Classic car restorers for underbody work?

3rd_gen_Aaron · Post by **3rd_gen_Aaron** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:12 am

Hello,

I finally bit the bullet and admitted that I would never get around doing it and took my 3rd gen to Rustbusters in Spalding Saturday. I was planning a full respray and thought I'd get a specialist to sort the welding instead of the paint shop. I booked it in for the wax injection and underside coating, for the rear wheel arches to welded where it had started making a hole through the bodywork and I was going to have the rear arches to be coated in the epoxy mastic stuff if it wasn’t done after the welding. I got a call on Monday telling me that there was more rust than I thought and the work would be in the region of £3,000. They have told me that the arches are rusted inside and out; this has moved onto the sills, the front drivers side A pillar is also suffering and it has moved onto the floor and part of the sill, The passenger side has rust on the sills and on the floor.

I was expecting some welding on the inner arch and possibly the rear of the sill but the rest is a bit of a surprise, the car has had minimal issues since 2008. The MOT tester has always commented that the car was solid, I knew there was a hole on the chassis on the driver’s side and got them to repair it last year, there was no mention of the A pillar corrosion. I have also had a hole in the inner rear arch patched previously.

The car was imported from Dubai in '91 and was cavity wax injected before it left, this is still evident as all of the engine bay and around the boot seal was coated. I bought some on the Bilt Hamber cavity wax and re done it since. I am not sure if it is normal but the car appears to have mastic like paint over the underside.

Does 50+ hours of welding inc fabricating some metal sound like a lot? They also charge 50% of the quote if I don’t proceed

but I am not willing to progress without getting another price. I have asked for some photo's that I will post when I have them.

I considered looking for another 3rd gen but they all need welding work and probably respraying; a lot of them are also the ex or preface lift too. There is a couple of classic car restorers local to me I am considering such as http://mdallenengineering.com/index.php. I assume as they work on some very valuable cars the quality of the work must be good? The hourly rate is lower so it would be £500 cheaper based on 53 hours and I can visit the garages and see current work and keep an eye on things if they do mine.

What do you think?

Kind Regard,
Aaron

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:21 am

Have they done any work so far or just evaluated it? I can't see how they charge 50% of the quote (i.e. £1500!) if you don't proceed. I'd be telling them to go drokk themselves on that alone.

I had all the rust sorted on 4G (rear arches, sills, sunroof), all scrapes and dinks removed, front numberplate relocated, and a Value Sports lip kit fitted and blended for circa £1200. Although back in 2009, it was a lot of work.

Pics in here to save linking each one. http://www.shiiny.com/images/Luderepair/

3rd_gen_Aaron · Post by **3rd_gen_Aaron** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:57 am

I should have worded that better, They should have washed it with a salt remover before inspecting but I’m not sure. They will just charge half of what I asked them to do; so £200 + vat as the corrosion protection was £400+ vat.

What type of garage did you use? That sounds like a good price. I'll have to check out your link I remember looking at some of your work on Puk, very high quality

. I assume you didnt have any reoccurrence’s?

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 11:43 am

Was a spit and sawdust garage, a chap and his son that i have known for years. They don't have fancy spray booths and big salaries to pay, although the downside is that there is always a risk of dust in the paint. It is worth speaking to some independent garages and getting alternative quotes. It may be that Rustbusters don't normally tackle this kind of work, hence why they have quoted so high.

Trouble with old cars is that the damage isn't truely known until the paint is stripped back. What looked like a little blob of rust on my arches turned out to be quite severe. I was originally quoted a lot less for the job, but he called me out to take a look and said it will cost more, but he'll do his best to keep it to a minimum. I didn't actually know what it would cost until he had finished.

I hadnt budgeted for it either, so he let me pay the balance of the difference the next month when i had chance to get some money together.

I had no reoccurances, although i did sell the car a year later. Should have gone for the threatened divorce instead, but then again, the sale funds allowed me to buy the ATR

Rudelude · Post by **Rudelude** » Thu Oct 13, 2016 2:13 am

Hi Aaron I paid £1600 a few weeks back for respray of nost the car, a full lip kit sprayed and fitted, and a delock on the boot where the lock had dropped out because of rust. 3000 is top end money.. My mate had a frame of restoration of his 1989 TVR for 5g recently.. IF they are doing that amount of work Id say it's not actually a bad price. Ask if they will reduce it a little to £2500.. As the other company would.. Otherwise U will have to go to the other company. But to have a minty 3g, and if you love it... I would go for it. You won't lose out much financially in a resell and will have one of the best in the country. Good luck with whichever way you go. Hope it works out.

3rd_gen_Aaron · Post by **3rd_gen_Aaron** » Thu Oct 13, 2016 8:01 pm

Well rustbusters only deal with the repairs and the underside so finishing the outer of the bodywork will be an extra. Speaking to them again today he hasn't had a ramp free to take the photos dispite the charge being for booking the bay for two days... He has now looked with the welder and have said it's even worse and expects it to be around £4,000. They said they advise starting with a better example. Apparently the sills are completely shot and only about 2 ft looks OK.

Finding a half decent facelift 4ws 3rd gen isn't that easy though is it.

Rudelude · Post by **Rudelude** » Thu Oct 13, 2016 9:16 pm

I would definitely get a second opinion.. Probably from a smaller 1man band type who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.... May work out cheaper...

Post by **RattyMcClelland** » Thu Oct 13, 2016 9:48 pm

They are quoting high because they don't want the job.

I do the same thing......

Then the customer still books in and I have to do a full side crease respray outside.

Try a proper bodyshop, get all the welding done and bodywork mint then do the undersealing after.

Post by **DaveyBa8** » Thu Oct 13, 2016 11:29 pm

Christ that's a lot of money

3rd_gen_Aaron · Post by **3rd_gen_Aaron** » Fri Oct 14, 2016 3:35 pm

I think ratty is right with them not wanting the work, I will be sure to let people know if they have over priced it though.They are probably onto quite a earner having lower skilled/paid people clean and wax seal while the welder is booking a few hours here and there for the odd hole. I suppose its a pain if the welder isnt free and the turn around time is suposed to be two days. If this is the case I would rather they would say that it was too much work though instead of sending it to the graveyard. £200 for just looking at the car and giving a high quote isnt good either.

They said they would struggle to email the pictures (what a fair point due to the size) so I will have to see when I can get there to pick it up...

Do you think using someone that deals with classic car would likely to be more expensive due to the word 'classic'? I wont be jumping into to it again anyway.