Just had my classic mini rust treated. Anyone from the locostbuilders font of knowledge maybe put my mind at ease.
Anyone had their car professionally rust treated before?? Booked mine in and dropped it off at 9 o clock this morning at a place near peterboro that
is quite well recommended on a number of car forums when i searched around for places that do it. They just rang 20 minutes ago to say that its all
finished, now the treatment includes.
Inspection for rot
Removal of loose rust and paint
Application of rust coverter to vehicle underside including suspension components
Cavity injection to all chassis members, subframes, door interiors, sills etc as per Dinitrol application diagram
Also when the car arrives it is given a salt removal process and dried with infrared.
at £250 plus vat i am surprised at how it is done so quickly, and to be honest a little suspicious hence my post.
Any rustproofing experts that can advise me i would be grateful.
About right don't for get they do everyday all day and have the right kit, a lot of the time it takes is letting all ther cavities drip dry so it doesn't make a mess of your drive way.
I bet its started rusting before you can even get the shell back home
just check it over.
ive seen my old bimmer done in a day. but to be honest there was 3 people on with it on ramps and crazy speed like they had been at a rave and had
party drugs....
Got the diagram from dinitrol so will give it a good going over, also they have got back to say they have snapped one of my wheelnuts. And they are going to see what they can do. Well it will be going nowhere till it is fixed, so i suggested that fixing it before i get it back is probably wise.
NO rust proofing expert as all my British cars eventually dissolved .. despite my best efforts.
Did learn a bit from the experiences tho.
Rust treatments don't last long.. true and proven while most simply don't work.
Once had a car Ziebarted. Cost almost as much as you overpaid.. but they would only treat new cars And require an annual redo to maintain their No
Rusting warranty.
Didn't Minis have foam filled sills? My 3 S's certainly did. Sills were the first bits to dissolve, either because of or despite the
foam.
MY short answer to rust delay and possibly prevention: is to park your car indoors.. Always.
quote:
Originally posted by BareDidn't Minis have foam filled sills? .
I would love to park him indoors, but my haynes roadster is in the garage and also the garage is rubbish as it certainly isnt very dry (Rented of
council and still better than outside) Also sills have been changed, but yes they are originally foam filled. The mini is my daily driver as i work
offshore and having cars is a luxury as i dont really need one. Looked around for other places that do rust treatment and all much of a muchness
pricewise plus the cost and hassle of doing it myself, and getting cold and covered in crap rather pay for it to be done and have looked everywhere
for places that do it, tis my third mini over the years, and if it remotely works then compared to the cost of bodywork repairs it will be money well
spent, company used are quite well recommended across the net, as per first post just seems very quick.
3 Cooper S's imagine wht they would be worth if you stiil had them, lordy lordy.
quote:
Originally posted by Bare
NO rust proofing expert as all my British cars eventually dissolved .. despite my best efforts.
Did learn a bit from the experiences tho.
Rust treatments don't last long.. true and proven while most simply don't work.
Once had a car Ziebarted. Cost almost as much as you overpaid.. but they would only treat new cars And require an annual redo to maintain their No Rusting warranty.
Didn't Minis have foam filled sills? My 3 S's certainly did. Sills were the first bits to dissolve, either because of or despite the foam.
MY short answer to rust delay and possibly prevention: is to park your car indoors.. Always.
quote:
Originally posted by Bare
MY short answer to rust delay and possibly prevention: is to park your car indoors.. Always.
Don't talk to me about rusty Minis 
I've had 3 new ones and they all dissoved quickly ....
Only cure for established rust is new panels or a new shell.
I've still got my 1993 Italian Job Mini - after 5 years had new rear subframe, sills & A-panels.
Now needs bonnet, door skins, sills again, rear valence, front valence, windscreen scuttle panel and probably a lot more.
What Minis are we talking about with foam filled sills?
as i have had numerous Mini's from 1965-80's models, and have never encouted any foam when cutting and welding new sills
and pretty well all of them have had at least one pair
or maybe the foam dissolves quicker than the metal in our British climate
The only foam filled ones I have seen is where someone has purchased a load of rubbish that has had expanding foam squirted into the sills, flattened
and painted to get a dodgy MOT.
Much easier than newspaper and filler, technology has moved on.
I'm not prejudiced against Mini's, but, THEY ROT, for a Living AND a Hobby.
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I'm not prejudiced against Mini's, but, THEY ROT, for a Living AND a Hobby.
Only thing the Mini ever came with in the sills or in any other bodywork was rust.
Cheers,
Bob
1959/60 Mini's had foam in the sills , think it was there to soak up the water that got in and make them rust quicker
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
1959/60 Mini's had foam in the sills , think it was there to soak up the water that got in and make them rust quicker
I've spent many hours rolling around under Minis filling my eyes with rust and then dropping hot metal down my ear'oles and never found any to have foam in the sills, however a quick Google suggests that a few of the very early ones did. Every day is a school day...
Austin-Rover switched to a Zinc coated steel on most models in the early 1990s --- made a big difference but not sure if it ever got used on the
Mini & Metro.
Very very early (1959/1960) Minis had foam filled sills but they ditched and fitted drain ducts when the changed the way the sill was welded to the
floor pan because of major water ingress problems.
What a good idea, build and sell an icon. but with sponges in the sills, so car falls to bits, and buyer buys another, and another , and another
Its actually quite brilliant !!
Most of the mini sill's I've seen are filled with the remains of the previous 3-4 rusted sills that have had another one slapped over the top.
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
1959/60 Mini's had foam in the sills , think it was there to soak up the water that got in and make them rust quicker
My 59 mini didn't have any foam in the sills and I've had them in lots of other guises from 62 through to 88 and I have welded various parts on all of them and can say there was no foam of any description in any of them. The only car I have ever seen anything like it in was an Alfasud.
Back then they were still learning about unitary body-chassis units. In those days manufacturers did not even make any attempt to paint inside the
box sections. In the 1950s the Austin side of BMC were producing structures that were a generation ahead of (nearly) every other high volume
manufacturer what they didn't understand was how much condensation and water ingress would end up in the closed volumes.
[Edited on 14/11/11 by britishtrident]
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
1959/60 Mini's had foam in the sills , think it was there to soak up the water that got in and make them rust quicker
My 59 mini didn't have any foam in the sills and I've had them in lots of other guises from 62 through to 88 and I have welded various parts on all of them and can say there was no foam of any description in any of them. The only car I have ever seen anything like it in was an Alfasud.
My 59 Mini did , took a while to dig it out when the sills were replaced IIRC they did away with the foam around about the same time as they replaced the 4 blade fan with the 12? blade metal item and stopped fitting cranks with an oil feed to the primary gear and the extra oil seal in the flywheel
Single leading shoes on the front lasted until 1964 . changed to twin leading shoes at the same time as the larger crank nose and diaphragm clutch was introduced. One thing that changed early on was the one piece fan housing which was replaced with a two piece part to enable the water pump to be replaced without removing the engine
Just picked up the mini, given a good inspection and they have neglected to do the doors, so i can definately recommend not using a company near Spalding to rust treat your mini. Breaking my wheel nut is one of those things that happen, but considering they have had the car 4 days (Waiting for replacment wheel nuts till yesterday) you think the job would have been done properly. They even needed pushing as to what do to rectify the doors not being done eg Send me some rust converter and dinitrol so i can do the job properly myself.