Rust issues, help a newbie out with some advice! ex-mil 90

Ok during some 'poking about' i discovered my rear x-member was a bit less good than i thought.......



So i have done this today, to inspect it more, was more rusty than initially thought.

Thoughts please gentlemen, photos below!

Cut out all the weaker metal (stuff i could bend)


Ground back the edges, and cleaned up the inside as best as i can with my wire wheel, brush and angle grinder




I hoovered out as much crap as i could, then dried everything i could so there was as little loose stuff in there as possible, the i covered it in zinc rich primer just to protect it till i can get it sorted/work out what to do



Incidentally this is the back of the 'hole' or the right hand side as your looking in, i cant get a screwdriver through this but i imagine it will go through eventually!

So is this repairable or is it a new rear x-member? I dont tow or do any hardcore anything.

I have put this in my 00KK53 thread aswell, hope thats ok

Ed

I'd plate it in the short term but you are looking at a new crossmember in my opinion.
Dont worry too much though because I've seen plenty worse.
PM Pressbrake with some pics and he may be able to better advise.

I'd plate it in the short term but you are looking at a new crossmember in my opinion.
Dont worry too much though because I've seen plenty worse.
PM Pressbrake with some pics and he may be able to better advise.

Cut a piece of metal out and weld it in place, grind flush and refinish.

Cheers guys, local garage said they will sort it for an hours labour. I emailed the owner and was surprised to get a reply back on a Sunday!

Shifty1962 said:

I'd plate it in the short term but you are looking at a new crossmember in my opinion.
Dont worry too much though because I've seen plenty worse.
PM Pressbrake with some pics and he may be able to better advise.

Click to expand...

Will do this aswell, cheers

Javelinadave said:

Cut a piece of metal out and weld it in place, grind flush and refinish.

Click to expand...

ask your self why its rusted out, hidding it wont help

That said if you need out of trouble get some old oil on the inside to slow the rot down before plating

flat said:

Cheers guys, local garage said they will sort it for an hours labour. I emailed the owner and was surprised to get a reply back on a Sunday!

Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother save the money from the repair and get a uprated one from pressbrake fitted, hide it and there will only be more of the chassis to repair when the time comes.

Ok finding these online (not mine) photos of a rear x-member being plated has reassured me somewhat that plating will be ok for now. (Sorry you have to click the links - the person flickr wont allow embedding of images)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14955523@N04/3024101815/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14955523@N04/3024934486/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14955523@N04/4055215311/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14955523@N04/4055958978/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Mine is no way as bad as that.

Garage tuesday for an opinion. In the meantime I am going to jenolite the bad bits i can get to and paint over the top of them, same with the outside areas..

Ed

Ok poking around the chassis today, the rest is genuinely solid. A couple of areas look like this though



I poked it, whacked it and it is solid metal with just some surface rust. Would i be ok wirebrushing/wire wheeling with a drill then painting this with red oxide, then chassis paint over the top?

Ed

just clean it up and there are some good black primers just as good as red oxide

cool nice, cheers, will wait till the weather is a bit warmer, it was farking chilly out ont he drive today!!!