mk2 Posted August 24 Report Share Posted August 24 So, it's my turn to try and delay the onset of aging and rust on one of my SDIs. The rear arches of course. About 8 years ago I ground them back to bare metal, derusted, treated and then resprayed. But the design is so bad, water will always find a way in through a stone chip on the edge of the spot welded seam. So not too bad, but it had started all over again. This time I decided to do some exploring and tear out any of the seam sealer compound that seems to make the problems worse. Once water gets behind it, it gets trapped and dissolves away much faster. Time to apply some penetrating wax rust preventer. So this pic shows the front of the arch, where it meets the sill. There's a narrow channel that gets filled with mud, and is held in place by the felt type material wheel arch liner (9 T25 torx screws to remove it). You need to remove that liner to be able to clean everything properly. I also pulled one of the chassis plugs out as I was curious what was on the other side... So I had to take a pic of the inside of the sill. There's a tide line! They must have filled the whole thing with wax then drained it. And it's still soft and tacky. How much wax?! And the last pic shows where I simply chopped out the factory assembly line jig mounting, as it had rusted away. Doesn't do anything useful except trap dirt. Gone. All properly waxed now. Once 'cured' I'll paint some thick anti-chip compound over it. Not using seam sealer ever again for obvious reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 25 Report Share Posted August 25 Yep just been doing the same NS area!! What I’ve noticed is the arosa is different in this area as the lupo has a **** shield that adds to the damp and therefore more prone to rotting than the arosa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted August 26 Author Report Share Posted August 26 Yeah, I need to take a pic of one of the screws I managed to remove that holds in that shield. I needed a long cold beer after I finally removed it without damaging anything. Difficult behind the shock on the right side. Not completely convinced about if it's good to have those shields or not. I've seen 'rosas with perfect looking wheel arches and really rough looking ones after 20 years on the road. I think the main purpose is to make it quieter. But they certainly do trap mud at the front and around the back of the filler pipe. And the single bolt that holds in the filler pipe gets as rusty as... Do you have that big chassis plug on the 'rosa that I took a pic through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 28 Report Share Posted August 28 Can’t seem to find one in my pics but I’m not saying there isn’t a bung Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 28 Report Share Posted August 28 My NS sill end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 28 Report Share Posted August 28 Had to repair my floor to sill cavity too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 28 Report Share Posted August 28 This car is just a labour of love. So in the process the ‘stripped ‘ interior still set the car on fire and I can only assume something dropped back down onto the welded area and it melted the lower dash, the full heater box destroyed and wiring goosed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 28 Report Share Posted August 28 (edited) After all that I still managed to paint the side when I stopped crying 😢 Edited August 28 by tigcraft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk2 Posted August 29 Author Report Share Posted August 29 Oh bloodyhell noooo! I had a similar thing happen to me and one of my mk2s.... Not as bad as that though. Burned the rear seats. Cavity wax generally burns like kerosene, so I now always expect an ignition somewhere when welding waxed bits. I bet your heart sank when you sat back, staring and swearing. But not as bad as that team that set fire to the WW2 bomber they'd just rebuilt in the remote wilderness (in greenland?), and were about to fly out having just refuelled it. But OMG, that's going to be a pain to repair. Whole dash out I'd say. But one consolation, at least it is less effort than bodywork. And it's really a case of swapsies, which is relatively straight forward. I think it's also happened to @Rich and @danno in the past. Welcome to the set-fire-to-your-car club! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted August 29 Report Share Posted August 29 Nothing wrong with a bit of car on fire now and again. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 29 Report Share Posted August 29 Oh I’ve had my fair share of flames, in fact I used to do fire eating for a party piece!! This car has got nine bloody lives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted August 29 Report Share Posted August 29 It doesn’t phase me, let’s face it, no abs, no CAN- bus, no computer, it’s just so simple it becomes enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeha Posted September 3 Report Share Posted September 3 @tigcraftMine LH is exactly the same, every bung has rotted sideways, and I'm just psyching myself up to start cutting. There is a genuine panel on ebay for £73 in Latvia. How did you get the joggles in the panel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted September 3 Report Share Posted September 3 1 hour ago, yeha said: @tigcraftMine LH is exactly the same, every bung has rotted sideways, and I'm just psyching myself up to start cutting. There is a genuine panel on ebay for £73 in Latvia. How did you get the joggles in the panel? Which particular panel? If you’re referring to the sill to floor that’s got a castle shaped on its joining face then that’s just done in a vice with a lump hammer and a cold chisel. It’s one of the most simplest things to form Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeha Posted October 15 Report Share Posted October 15 Managed to get a genuine lh panel, 6X0803225A, for £45 from Latvia. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted October 15 Report Share Posted October 15 (edited) Just compounded mine and chucked some diamond brite on it, wow it feels like silk(or glass) I’ve still the drivers door, rear wing and a bit of roof Chanel localising to do then I’m happy Edited October 15 by tigcraft 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigcraft Posted October 15 Report Share Posted October 15 9 hours ago, yeha said: Managed to get a genuine lh panel, 6X0803225A, for £45 from Latvia. Got any pics of that panel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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