What to do??? I need some suggestions

[Smitty_Works]

Heres the deal. I just my Deck about 3 months ago. I really love the car because of the styling, the diesel engine, and the great roomy space for me and the family.

 

Recently I have run into a few problems that the seller hasn't told me about. I know that most cars in Europe suffer from the epidemic of rust. Its just how it is, and I can deal with that. So when the seller told me there is no rust on the car I couldn't believe him. But to my astonishment there was just the underbody rust that is typical even on American cars. There were no dents and no body rust at all. So naturally I bought the car.

 

This past Friday I went to my in-laws house with the family. I left the Deck home cause I was still prepping to put the interior back in from the Belgium incident. When we left it was raining pretty good and was also very windy as well. Well we get back today and the weather is pretty good to do work on the car. I go outside, open up the doors, and look down to find water inside my car's floor board. What the heck?!?!?!? I check all the usual suspects. Door seals, the boot seals, even the floor drain plugs. All those spots are dry. I even checked the AC drain tube, its good to go. Then I find it.

 

Turns out my firewall cushion padding is soaking wet, and I mean its dripping wet. Then I look to my right and find some 3rd degree rusting going on where the kick panels go. Its also on the driver and passenger sides, and the whole padding is wet.

 

So here is my question. Do I try to fix the problems on my car by pulling all the interior out to hunt down the leak and cut /weld new metal for the rust?

Or do I cut my losses and try to sell or scrap it?

[Dave]

Damn thats unlucky mate. I would suggest before making a decission, check the whole car from front to back. There can be rust on the floor up above the petrol tank which is pretty hard to see, so maybe use one of those inspection mirrors to try and get a good look at the inaccessible areas. If there's any other nasty bits found, I would break it for spares and find another one.  If there's no more rust found, then I'd start stripping it out in the front to see exactly how bad it is. If it isn't too severe, it's worth getting it repaired.

Just depends on how much you love the car mate.

First I've heard of one going there, but do know someone that had a Rover 400 (4 door saloon version) that looked mint but found out it was rotten in the same area as you mention above.

 

Were the arch liners missing when you got it, or were they in place? If missing, that could explain why its went. They don't have much protection on the panels there paint wise, so the plastic liners tend to save them

[Smitty_Works]

I will take some pictures tomorrow when there is more light out. Since fall is upon us its getting darker faster here in Germany. Weird thing is I have driven in the rain 5x worse and there were no leaks. As for the rust, I dunno. I will let you guys be the judge.

[Smitty_Works]

Damn thats unlucky mate. I would suggest before making a decission, check the whole car from front to back. There can be rust on the floor up above the petrol tank which is pretty hard to see, so maybe use one of those inspection mirrors to try and get a good look at the inaccessible areas. If there's any other nasty bits found, I would break it for spares and find another one.  If there's no more rust found, then I'd start stripping it out in the front to see exactly how bad it is. If it isn't too severe, it's worth getting it repaired.

Just depends on how much you love the car mate.

First I've heard of one going there, but do know someone that had a Rover 400 (4 door saloon version) that looked mint but found out it was rotten in the same area as you mention above.

 

Were the arch liners missing when you got it, or were they in place? If missing, that could explain why its went. They don't have much protection on the panels there paint wise, so the plastic liners tend to save them

yeah. the arch liners were in place and are in great condition.

[Jayhoath83]

I would have to agree with tom sometimes the front windscreen seal goes n leaks down the bulkhead which in turn soaks the sound deadening n causes rust check that first

[KiNK43]

This was what sealed the deal to scrap my mb6 shell.

Windscreen was leaking. Rotted the inner front arch and the inner sill/floor in footwell.

I'm no expert just took welders word for it.

It was patched up but apparently very awkward to repair properly because so many different layers up against each other.

Worth repairing tho if not too bad.

[Krzys]

This was what sealed the deal to scrap my mb6 shell.

Windscreen was leaking. Rotted the inner front arch and the inner sill/floor in footwell.

I'm no expert just took welders word for it.

It was patched up but apparently very awkward to repair properly because so many different layers up against each other.

Worth repairing tho if not too bad.

Sounds like a pretty horrible place to need to be replacing the metal then! 

[Smitty_Works]

here are the rust spots. they are really bad as they go through the inner metal. thinking about just cutting the rust out and using primer to try and prevent more rust.

 

 

the hole on the passenger side was made bigger by me just poking it. glad I didn't cut my finger up.

[Jayhoath83]

Ive seen worse n fixed worse trust me ive grown up around rusty old english classics. i would cut it back to good metal n then get some bilt-hamber etch-weld rust converting primer in there (which can be welded over) n then make some repair pieces out of 0.8mm sheet steel n weld em in heres the link for the bilt-hamber

http://www.bilthamber.com/paints-and-coatings

[Mr Brown]

Ive seen worse n fixed worse trust me ive grown up around rusty old english classics. i would cut it back to good metal n then get some bilt-hamber etch-weld rust converting primer in there (which can be welded over) n then make some repair pieces out of 0.8mm sheet steel n weld em in heres the link for the bilt-hamber

http://www.bilthamber.com/paints-and-coatings

i love your attitude towards it. Its people thinking like you that keep great motors on the roads..