Nugget the Corsa - 17/11 Winter Prep

[vulgalour]

With the Mike's Toyota coming off the road AGAIN, this time to resolve the Exxon Valdez style slick it leaves everywhere it's parked, Nugget is getting dragged out of the cosy little garage and being pressed into daily service.

[Jim Bell]

Mrs WW is making noises about wanting a "more economical" car.

 

If this becomes surplus to requirements, do let me/her know.

[vulgalour]

Mike will need something more reliable than a Toyota before we part with Nugget so you could be waiting some time.

[vulgalour]

Bumping this one to the top again.  Mike has given Nugget a full winter prep, tickled a few hidden areas with the welder and fitted those new arch trims we bought ages ago.  Amazingly, we've had this little car nearly two years now.  When he has time, I'm sure Mike will provide new pictures and a full report on what's been done.

[320touring]

Wool:) go Nugget go!

[MikeKnight]

Yep, decided to winter prep the old girl after utterly failing to do it last year because of who I am as a person.

 

Pulled Nugget into the unit, up on the two post lift, all wheels/arch liners/bumpers off to inspect how bad the rot was.

 

 

Rust under the front and rear bumpers wasn't actually too bad. Just surface stuff really.

 

 

The spare wheel well on the other hand.. oh dear oh dear. This was taken after I'd poked at it for a bit with a screwdriver, as you do.

 

 

The sills were fairly bad at the front and rear of both sides, which is where they always go. Some large holes, some not so large holes. Nothing a bit of welding couldn't sort. Four pics of the sills.

 

Near side front.

 

 

Near side rear.

 

 

Off side front.

 

 

Off side rear.

 

 

Also some minor corrosion in the off side chassis leg at the front. I ended up plating it.

 

 

All-in-all Nugget is pretty damn solid underneath considering how old she is. This is a pic taken with just a simple clean and a hose down with water.

 

 

Anyway. Time to get out the big guns.

 

 

Cut the rot out of the spare wheel well and plated it up. Yes I know my welding is shit. I'm not a welder. It's functional and strong, I don't care if looks like a pigeon shat on it.

 

 

The upper parts of the rear arches were starting to go, so I tended to these holes as well. I couldn't be bothered making a plate for this, so..

 

 

.. yeah that looks about the right size. I've added to the value of the car.

 

 

About this time the full face welding mask died completely due to something striking the part that holds the battery. Luckily for me I have equipment that was constructed sometime in the 1800's.

 

 

.... I really need to fix the full face mask.

 

 

Now that the welding part of the job was complete I proceeded to clean the underside up and stonechip it, with underseal on top of that. It went rather well.

 

Rear arch and lip. Bumper back on.

 

 

Front arch and lip. Bumper back on.

 

 

Wheel well fully plated up (and painted with proper body colour paint and lacquer on the inside) and underside undersealed.

 

 

Sills cleaned up, painted and stonechipped.

 

 

Some of the rot at the back end looked to be creeping into places that are difficult to reach, but I'll be happy if I get two more years out of the old girl. No reason she can't keep going for more than that though.

 

I sorted out the rot on the drivers door and repainted it. I still need to do that on the bonnet lip though.

[MikeKnight]

Realised I have no pics of it with the new wheel arches on. Had a hell of a time getting the proper clips for them, the ones I was supplied all seemed way too short.

 

I'll take a pic tomorrow of the "finished" state if it's not pissing down with rain again.

[PiperCub]

Did the winter prep on my 406 the other day, all well except like your Corsa - found a bunch of rot in the back end of the sill! Guess what I'm doing next week. 

[Split_Pin]

You can buy the new arches from eBay that have the clips supplied. My arch clips were the wrong size after they came off for some tickling and are currently fibreglassed on.

 

Seems to have rusted in all the classic Corsa places apart from the front crossmember which looks near mint.

 

Get some Dinitrol in the box sections too, made a difference to mine.

 

That said I'm glad I'm not using mine this winter, the welding required was getting in the way of a new engine being fitted.

[vulgalour]

We still have this.  It's still awesome.

[plasticvandan]

I thought you sold it.it must be awesome for me not to have seen a word about it for a year!

[vulgalour]

It's always been in the background, not really going anywhere.  Stick the key in and it starts any time you need it to.  We've just had that much other stuff on, Nugget hasn't had a look in nor asked for anything.

[MikeKnight]

I've offered it for sale here a few times but it's never sold, and I'm not asking an outrageous amount for it.

 

I had to laugh when I offered it to that one guy here who popped up asking for a cheap car that was cheap to run and didn't care about looks. You don't get much cheaper to run than a 1L (1.1?) corsa b. But he outright ignored my posts.

 

"I NEED A CHEAP CAR TOMORROW"...... "no not that one"......."no not that one either"......"IT'S OKAY GUYS I BOUGHT A NEW FIESTA ON FINANCE".

 

Every time.

[Split_Pin]

Corsa posts in the main, get ignored on here, I know the feeling. Its all just a big popularity contest these days.

[Kiltox]

"I NEED A CHEAP CAR TOMORROW"...... "no not that one"......."no not that one either"......"IT'S OKAY GUYS I FOUND ONE I CAN SELL FOR A PROFIT

 

Every time.

FTFY

[SiC]

Corsa posts in the main, get ignored on here, I know the feeling. Its all just a big popularity contest these days.

I hate despise Corsa B as they were the standard issue cheap, crappy and uninspiring car when I was learning to drive. But then I like Scenic II, MGBs and other broken cars, and so my car taste isn't to be taken into too much account.

 

However many people read threads but don't post on them. Doesn't mean that people don't enjoy the content. Actually, despite me hating Corsa Bs, I am following your engine swap thread in one with a lot of interest. It's something I'd like to do one time myself and so it's interesting to see how others get on and the difficult bits.