cocaine addicts love for a high, but i don't seem able to leave it alone. i wish i understood why this is, as if ever a car was crying out for scrapping this is it!

@ stan - someone has suggested the cracked alternator could have contributed to the belts throwing themselves over the metaphorical cliff, another suggestion was a cracked engine mount....both suggestions from respected and knowledgeable people off here. to try and eradicate that i've asked JBT to fit his modified pulley which deflects a broken belt away from the cam-belt area (touching a rainforests's worth of wood here)!!!

so, the bank manager and me drew a big breath and said lets do it......he's as mad as me lol - but neither of us is as mad as zimpara

lucky boy! it is lovely over there but surely near the coast you must have rust issues? i'm flying into faro in september if you fancy giving me a lift to punta umbria?

Its crying not to be scrapped!!



That will be the cause of your belt issues then!

SPA wouldnt have been the same without you there mate!

i'll be there mate, senny dave threatened me if i didn't go

Good to hear you are sticking with it mate.

Especially since you are still going to make spa, which looks like its a cracking event.

Are you prepared to indicate (even roughly) what the cost of repair is? I feel it may be beneficial for people to know exactly the cost, when it goes un-noticed.

Ross

You cant ask that

Rumor has it that Proccy is pimping out Marco to help fund the bill. Put it this way... he wont be walking right for months

Steve - not wishing to scare you too much, but I strongly recommend you check the area where the boot floor meets the inner wheelarch - if you have ANY signs of rust inside the boot, you will probably require remedial work there too.

The trouble is that this section is where three panels join, and its an absolute nightmare to repair it properly. When I knew that my Sprinty had some rust bubbles in the boot, I spoke with CarlT about it. Out of all the Coupe specialists, I would regard him as the most knowledgeable when it comes to knowing about Coupe rust issues - he's pretty much seen everything that its possible to see on a rusty Coupe.

When my Coupe was stripped, we also found the front wheelarches had holes behind the plastic liners - not pretty

However, the bit that really killed it for me was the the base of the B pillar was bubbling (inside the door reveal) - once it was stripped, I hit it with a small hammer and it went straight through

I hope it can be saved, but I would honestly suggest you consider doing what I did - take all your good bits off the 'leccy blue and transfer them to a bodily-sound shell (possibly with a blow engine?...)

cheers again Nigel, i think i'm pretty much sure that'll be my next step - just need to find a good clean example.

i was going to do that this time, there's a S reg inky for sale i was considering prior to agreeing to save mine...

This is what i would do as well,then you might have quite a few excess parts to sell to at least help fund the swap around!

Well done Steve. Nigels advice is good though steve.
As you know i am stripping out a 104,000 mile coupe to be made ready for track work. The coupe has been in the UK and Ireland for all its life.
The front end is done now. It was rusty sure,but not as bad as i thought it would be.
I now have the wheel arch liners off and what i am finding is small patches of rust under the rubberised underseal.
I am having to cut the sealant and mastic like stuff away to get at good metal.
When it rained a few weeks ago i was inside the stripped out coupe and the rain was running in through those side badges,and they are fixed on correctly.
Alexis says that i will find the real rust when i get the rear subframe off,and i believe him. To be honest i cant believe how resonable mine is for the rust worm.
If you have any second thoughts now you are home and after reading all our comments. Get yourself back down to JBT and take a second peek mate.

Surely you are not keeping this car? I felt so bad for you when I read this thread a few days ago, but you looked like you were going to make the right choice and there was not much I could say about it.

IMHO, this is madness.

Please, consider doing what Nigel says or just giving up. It's your money, but this car has had way too much of it already and you are now pouring away good money after bad. If you do this you WILL be back in here witin a year looking down the barrel of another massive bill.

Sorry to be harsh Steve, but I feel I have to say it.

I actually agree with this.

If I'd been unlucky enough to go through what you have with the car and then taken the gamble to give it another go, I'd be looking to fully restore a shell and then transplant everthing that's good from your Plus into it. Replace anything that might be suspect mechanically and hopefully sit back and relax. It's the only way to get the car you really want.

If you've spent 20k on a Fiat Coupe with more to come, it really needs to be a keeper for life. THE best around.