As you all know rust appears to be the major killer of our cars. My last one was beyond saving so when I purchased my current one last Feb I knew undersealing was essential. In July I went to visit a specialist in Doncaster, he was booked up and the earliest date he had for me was January of this year.
I dropped the car off and this is what it looks like after stripping down the extensions and the rest of the bodykit -
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This was somewhat surprising given that my car was one of the 200 or so "Ralliart" imports so was undersealed from new but I guess it shows you how bad things can get even with a basic underseal thanks to our salted roads.
I've been advised to try and source a pair of replacement rear arch panels, a pair of sills and both rear corner sections behind the bumper. This would then allow him to cut out all the bad metal, weld in the fresh clean metal and protect it properly. The chap works on a variety of metal including E types etc and is known for his high quality of work.
If the panels cannot be sourced and they have to be fabricated from sheet metal I've been told the final bill would be around the £2k mark. That is for fabrication, welding, paint and the undersealing and full protection with a 3 year warranty. That would be with Bilt Hamber products which are proven to protect and last for a long time.
If I can source the replacement panels then the quote will be around the £1.5k mark. No idea if those panels are readily available though and how much they cost. Not exactly flushed with cash right now either!
So folks, thoughts? I've not even owned the car for a full 12 months yet but I've already poured in nearly 3 times as much as I paid for it on upgrades and other work. Once the lifters are replaced and the turbo elbow/downpipe leak is sorted the car should be solid for a good few years mechanically. I've had a look on PH/AT etc and I can't find another car that I would want to replace this for in the same price range, well aside from a clean X308 Jaguar XJR but those would be harder to convert to LPG so I'm wanting to stick with this.