9 replies to this topic

[bangermadness08]

hi after only trying to get my door off i found whilst clearing the nuts all this rust that a garage had painted over in stone chip. its front drivers side and its the panel thats next to the a panel and joins onto the inner wing where both hinge brackets attach too. sorry if this is fague and to replace can it be seam welded?  11898925_10200823746513618_4053482902394608017_n.jpg   61.88K   23 downloads

[alex-95]

Thats the flitch. If thats the only bit of rust then it would be just as easy to make a panel yourself.

http://www.minispare...|Back to search

[bangermadness08]

if i were to cut the rotten panel out would the car need to be brassed to stop from body twisting? 

[spiguy]

If that is the only bit you are working on then no, you should not need to brace anything. As above, you would probably be best just making a repair piece yourself from steel. The replacement flitch panel you buy covers a large area right up to the top, however if you are digging around and finding holes, then maybe there are more?

 

If that is all though, then it depends if you have steel sheet already. If not and you are not needing to do any future repairs in the forseeable future, then it would probably cost around the same to buy a sheet of steel as it would to buy the full repair panel and cut out what you need.

[sonikk4]

To repair this properly you will need to take off the A panel as the A panel attaches to the flange than comprises part of the flitch. I will guarantee the flange will be rusty as well.

You really need to strip off all of the underseal in that area top and bottom to see if there is anything else lurking under it.

[minidaves]

oh there will be more rust under the black stuff

[JonnyAlpha]

You have two options:

 

1. Clean up the area around the hole that you can see and try and make a small repair piece yourself and weld it it - short term fix.

 

or 

 

2. Clean back the underseal on Flitch Panel (The bit that has the hole in and the A Panel) and see what else needs doing and do a full repair.

 

Either way I'd clean of the underseal anyway to see what else lies beneath and then decide.

 

Best way of getting the underseal of is a Hot Air Gun.

 

This was what I first discovered in about the same place as you:

 

 

Which ended up with this repair:

 

 

Although mine had a whole load of really bad repairs on the Flitch as well.

 

 

[bangermadness08]

thanks for that last pic. i took it in to a mini garage to do a whole new front end panel install everything they said that they would underseal all the new weld joints put sealent in the join gaps i didnt expect them to underseal rot. i was fuming i only wanted to take the door off but the more i keep scraping away the worst its getting ill have a proper did around tomorrow then decide whats best

[JonnyAlpha]

thanks for that last pic. i took it in to a mini garage to do a whole new front end panel install everything they said that they would underseal all the new weld joints put sealent in the join gaps i didnt expect them to underseal rot. i was fuming i only wanted to take the door off but the more i keep scraping away the worst its getting ill have a proper did around tomorrow then decide whats best

 

When did the garage do the repairs and what exactly did they do or indeed what did they charge you for, you said "a whole new front end panel" what do you exactly mean?  

[bangermadness08]

hi i dont want to name the garage as thats unfair and unnecessary but what i meant by whole front end they welded on new wings front panel bushes hi lows ball joints that kind of stuff. i didnt say but maybe i should of that if you (the garage) see any panels that are rotten replace and ill pay but i didnt as i thought it wasnt that bad. we agreed on a pay bit by bit a month evern though i got the car back way before i paid the final sum. the end price as nothing was printed or quoted as a receipt they charged me 600 which i thought was fair. they explaned to me when they came back with the car that all the new weld joints were covered in underseal to prevent rust in the future but failed to tell me about the rust that was behind the a panel. when i came to undo the bolts for my door i cleaned the nuts as they wire covered iin underseal cleaned them off with a wire brush and all this flakey rust fell to the floor. with a bit of poking with a skrewdiver the hole started to form bigger and bigger and hence the pics above. if they of foned me during the time it was in the gagrage  i would of said yes as thats what would of made my life a lot easier.

 

oh and on the bonus side every wheel nut was done back up finger tight. i dont expect this from a garage but not a mini garage as these are hard to find and trust