Underbody Rust

[rmcg_2011]

well lads,

dropped my car into a local garage at the weekend to get the cat reinstalled for the NCT and when I went to collect he told me that the rust underneath is pretty bad. there is a couple holes in the exhaust which I can cope with but his main worry seemed to be that there is a fair bit of rust on the inside of the front strut pillars. he said that something would have to be done with it for safety sake.

to be honest, I don't have a lot of faith in this guy so will definitely be looking for a second opinion from someone who specialises in this sort of area.

question now is - who do you recommend as the best person to speak to in the Dublin area to look at it. basically I just want someone to put it up on a ramp and replace what needs to be replace, weld what needs welding and reinforce anything else that they think needs it. either that or to tell me to park it up and forget about it (im hoping it wont come to that !)

anyway, any info you might have would be appreciated.

Cheers

[mivecrx]

If you don't trust him why don't you check yourself?. Get under the car and check it's not hard, if you need more height put axle stands under it. Nct will only pick up on bad rust that is dangerous.

Common areas are the chassis legs, check the back ones right up to where it meets the trailing arm.
The back arch has a spot that always rust threw to inside.
Front panel, usually the lower part. Easy see from under front bumper and from the engine bay.
Have a check of all the floor pan for any holes, little small worm like holes.
Check the engine bay too, around the battery, engine mounts and shock towers.

[DubC]

well lads,

dropped my car into a local garage at the weekend to get the cat reinstalled for the NCT and when I went to collect he told me that the rust underneath is pretty bad. there is a couple holes in the exhaust which I can cope with but his main worry seemed to be that there is a fair bit of rust on the inside of the front strut pillars. he said that something would have to be done with it for safety sake.

to be honest, I don't have a lot of faith in this guy so will definitely be looking for a second opinion from someone who specialises in this sort of area.

question now is - who do you recommend as the best person to speak to in the Dublin area to look at it. basically I just want someone to put it up on a ramp and replace what needs to be replace, weld what needs welding and reinforce anything else that they think needs it. either that or to tell me to park it up and forget about it (im hoping it wont come to that !)

anyway, any info you might have would be appreciated.

Cheers

I think George at GVD autos may have taken care of the rust on Goz's FTO? He'd be worth looking into if that's the case. One of my neighbours took mine to the garage he works at on North Strand (Down Ossory Road) - he told me she (The red one) wasn't worth fixing due to the rust and that it'd require a whole new chassis.

A bit off topic, but did you have a decat on which you were getting removed? I've a decat I'd like to have installed, what garage did yours?

[rmcg_2011]

Cheers Mivecrx - to be honest I would prefer to just give it to someone who knows better than I would about what they are looking at. I know the exhaust needs repairing / replacing so i need to get that done anyway and might aswell get the experts to look over the rest at the same time.

Thanks for that DubC, just went onto their site there and can see Goz' car there on the home page so these should be the right people to speak to alright. will give them a shout and get it booked in.

Goz - I assume you got on ok with them ?

The Decat pipe was on the car when I bought it from Goz so I just got the local garage (knocklyon) to reinstall the cat but as I said earlier, I wasn't too impressed with the guy so I wouldn't really want to give any sort of recommendation to be honest. I reckon you could pull into any garage at all and they would look after it for you. having said that, the fact that it always needs to be changed for the NCT would turn me off the idea of getting it reinstalled. more hassle than its worth in my opinion.

[rmcg_2011]

Going down to George today so he is going to take a look and see what needs to be done...............fingers crossed !

[DubC]

Best of luck with it. I was there yesterday to get a quote for some body work, I was very happy with the price.

I'd be removing and replacing the cat myield if it was installed correctly.. Cant find anyone doing gaskets for it though.

[goz_83]

Yeah I would be happy to recommend George. Just tell him you want all the rust sorted and try get a day when he isn't busy. I can't imagine there being a lot of rust underneath though.

[rmcg_2011]

just back from them now, they are sound lads. as i thought, the bloke that did the exhaust didnt have a clue what he was talking about at all. there is a few patches that need to be looked at but nothing like the impression i was given. George is going to sort it all out next week. very happy with the price and everything so definitely glad i listened and went to him. thanks for the advice lads

[DubC]

Good to hear you've been sorted!

Spent some time this afternoon visiting different exhaust places in the area - no-one has gaskets big enough for the mongoose decat I have.

[Kace]

I bought exhaust gaskets last year on eBay very easily. I think they were even classified under FTO GPX.

Delivered to the door. Motor Factors are no help for this sort of thing and with rare imports that are not 'in the manual'

[goz_83]

Glad the rust isn't what was being suggested. It certainly wasn't a problem I spotted on the car.

@Dubc: As Kace says, ebay is the place to go. I personally don't think a decat is worth the effort.

[DubC]

Glad the rust isn't what was being suggested. It certainly wasn't a problem I spotted on the car.

@Dubc: As Kace says, ebay is the place to go. I personally don't think a decat is worth the effort.

Yeah I know you said it wasn't worth it, particularly for the additional waste of fuel but I'll give it a shot at least once.

Kace:

I've seen gaskets online but I was hoping to get them in a garage, along with bolts and also have them do the job. What bolts did you use? I'll need ones which can be removed when the NCT is due again so the cat can be replaced.

Cheers

[goz_83]

The decat shouldn't make you use extra fuel. I think it's more efficient, but you won't notice either way. Good luck with it.

[mivecrx]

The decat shouldn't make you use extra fuel. I think it's more efficient, but you won't notice either way. Good luck with it.

Correct, in most cases it will improve fuel economy.

[DubC]

The decat shouldn't make you use extra fuel. I think it's more efficient, but you won't notice either way. Good luck with it.

Sorry goz for misquoting you!

Correct, in most cases it will improve fuel economy.

This is just fantastic news. If it improves fuel economy I'll notice as at the rate the car's going it's guzzling petrol. Getting about 90km on €20.

[mivecrx]

This is just fantastic news. If it improves fuel economy I'll notice as at the rate the car's going it's guzzling petrol. Getting about 90km on €20.

That's not good unless you drive hard all the time.

[goz_83]

Maybe a terra clean would help

[mivecrx]

Maybe a terra clean would help

Did you ever get that done? looks interesting!

The o2 and lambda sensor would usually be suspects of causing poor mpg.

[DubC]

Maybe a terra clean would help

I'll need to wait 'til I've the financial situation sorted before that. I have not intended on getting the de-cat installed just yet, I'm just trying to get some ideas on costs for it.

This is just fantastic news. If it improves fuel economy I'll notice as at the rate the car's going it's guzzling petrol. Getting about 90km on €20.

That's not good unless you drive hard all the time.

I used to drive hard - and it would be a lot less than 90km for the €20 - Now I'm stuck with changing gears at 2000 revs in an effort to save on fuel.

How handy of a job is the lambda sensor? I've a spare one there on the red car.

[mivecrx]

I used to drive hard - and it would be a lot less than 90km for the €20 - Now I'm stuck with changing gears at 2000 revs in an effort to save on fuel.

How handy of a job is the lambda sensor? I've a spare one there on the red car.

Easy job fit a decat, four bolts holding it in. You'll need two new gaskets or else use your old gaskets and sealer.

Lambda sensor can be a pain to get out, they do be stuck after been subject to the heat for years. Sometimes you'll be lucky and it will open and if not it will need to be heated.

[goz_83]

I am sure your lambda is fine. The terra clean would just clean out all the crap and improve mpg and horse power too....more than a decat will. Costs around €130ish on an fto. I got mine done last year.

[mivecrx]

I am sure your lambda is fine. The terra clean would just clean out all the crap and improve mpg and horse power too....more than a decat will. Costs around €130ish on an fto. I got mine done last year.

Sure terra clean should clean everything right out to the lambda and cat.

Did you notice much difference after that goz?

[goz_83]

I am sure your lambda is fine. The terra clean would just clean out all the crap and improve mpg and horse power too....more than a decat will. Costs around €130ish on an fto. I got mine done last year.

Sure terra clean should clean everything right out to the lambda and cat.

Did you notice much difference after that goz?

It just felt smoother. We did the dyno a couple of days later and for a 15 year old car, i think it was 194bhp. I suspect it would have been well under 190 without the clean.

[mivecrx]

Nice, looks like a good way of thoroughly cleaning carbon deposits.
Good power too!

[optical illusion]

Think Bernard here got that done, would be curious to know how he got on or was it worth it?