hairymel Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 cross posted from the other place there will be questions at the end so please pay attention after 3 years of abuse and no servicing, apart from occasionally topping the oil up when it sounded empty, my daily drive mk4 fiesta was due for an mot. loathing the thought of the time involved in playing catchup with all the bits that had fallen off in the last 2 years, i was on the lookout for something reliable, practical and cheap on fuel, and most importantly needing no work as my playtime is limited as it is :-/ bearing all this in mind i was immediately attracted to this http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=bugmot&thread=114761&page=1 checking out ebay for prices i saw that the car was listed and due to finish in a few hours. weighing everything up i set a auto bid up and retired for the evening. when i finally dragged myself out of bed i was the proud owner of a megane 2.0 sport coupe pics from ad: buoyed by the thought of a williams clio in drag with leather, electric things, cupholders etc i chose to overlook the short mot,no history ,no tax and broken windscreen. (and the fact that i had not even seen the car in the flesh!) a harrowing 50 mile 2hr cross country journey followed, with my dad providing one of the scariest passenger experiences in recent memory arriving in the dark i just wanted to get the keys, pay the man and go home. the vendor(ianarthur), and my dad, showing concern for my welbeing suggested i might like to look over the car and perhaps take a test drive. to appease them i took the car for a run around the block, and it was apparent that the clutch was really heavy and a bit snaggy in its operation. i returned to have a chat with ian who said 'they all do that guv' (not direct quote ) and that he had changed the cable recently. not overly concerned as it still went forwards, backwards and changed direction with a leather steering wheel, i thrust the money into ian's hands and after a bit of a chat made my way to the local filling station to attend to the orange fuel light. i was pleasantly surprised to find that the pump stopped at £56. i was not so pleased to find that only £52 of fuel was in the tank the rest of it was gushing from under the car. presently the flow of fuel stopped, i went to the cashier, paid, mentioned i had spilled a bit of fuel and made my way to the nearest car park for a bit of investigation. no more liquid was seen to be escaping so a conference was convened at the nearby mc'd's . coffee and a cigarette later it was decided to press on. this is when it became apparent buying the car may have been a mistake there were no cupholders :'( another minor niggle was that the trip computer is stuck on average mph. 26.5 is not a sexy speed to be showing driving slowly(i thought) to allow my dad to follow me and reeling from the petrol fumes permeating the interior of the car we eventually got back alive. apparently my dads golf gti(fsi) had to be pushed hard to keep up ;D a bit of late night google mechanics filled me with dread as there was much talk of distorted plastic fuel tanks (the car had recently had a replacement fuel sender and renault say if the lock ring isn't replaced within 5 minutes the tank is scrap) a actual physical inspection the next day showed the sender sealing o ring to be dislodged and either distorted or too big. lowering the priority of this fault by vowing to only half fill the tank i got on with looking at the clutch problem. re routing the cable to avoid sharp bends seemed to make the action a lot smoother but it was still heavy. this problem was solved by pretending it's normal and being surprised whenever i drive something else and stamp the clutch pedal through the floor ;D happy that all the outstanding issues had been dealt with (apart from cupholder/trip computer) i embarked on my customary 'new car gets washed at least once in my ownership' the full valet yielded a carrier bag of stuff to bin.notable keepers included a x head screwdriver, a broken pair of welding clamps, some blue nail polish and 12 pence. the engine bay clean highlighted some corrosion in the bulkhead/battery tray area that had been thoughtfully repaired with a skim of fiberglass and some duct tape. in two minds what to do about it i adjusted the bonnet to even out the gaps and made the grill sections fit much worse than before : that was as far as i got as work and the early dusk cut down available time to fiddle, so for the next few weeks i contented myself with seeing how the potholed essex back roads affected the windscreen crack (it thrived ) come friday 17th we knocked off for christmas (yay ) so into the unit goes the megane. its only a few bits of plastic to remove to be on the safe side the offending area after a bit of a prod armed with some previously unused torx bits , a printout of the renault service manual, some coffee and a soon to be dashed optimistic outlook i plunged into the repair. removing the arch liner revealed a lot of fibreglass oozing through a big holenext to the suspension turret dash removal started remove road-wheels to disconnect wiring loom : start of a big pile of plastic each cup has the fixings from each removal operation. every one of the (what seem like hundreds of) connectors undoes a different way. loom for heater blower is trapped underneath the ducting, the plastic cover at the bottom of the windscreen needs to come off for access. to remove cover remove windscreen wipers. to remove windscreen wiper use 3 legged puller if hammers vice grips and swearing are ineffective. if your daily is in bits and your pullers are 12 miles away, do not pass go do not collect £200 end of day 1 ................... day2 borrow pullers from nearby garage , remove bonnet for access, always remembering to disconnect the washer tubing before you single handedly manhandle said bonnet, otherwise bad things happen to the tube easier access prompted me to have a further poke about which made more apparent the scale of the repair the lighter yellow/brown is actually the cabin sound deadening material! fibreglass de-oozed from underneath the inner wing remains of repair and rot removed with fingers only ??? i was hoping for a small patch :'( dash further out view from in the drivers footwell from the other side not sure what happened next, i didnt take many pics as i was up to my neck in despair but there seem to be none of the rot being cut out or the patches being fudged in. basically i cut out all of the area and about 4 inches up of the engine side and replaced it in 4 bits. plate in hole above footwell, plate in hole in inner wing, section around the front of the bulkhead from strut top to near the middle of the bulkhead with flange to the bottom. plate welded to the other 3 to cover the hole above the servo all i can give you is a picture of a van wing with a piece of paper on top ;D I seem to have lost some days somewhere also cos its now day 6...... everything slathered in hammerite por i then threw a load of upol brushable seam sealer on. this has gone a bit wrong as the two react quite badly. unfortunately i have only managed a under the arches standard repair, its taken 6 days and the car is still not back on its wheels. other than that all's well ;D time spent : 6 precious day and counting cost: £358 +coffee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felly Magic Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 You need to sort that fuel tank out PDQ mate too. Those fumes can cause you to pass out at the wheel. That is some serious grot you found there as well. I hope the rest of the shell isn't that fudged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairymel Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 question 1: should i have not bothered and just fixed the (smokey) fiesta question 2: is it ever acceptable to do a repair that you think is a bit shit, but is 100 million times better than what it replaces? question 3: should i just whack more seam sealer on and hope for the best? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairymel Posted December 22, 2011 Author Share Posted December 22, 2011 Felly - no fumes now the o ring is re-seated. it looks like the pressure of fuel when brimmed pushes the ring out of position. half full tank until i get a new seal looks like acid spill left and then just sploshed over with p40 and left to rot. i hope there are no more surprises, i'm a bit far into it now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Father Ted Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Holy foooooooooooook Wll done on the repair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod/b Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Good effort. I'd have weighed that in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoadworkUK Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Wow, best example of keeping the faith I've seen in a long time. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volksy Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Blimey, thats mental. Well done for seeing it through! I'd have taken one look at that mess and got rid! Not far off my old Saab 9-3 in number plates, that was S55APG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Now that's Autoshite! Great stuff. I'll take a slightly unprofessional repair over glassfibre bodging any day of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Bo11ox Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Blimey, Fair play to you for getting involved in that, I must say i would probably have fed it into a massive diesel-powered mincing machine. I took the dashboard out of a Renner 21 turbo back in the day and the number of clips and bits of placca that twanged off and broke all over the place was hellish, i thought the dashboard would squeak and rattle for ever after that (it did). I imagine this will be quite a nice drive when its up and running though, what h0rse powah is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashmicro Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Brave man. Best of luck with it, they're quite nice when they're sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cort16 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Bloody hell I didn't think these things rusted like that. Looks like an awkward bit to get into too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooters Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 that rot is outrageous - BL in damage and spread! mind you it doesn't surprise me - every post 2000 renner I have owned has been made to l;ast about 5 years - the pishpoor electrics seem to back that up - oh and the fact that Renner does not stock parts or tech support cars older than 10 years old throwaway items Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M'coli Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 That's quite a repair, I think it's the amount of dashboard that you had to take out to repair it that makes it all the more heroic. Personally, I'd rather have a strong but imperfect repair than shonky fibreglass myself. On the subject of seam-sealer, it's best to use this first and then paint over it when it's dry as the solvents in the sealer will lift most paints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cort16 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I zinc primered all my bare metal bits then seam sealered over it and it didn't seem to lift the sealer.I hate hammerite everytime I use it something goes wrong as it either reacts with something or refuses to go off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morris_ital_lover Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Hairymel... you seem to have form with these motors, what with you epic Sunbeam "294" rebuild! (Hows that goiiing BTW?!) The williams bit should be awesome... shame about the renault bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselnutjob Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 amazing amount of rust for such a young car. I was just as surprised when I found that the floor was not longer attached to the sill on my X reg 607 well done for saving it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lobster Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 oh and the fact that Renner does not stock parts or tech support cars older than 10 years old Don't know where you heard / imagined that but it is WRONG. As someone who still buys parts for older stuff direct from my Renault dealer I reckon I know. Theres plenty of stuff still available for even really old stuff direct from Renault and the older models are very well supported. Certainly a lot better than Ford for example. They're a nice thing those Meganes though. At least when they are sorted anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad D. Conelrad Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 That rot I really wouldn't have expected that on such a recent car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatdaft Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Recent? its a 98! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RENOMAD Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Recent? its a 98! Renaults of that age don't have rot like that. The battery must have been leaking over a prolonged period Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatdaft Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 pish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RENOMAD Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 pish. excuse me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooters Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 oh and the fact that Renner does not stock parts or tech support cars older than 10 years old Don't know where you heard / imagined that but it is WRONG. Parts dept in my local Renner Main Stealer. I always got parts from independent factors as could not rely on Renner to get them to me quickly - according to the same dealer Renner UK do not hold a UK based parts distribution centre - all has to come from France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RENOMAD Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 oh and the fact that Renner does not stock parts or tech support cars older than 10 years old Don't know where you heard / imagined that but it is WRONG. Parts dept in my local Renner Main Stealer. I always got parts from independent factors as could not rely on Renner to get them to me quickly - according to the same dealer Renner UK do not hold a UK based parts distribution centre - all has to come from France Well thats a load of oul shite anyway.. Renault's UK Parts depot is in Lutterworth and they share the same warehouse with NISSAN. I have been there to view the operation this time last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad D. Conelrad Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Recent? its a 98!It's modern enough that I wouldn't expect any serious rot on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Blimey that's exceptional. I've seen newer cars with inexplicable rot on a hidden and localized basis like that before, but its usually because of accident damage is some other disturbance to the body, such as battery acid. Good on you for tackling it though, I'm going to get a welder in the new year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter9000uk Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I am wondering if there is a blocked drain in there somewhere hence the rot. Never seen one rot there before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig the Princess Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 That is amazing! I'm not sure there are many people in the world who would have done that much work for that car. You da man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatdaft Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Recent? its a 98!It's modern enough that I wouldn't expect any serious rot on it. Alot of moderns rust much newer than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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