Dedra turbo H630 XGN

[Kevinlincs]

Passenger side is much worse but still marginally better than I thought it may be.

[Kevinlincs]

Section underneath will get cut out back to the chassis rail, its been patched up before so needs tidying better.

[Kevinlincs]

Overall it looks good, not as bad as I thought it would be so that is a nice surprise, almost never is there less rust than you fear..... he says tempting fate... 
A bit in the seam near the seat belt mount so areas like this will get properly inspected.

[fay66]

Overall it looks good, not as bad as I thought it would be so that is a nice surprise, almost never is there less rust than you fear..... he says tempting fate... 
A bit in the seam near the seat belt mount so areas like this will get properly inspected.

Kevin might be worth seeing if you can check if your turbo had a recall about fumes getting back inside , something to do with the vent shown just behind the rear wheel.
Brian
8227

[frankxhv773t]

I think when it comes to Dedras the galvanising helps. I'll be watching with interests / trepidation as my Dedra is up for a sort out this year and I know there is one rust hole on the nearside sill.

[Kevinlincs]

The first of what will likely become many requests for spares, so I'll start with a long shot...
The electric aerial doesn't raise or lower under power but can be pulled up and down manually, which no doubt would drop down if tried to be used in that way.
On connecting a battery to the wires the motor whirrs away merrily, so with the mast being smooth and free that seemed odd.
On taking the mechanism apart it became apparent that someone had been in before and that not all pieces had gone back in! Or possibly a worn piece got discarded.

As all seems functional it is a shame to throw it away, so does anyone happen to have an aerial that maybe has a siezed motor or broken mast that may contain the gear that I need?
As I said, a long shot...
It's a small gear that links between the spiral gear on the motor spindle with the white plastic gears that move the long plastic raising gears.

[frankxhv773t]

It seems a funny thing to do if everything else was OK. The flexi track that goes up inside the aerial looks as though it could have been worn away at the bottom. Could the gear wheel have been taken out to isolate the motor and allow manual operation because the mechanism was worn out?

[lancianut666]

Or some clot dropped the gear wheel and lost it...mind the toothed strip does look worn at that end.

[mikeC]

That is probably a very easy fix for someone with 3-D printing experience.

[Kevinlincs]

There was quite a large dent in the drivers rear quarter panel, the bottom edge where it sits above the bumper was pushed in instead of being a gently curving line.
A portapower in the boot helped push the creased lower edge back into shape which allowed the dent to be mostly gone.

[Kevinlincs]

The passenger side rear jacking point is the first port of call on the rust removal front, no particular reason as both sides need doing. Although they have both been done already!
The previous owner had recently paid to have and rot welded up ready for an mot, I'm sure he said he'd paid £250 to have it all done. Now, that may seem like a lot of money or a bargain, depending on your point of view. Trouble is it is way too little to have been a proper job done. As was born out when the axle stand went North instead of holding the car up.
Of course I already knew the jacking point needed reconstructing but I was reluctant to just assume that the sill repairs were up to the task.
An exploratory cut out confirmed what I suspected, it was just a quick cover up job! The old rusty sections covered over with new metal which on the outside was coated with underseal but laid against the old rusty metal the corrosion quickly transfers to the new, untreated metal hidden away out of sight.

[Kevinlincs]

The only proper course of action, as always is to cut out the rot as far as is needed.
Still some more cutting out to do and some cleaning as the chassis looks worse than it is but it needs to be sound enough to last more than a year or so like it would have if left as it was.
I'll start the reconstruction next time, thought I'd got some new 1.6mm steel to hand but only 1.2mm, not a huge difference on paper but that's a 30% increase in thickness and is needed for strength in a critical area like this.

[Kevinlincs]

Best use of a wet Bank Holiday?
Get the welder out..
I'd mused over how to make a strong jacking point, not being a fan of just folded steel to put stands under I used a length of box section with a washer welded to it then that got welded to the side of the chassis rail, with strong bracing linking to the inner sill

[Kevinlincs]

New sill end made up then the end capped in, with an access hole for the 30mm grometts so it can be injected inside.
I'll make the rest of the lower inner arch later on as I may be dropping the rear axle, so that will make access a bit easier to repair the seam near the seat belt mounts

[Kevinlincs]

The drivers side sill again shows how when a car has been "repaired" you really have to be careful in assuming that means a good job has been done .

The new repairs outwardly looked OK although the rusted bottom lip that had been crumbled over very easily when jacking the car up led to thoughts that all may not be well. The metal added to make a flat jacking point was actually good and solid and could have done a good job but as it resembled an upturned box it would eventually fill with crud and rot from inside out.
So nothing for it but to cut it out and have a look.
The outer sill repair had already deleted one of the sill cover mounts but lo and behold the sill repair had just been laid over the old sill, covering the still in place plastic mount!