oh shit!!!.........i started poking at the rust

[Mr Sam]

and its not good news at all

 

i took the arches and front spoiler thing off the other week fearing what rot was underneath, the arches aint too bad really but ive just discovered some serious rot at the bottom of the front panel and cross member

 

the lower lip of the front panel was held on with filler

 

 

theres not alot of metal holding the engine cradle in or the suspension mounts

 

 

 

 

just pulled the bottom lip away from the car and peeled the filler off

 

 

behold the grand canyon , maybe thats why it was screwing all over the place off the line at pod

 

 

so i either need a front panel URGENT or im gonna start slapping alot of plating on it

[Trevmk3]

oh dear Sam, looks like what my mk2 fez did when i had that, i replaced nearly all the front end of the car to get rid of it all

 

im sure you'll sort it mate

[Mr Sam]

i think ill plate it all up and make it solid then hide it away back under the spoiler

[Trevmk3]

[Copey]

ouch! not good sam!

[Durham Fiesta]

prob be easier to get a pair of wings , crossmember and a front panel put on as doesn't look like you'll have a lot to weld to

[Mr Sam]

im gonna strengthen it up for the time being as i had planned todo that over winter

[Durham Fiesta]

you'll have to lay off the full throttle launches for a while in case the engine drops out

[Mr Sam]

 

i honestly think thats why the car pulls to the left when launching, if one of the wheels is kicking forwards a few mm under strain?

[Durham Fiesta]

more than likely , my bolts that hold the tie bar to the bottom arm loosened off slightly and the car was a nightmare to drive , and it could only move a few mm

[hellblue]

Yours did well to last this long most looked like that 20 years ago its not as bad as it looks and done with a new lower panel too its a straight forward job to do ...but your best off getting a new xmember & add more metal to that to add the extra strength

[caprinerd]

dont that make it lighter

[zetecmk2]

lesson 1...don't look for rust!!!

[Mr Sam]

MOT is next month so its tempting just to patchit briefly so its safe then get something cheap to use over winter so i can do it all properly

 

deffo gonna start sticking some metal back in it tomorro nite if its not raining

[zetecmk2]

scary, eh,...i saw a hole in kooltina's floor about the size of a 50 p. put her on the ramp and started digging!!! 3 hrs later and i had replaced an area 12" x 12"

still, it's done now

still got the strut top to do tomorrow night. just a small crack....yeah right!!!

it's only metal

[turnover]

fix once not twice

[Mr Sam]

i totally know what your saying but unfortunatly this is my daily driver at the moment so cant really have it off the road for a week for a new front end unless you lend me your escort ........

 

 

started on it this evning and yes i could grab the wheele and move it a few mm back and forth! the crossmember was flexing nicely so i dread to think how much flex it had on it when im taking a rounderbout at pace

[escort new boy]

your wing looks a bit grotty, got a b/n one here you can have if you collect mate

[mk3cokebottle]

enough flex to kill you mate , dont drive it until you have fixed it !!!!!

 

otherwise you will get hurt

[Mr Sam]

i know mate hence why ive made an imediate start on it

 

 

tie bar mount is now well beefed up its not pretty at all and im sure lots of people will laugh thier heads off when they see it but fook it its not just me that could get hurt so dont care what it looks like as long as its safe

[herb capri]

we have all had it "yea its real solid mate" stuff , me i bought a mk1 3 litre capri and had it in my garage for 2 yr then set about doing it for the road,,,,,,,,,,,,, really solid mate........er a post erm inner wing/chasis leg ........... sills are actually a bit ropey....IS THERE ANY MINTERS LEFT? cant wait for answers got 2 gety back 2 welding...... that goes er ,, there..................oh erm ref fiesta sam I UNDERSTAND AND SYMPATHISE

MIKE