My garage wants me to scrap my series III

For various reasons I had to SORN my series III for the past 12 months and now that I take the old girl in for an MOT the garage are being very difficult and are telling me that there is no way it can go back on the road because it has serious corrosion problems underneath the body. I have been to a car repairers and they have advised me to get rid of the vehicle and buy a newer one. Trouble is, despite the fact its a bit of a rust bucket I really enjoy driving her and would really like to keep her on the road.

Is there anyone reasonably local to me (Silverstone, Northants) who would (for a modest consideration!!) undertake a bit of repair/welding work. Apparently both front suspension spring mountings are shot as are the offside front and rear outriggers, and it has excessive corrosion to the body within 30 cm of body mountings which affect its strength.

I'm sure you experts will know whether what I have described above means it's terminal or not. She still drives really well has only done 20k miles since new and certainly doesn't feel as though its falling apart. I had hoped to spend a bit of money this year and give her a bit of a facelift, but unless I can get her thru' the MOT not much point.

Thanks for reading my woes and look forward to anyone being able to help.

There's nothing that can't be repaired or replaced on a series landy. Trouble is it could get expensive if you have to pay someone to do it for you.

My series 3 was in worse condition than yours on the chassis i had to replace all the out riggers repair the front suspension hangers and i fitted a rear x member and part of the chassis at the rear end and patch the floor pans on the bulk head. i enjoyed doing it but im a welder fabricator by trade and found it easy to do but dont scrap it some one would do it for you around your area unless you can get it to wrexham north wales and i would do it for a good price for you.

Ere Scott, is that a Castle cement tanker in yer avatar...

Used to live up that way, fitted a lot of tyres for the local quarries and hauliers... Ex ATS at Ewloe, though ATS is no longer there now.

Whoops sorry, thread hijack, gone back under my stone.

Yeah come to think of it yours doesn't sound too bad. My series is in the process of being stripped now. At the moment it's footwells, bulkhead top corners, door pillars, 1 door bottom, 1 door top and front chassis legs. There's bound to be more though

Buy a MIG and learn to weld?
That's the only cheep way.

Yup do it yourself is the only way I can afford. Plus it's way more satisfying than to have someone else fix it for you

Thing is garages are quick to say scrap it cuz with most 'lesser' vehicles that kind of rot would be terminal. The corrosion bit......what are they referring to, bulkhead? That can be a ****er to sort!

If the mileage is correct it's ridiculously low, barely run in! Be a shame to just scrap it, but as said it depends what you can do economically (i.e. yourself) & how much work you want to do to keep your Series on the road?

If the work is done & done well it'll go on for a couple more decades easy & you'll know it inside out. If you replace it you may get a good 'un, you may get a crock.

It really is worth buying a welder and teaching yourself to do the work. In the long run you get a vehicle really worthy of being treated right that you know inside out, and once you can weld you can do jobs for other friends to earn some extra cash! In the process of stripping mine down and doing the floor pan and bulkhead repairs now! And i am still a newbie to landies.

dont give into the garage,tell you'll do the work yourself and take it some where else and play garages off one another price why

what you have listed is really minor work

i've got to change front legs inc hangers,rear x-member inc hangers,might have to do front skid pan,possibly springs,shocks,all brakes inc drums springs,shoes,clyinders,hoses,coppers all round

so you have minor work to do in comparison

If the mileage is so low, every thing should be mechanically sounds, so would the better option be to go for a new chassis, and just swap every thing over.......

i could do, but the problem with that would be SPACE i have very little off it, it inculdes my drive,next doors drive,my garage and a back garden so getting the whole thing done and dusted within a couple of days is probley not going to happen, so at the moment i think im gonna stick to repairing the one i got until that becomes to bad to repair then it's time to think about getting a new galvanized one

Check out MM-4x4 as they do some very helpful chassis rail sections. They are a neat oversize for the chassis rails, so will make life easier.

Get some steel sheet strips cut for the sides - 2mm plate should do.
I advise you to buy a cheap runabout with some MOT left for the time being.

Lots of major parts are available for repair, and it is really better to chop out rust rather than plating over it. Go over the entire chassis with a 1lb ball pein hammer to identify thin and rusty areas, and spray these yellow.
Once you've got an idea of what bits require replacing, it may be that a front or rear section would be quicker and more sound, than individual bits.

When you've finished I found the waxoyl hand sprayer using a mix of 50% white spirit, 25% clean cheap oil and only 25% of waxoyl is good for the inside of the box sections, as it soaks everything and creeps well. Do this every few months and rust shouldn't be a problem for a while. But I suppose everyone's got their 'magic mix'

Don't scrap it for the sake of a new chassis.