k reg mk2 nighthawk black sri soon to be 2.0l 16v (with a bit of luck)

[clemo]

This is what happened to my sr I started to strip the underside and what looked good was rotten in the chassis legs inner sills inner wells ect was gutted..

Yeah Im a bit gutted at the min myself, from what i can see at the min its mainly the inner wheel arches at the rear the filler neck is right next to wear its gone so will have to take all the tank and everything off to do anything, also the front chassis leg where it meets the lower valance, ive had a good poke and knock with a screwdriver elsewhere but I havent started stripping the underseal off yet. Going to get on it in between jobs next week removing the bumpers and skirts etc to see what horrors are being hidden by all the plastic bits. Keeping my fingers crossed it doesnt end up being too much of a nightmare.


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[clemo]

well ive got the skirts and wing off today to get a idea of how bad the rust actually is and my worst nightmare has come true.
Now i cant decide what to do, either cut my losses although I have the nova bug now and would really miss it, or get it patched up professionally and find myself chasing rust every year, or my final option is try and reshell it, im not too concerned about loosing the sri status as its a mix match of sri and gsi parts anyway as it is, but i would like to keep the number plate, and im not sure if its doable legally.
Food for thought but dissapointing news so felling a little down today.




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[torquey]

The turret areas are commen to go there I would patch them up. The rest don't look too bad to sort out really. It's down to you how much you like the car I wanted to save my sr but it would of ended up with loads of plates which I didn't want. You could try and find a cleaner shell and 're shell it.

[totalnova]

All I can say is buy a welder and start practising, start on the easy bits and work your way to the harder bits. It's all repairable, just have a look through loads of build threads and you'll see most of it being done before.
Oh and start looking for panels.

[Nutty Nova]

I would also say fix it, ive just repaired alot of the same areas on mine. Taken me a couple of months to do but worth doing yourself.
You just need to ut out enough to ensure your not leaving rot in to come back again.

[clemo]

Thanks for the input guys i was pondering the options a lot last night and ive decided to give it a go, Im just going to have to take my time and stop trying to rush getting it on the road (i wanted it on the road for summer). i already have a new welder ive only used a few times so might as well put it to some sort of use, ive got nothing to loose, at the end of the day i need to strip it whichever route I go down, so thats what im starting to do I got all the rear interior out today so got a better look at the rear inner arch and the inner skin doesnt look too bad, the wings and bumper are off and looking down the chassis rails from the towing eye and it looks like all the rot is down the side where its gone to a hole and the bottom, (the top and inner wall look sound) ive never thought to look down there before I can even see right down where it was cut and boxed in around the alternator for the redtop .
So yeah basically the plan is get the engine out as im changing it back to sri engine anyway, all the interior out and tank off so i dont set fire to anything and the dash will need to come out anyway as it has no engine loom at the moment as its on carbs and a standalone distributor setup.
Once everythings off I will attempt to tackle welding it, taking my time trying not to blow too many holes.
Im going to be needing rear arch repair panels are the non genuine ones any good fitment wise. Also same question about front panels?



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[totalnova]

I found the rear panels fit to be OK, but did require some work to sit nicely, the rear is the easy bit, you'll probably find getting panels for the front of the car harder to come by, the front panel is relatively easy to get hold of but the inner wings are rare and when they become available are very expensive as I believe there is only genuine ones.

If I was you I would completely strip the car and remove all the underseal, wire brush everything and see what your left with, then make the decision if your going to restore it.

[clemo]

I found the rear panels fit to be OK, but did require some work to sit nicely, the rear is the easy bit, you'll probably find getting panels for the front of the car harder to come by, the front panel is relatively easy to get hold of but the inner wings are rare and when they become available are very expensive as I believe there is only genuine ones.

If I was you I would completely strip the car and remove all the underseal, wire brush everything and see what your left with, then make the decision if your going to restore it.

Yeah thats what Im going to do (strip all underseal off and wire brush) as I suspect the reason its gone as quickly as it has is because of a mixture of the underseal
Trapping water and when Ive welded the strengthening plates in its burnt the factory protection from in the cavities and ive never reapplied any cavity wax or anything, if it doesnt look too bad after the wire brushing i might look in to soda blasting it in the prone areas.

The inner wings dont seem too bad touch wood, its the chassis rail thats concerning me, I did see one for sale a few months back, i did consider buying it as it was about £150 I wish i had now although i wouldnt know where to start fitting it myself but could have got someone to weld it in for me.

i have a couple of new Gm wings I managed to get a coulple of years ago before they all sold out and a new n/s door, could have done with the other one but was struggling to get one,

Ill deffinately need the front panel lower and headlight surrounds ( maybe full panel if i can find one not silly priced.



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