Turret Top Rust, Best Way?

[Grim.Badger 15]

Sorry for the basic question, but what's the best way to deal with the rusty hole in the attached picture? I've been in this situation before with a previous GTi and only managed to get a bodge job done as the local garages seem terrified of taking on a rusty turret.

 

Tom Fenton suggested getting a strengthening plate welded in place, to avoid the fabrication side of things I think, but I got a pair and they don't cover all of the rust Also the garage where I have had reasonably good body work done before won't even try to weld 5mm thick steel in place; they claim that they won't be able to get the thicker metal hot enough before the thinner metal melts (even though I know it must be doeable). They suggest getting a new/second hand turret to weld in place. It seems excessive to get a whole new inner wing from Pug (assuming they even have them RP 7120 N5 - http://www.miamistu.co.uk/pug/GB/205N/7/71C01A.HTM ) but I will if it comes to it.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2015 by Grim.Badger

[Tom Fenton 1,526]

Hugh, sorry I meant to reply to your mail but have had a busy few days.

Firstly how thick are your strengthening plates? The ones I have seen before were 2-3mm thick which would be ideal to repair the turret.

If the ones you have don't cover the area then you may have to make some bigger, cutting 3mm isn't easy by hand so the easy way would be make a template from cardboard and have a repair piece laser cut.

Sounds like the garage just doesn't want to do it.

[Grim.Badger 15]

They're 5mm, I should have thought before buying as my housemate has previously told me about the problems of attaching differently sized peices of metal. There is a laser cutting place local, so I'll probably make a template with a couple of inches extra on the rusty side (unless someone has a spare, good condition, turret top, which seems unlikely). I will probably take the strut out myself and check how far the rust goes first.

 

No worries about the email, I figured you'd be busy (we all are at times), I'm just a little anxious about the hole given how quickly it's developed.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

AB Motorsport used to make a strut top strengthening kit for the rally 205's, so I guess they might be the ones you were talking about. In order to repair that, you need to find out how knackered the top actually is and this will need the strut removing and cutting back to good metal. Then you can let a new piece of metal in and seal both under and over it.

 

My 1FM needed a bit of this, but was not as bad as yours:

 

Caused by this:

 

A bit of cutting back to good metal:

 

New plate welded in:

 

Welds ground back:

 

Cleaned up underneath:

 

As it is a year later as I have just nipped out to take a pic for you!

 

 

 

 

[Grim.Badger 15]

I'm not sure if mine was caused by the top plate or not, although the top plate is very rusty. I took it all apart about a year and a half ago to fit new bushes and gave the plates a bit of a clean (I should have done more) and all seemed fine. However, I've just got the strut out and it turns out the rust was forming in between the underseal and the top of the turret, so I wouldn't have been able to see it - needless to say, it's pretty bad under there!

[Tom Fenton 1,526]

I had a strut out of a car the other day, so I measured the thickness of the standard item for you - 2.5mm.

[Grim.Badger 15]

The bad rust, which was so thick I had to chisel some of it off, is confined for the most part to the flat part of the turret in between the bolt hole and the edge, but some extends a little further and there is plenty of surface rust.

 

The bad bits do, however, go under the folded metal at the wing and a couple of small parts of the corner were bad as well, so I'm assuming that a fair bit will have to be dismantled to get back to good metal?!? Has anyone any advise on this? The garage I spoke to seemed reluctant to take apart the wing to do the work, I'm not sure if others will be the same.

 

Updated photos after a clean:

 

 

 

[Grim.Badger 15]

And just to prove I'm not entirely without skills, here's some before and after photos of the top plate (I did order a pair of new ones from Peugeot, but a month later I'm still waiting and I am trying to cancel the order):

 

 

 

 

[Grim.Badger 15]

I forgot to say, the above was done with electrolysis I then painted it with two coats of hammerite undercoat, and finished with polyeurathane varnish (as I forgot to buy any hammerite topcoat).

 

I popped by a specialist body shop today to get a quote, they'll email it over tomorrow. Apparently the outer wing will have to come off, although I had been expecting that

Edited November 30, 2015 by Grim.Badger

[Grim.Badger 15]

The quote has come back - £650..........

[j_turnell 134 3 Cars]

That seems like a lot of money to me. If i was you i'd try and do as much of the work yourself. You can remove the wing if needed, cut out the rot and make a new panel. Just get someone to weld it in if your not happy doing it yourself.

[Grim.Badger 15]

Remove & Refit

REMOVE RHF SUSPENSION TURRET TEMPORARY REPAIR PLATE RHF WING

RHF SUSPENSION PARTS RHF INFORMATION DECAL (IF POSSIBLE)

Repair

RHF SUSPENSION TURRET & MEASURE POSITION FABRICATE RHF SUSPENSION TURRET SECTION

Prepare & Paint

RHF SUSPENSION TURRET

Check

MEASURE STEERING /SUSPENSION CASTER & CAMBER (BEFORE REPAIR)

MEASURE STEERING /SUSPENSION CASTER & CAMBER (AFTER REPAIR)

ADJUST STEERING / SUSPENSION GEOMETRY

Additional Operation

APPLY RUST PROTECTION WAX TO REPAIRED AREA

Materials

PAINT & MATERIALS RUST PROOFING WAX

Estimate Summary

LABOUR £495.00

MATERIALS £42.76

RUST £3.50

TOTALS £541.26

Plus VAT £108.25

£649.51

 

I assume that the reference to the temporary repair plate is the fact that I have shoved the 5mm strengthening plate in between the strut and turret.

Edited December 3, 2015 by Grim.Badger

[j_turnell 134 3 Cars]

If they are removing the entire strut top not leaving any reference points then fair enough. But if they are cutting out the section that's rotten and repairing, there will still be 2/3 holes (assuming that's solid metal?) to locate the strut making life much and reducing the risk of camber and castor changes. Getting a geo check is definitely a good idea as the front toe will no doubt need adjusting. But still seems a bit steep, VAT is the killer I guess.

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

I forgot to say, the above was done with electrolysis

 

Ive been doing it like that for years, its so thorough. I did a thread about it a few years ago. Pity you cant dip the shell in a big tank and do the whole thing in one go eh

[Grim.Badger 15]

I also got a quote from the original garage of less than £200, but that is just welding another turret top (either newly fabricated or second hand, either way I have to source it) over the top of the old one which I am less than keen to do.