How much rust is too much...

Finally got a good look at the underside of my coupe today and the rear subframe needs a full strip and rust removal and After removing the rear wheel arch liner, I'm wishing I hadn't, the inner arch is completely rotten where it used to meet the boot floor.16vt's are rare and the thought of scrapping her makes me ill, but how much rot is too much 🤢

Hi Jenjo, the question here is how much funds do you have. Rust now is a common problem in our Coupes and you have found out the more you delve the worse it can get. Like others on here I had an extensive refurbishment a few years back, five figures in fact. This was a decision both my wife I discussed at length. Start saving and best of luck……

I've seen worse. A good measure of "how bad" is to look at those "cups" that hold the bump stops. Your bump stop has fallen off and is sitting loose inside the spring, but that will be because the "stalk" that sits in the cup has broken off and/or the hole the stalk goes into has enlarged due to rust. Your "cup" looks OK, compared to the example shown below. But a new "cap" can be welded on, and the subframe is a substantially thick lump of metal and if you remove it and clean it up and paint it you'll be surprised how much better it looks.

The trailing arms can look hideously scabby however and attempts to clean them up can still render them looking hideous. New arms are around £100 each from AutoDoc.

I'd be more worried about the rear brakes pipes: after 20+ years one or more will likely need replacing, and the rear brake compensator will have seen better days.

But the hardest and costliest repair will be for yhe boot floor/inner wing. It's only metal, and a lot easier to reach with the fuel tank and subframe out of the way, but then it's very hard to move around inless you have a frame or dolly of some sort...

Thanks DaveG, I needed the voice of "it could be worse", I have never had a plan to underseal go so wrong. But, after owning her for nearly 20 years I am rather attached. I think the subframe looks solid as do the chassis legs and the majority of the floor/sills.

I have been a bit stabby crazy with a rather large screwdriver and it seems to be key areas that have suffered. Unfortunately they are all areas with fuel/wiring which worries me with welding. I should know better than removing wheel arch liners and hunting for rust 🙄

Hello Jenjo

My mechanic tries to keep my feet on the ground by saying shall we do what's essential to keep the car safe and on the road.

The remainder we can do in stages, or I will try to and do something to slow down the deterioration.

Are you wanting to achieve perfection? It might be a difficult target. Best wishes

Paul

That's fair enough, but when the visible rust gets too close to suspension mounting points, that will be an MoT fail...

Perhaps my previous post sounded a bit dramatic but I think we are all on the same page here, it’s going to cost which ever route you take. It’s great that another Coupe is going to be saved, realistically the hidden bits such as the corner towers probably will require attention to.

The corner towers aren't really in existence any more, enough left to get a copy made if I need to though. I was very sad when I posted the first post so dramatic was good for me at the time as I really wasn't expecting that condition. I can push her to Allitalia in wrexham if all else fails, sure Howard would love to see her!

That might be the same place Theresa on here uses - she can't be that far from you.

All corrosion issues can be repaired, it just takes passion and a budget.

Check out the link for an Ink Plus I've been working on...........now corrosion free.

Thank you for those photos, they give me some comfort and good ideas to fix mine. The ink black was definitely worse and looks great now.

Hi Edinburgh, yes, I know Theresa well.