Hello Everyone - rust & paintwork advice :)

[raychee220]

Hello everyone, I’m Rachel :-)
I’m new here and I’ve just spent a couple of hours browsing the forums with an interest to getting my mk1 looking a bit better.
Engine is sweet with relatively low mileage (79k) but it’s been sitting for about a year in our garden, so the paint/bodywork is suffering.
I’ve attached some pics of the offending parts and I’m after some info as to whether this kind of rust is repairable, or I will require new panels etc?
I’ve no idea how much a paint job (just the original super white, nothing fancy) would cost or these kind of repairs, so any guidance or advice would be fantastic!

I attended the Enfield pageant in 2009 where I met a kindly fellow (Tony, if I remember rightly) in the nearby petrol station who offered me a ticket to join him and some others on the stand! Picture at the bottom, mine is the white one, but she’s looking a little worse for wear nowadays!


http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0238-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0237-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0236-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0235-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0234-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0233-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMG_0232-1.jpg
http://www.mr2mk1club.com/images/imported/2012/07/IMGP0534-1.jpg

[Master-B]

Welcome to the forum!

On the face of it, it all looks fixable, there are definitely cars with worse arches out there. Problem is with it being so many different panels then whatever needs doing it wont be cheap, even just a light bit of light repair & paintwork will end up being in the region of £100-150 per panel. f I were you I'd give the arches a good poke as you may find its just a bit of surface rust lifting the paint & you might be able to do a passable job yourself :-)

Its a shame you arent further north as Im sure mk1dal would be able to give you some great advice if you could get the car to him.

[Kateg28]

I remember you, I was there. Tony had the Mica blue next to yours and my mica blue was next one along in the picture (my dad's lotus is also in the picture).

I don't have the blue one anymore but a mica red one. Good to see you post up here. Rust is a problem they all suffer with and can be expensive to fix. Depends what you want to do with the car. Mk1dal is brilliant but a long way.... He took my mica blue nearly 2 years ago and restored it and is still looking good with its new owner.

[EppingMk1SC]

If you are going to fix the car up, I have a spare white rear spoiler somewhere, which you can have for free, as the surface looks damaged on yours. Perhaps if you take it to Dickersons in Baldock they can give some professional advice as to whether your car is economically restorable. Good luck.

[mk1 dal]

hi . the bottom arch where the body kit is as all ready been done at some time as i can see the filler line , the wing will have a big hole behind the the front splitter, the lower arch returns have been filled also ( mud flap area ) as the filler is lifting .you main problem is the rust at the top of the rear panel , there will be a hole behind the window trim and letting water in to the structure of the car and will cause damage to the inner sill and b post structure if not sorted . the arches have been done as well , i can tell by the slight uneven profile in the pics and the way they are cracking ( filler lifting ) bar that the car looks sound and is worth doing as long as the floor pan is sound and the front chassis is solid . the only way to go is new metal , replace both arches and lower arch return ( 200 pounds for parts ) new wing 120 pounds , repair the rear panel , roughly 400 pounds in paint and materials eg sand paper ,filler , bar coats , sheeting , tape etc and new transfers for a full repaint and that's if you do the work you self . if your planing on keeping the car its money you wont lose as your not selling it but being realistic you wont get much change out of 3000 pounds to have it sorted by a profession body shop and have a full respray on top of the work needed .

gary

[charged]

If you are going to fix the car up, I have a spare white rear spoiler somewhere, which you can have for free, .


Good for you, that is what the club is all about.

[raychee220]

Fantastic, thank you for all your advice, much appreciated! I won't be able to do the work myself, so i need to work out if i'm prepared to spend that much money on it :)
I'll let you know what happens!

Thanks again :)