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Rave's Fiesta Chronicle - Collection, Weldathon, MOT...then Force Hail (P4)


Rave

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I'm up before dawn having managed a surprising amount of sleep by my usual standards. Yesterday I bought some temporary insurance (£30 for 24 hours - ouch) and an advance train ticket (£23, would have been £16 had I bought it earlier in the week - ouch). My train is due in to the seller's local station at 1904 tonight; I've got something else to do in the meantime...

 

It's no secret what the car is and with any luck this won't go epically wrong, but I might as well post a few updates through the day just to keep myself amused.

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You went to Beaconsfield and didn't have a KFC Breakfast? What's wrong with you man.

Traditionally we have a KFC on the way home. I'm bailing before today's one though. Much more of a double sausage and egg man anyway.

 

The Renault van is OK, but the speed limiter only allows 61, and it can't hold that up the steepest hills on the motorway with 14 of us on board. I guess it's a 1.9 and it's very high geared, only just over 2000rpm at 61 in 6th. Probably uses less fuel than our usual Transits though. Still prefer them.

 

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Anyway we made in to Turf Moor in good time. Dunno whether to have a snooze of wonder off for a bit. Any sights worth seeing in the vicinity?

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Sorry lads. Dozed off on the train. Daz was there waiting for me when I hopped off at Alfreton.

 

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Obligatory woolard.

 

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Obligatory pez shot, after Daz kindly led me to the station in case it ran out on the way.

 

Just pulled in to Leicester Forest Services after driving through a couple of torrential showers on the M1. Quite scary TBH. Car is very nice, both to be in and to drive...much nicer than I expected! Disappointingly the KFC here is closed, which means I'm fixated on getting one now! Will press on and hope there's another.

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I didn't have a plan for the Fiesta, just thought I'd better fulfil my roffle obligations by picking it up! Then I actually dove it, and found that it's very nice indeed! Now I don't know what to do, really, because...

 

...I've just been out and had a look at it in the midday sun. I've got about 6 hours of my 24 hour insurance left and thought about popping up to the MOT station with it- it's got 5 weeks to run on the current one. However, I had a bit of a poke about underneath and found:

 

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This was the back of the sill. I peeled a strip of sticky sealant and rust off with my fingers, no screwdriver required. Is a gap between the inner and outer frowned upon? The other side is the same.

 

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This is the fuel tank (I think). Obviously not holed, but starting to go?

 

I think the killer is this though:

 

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A fairly large hole within a foot of a suspension mount. That's a guaranteed fail right there innit? :(

 

The floor doesn't look too clever either, though it doesn't look holed yet.

 

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I'm a complete ignoramus when it comes to structural repairs. Are those problems going to be more than the car's worth to rectify, or can someone who knows what they're doing with a MIG just patch it up? Quick advice needed please, as I have to get it parked up somewhere off road before 7.45pm tonight to avoid incurring further insurance expense!

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All of it is MOT fail stuff, some of it because it's within 30cm of prescribed area. To repair it properly, that's to say cut out and weld in new metal will be expensive.

 

You could either get some new sills and cut the old ones off, I'll tell you now though there will very likely be remedial work to be done on the inner sills at the bottom as well. Your other option would be to weld some sills over the top, then hope to get a few more MOTs out of it. I'd do the latter were it me.

 

The wing you can just weld a pattern one on or glassfibre it, or expanding foam in it then fill it.

 

The rest of it I'd plate over it. The bit at the back of the floor might be interesting, the tank and fuel filter are directly behind it. The rusty floor, I'd check it's not 'through' then I'd wire brush it back then swat several coats if underseal and Waxoyl over it. I don't know what your welder charges but I'd ask him, probably a fair few hundred. I'll get flamed for saying this but unless you are into restoring it I'd do the above otherwise you are in for some serious wallet and hand interface.

 

This is all before you've found the token corroded brake pipes as they go over the fuel tank or the front suspension arms that will have the bushes starting to debond.

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