Why Bother ??? (May contain pictures of rust*)

[Austin of England]

A while ago my lad's car failed its MOT on a couple of small items, wiper blades, discoloured indicator bulbs, and one big item - a very rotten n/s outer sill. "Dad - what can be done now?" he asked, I weighed up the options which were 1. Pay someone to fix it, 2. Weigh the car in and put the proceeds towards another motor 3. Have a go at fixing it myself. Options 1 was discounted because I am from Yorkshire, option 2 seemed a waste, what's to lose with Option 3?

 

The car in question is a 2001 Peugeot 206 1.4 - just an anonymous everyday small car, not worth much, not particularly desirable, so I asked on the relevant Peugeot forums for advice and tips - has anyone replaced a sill? how much did it cost? etc. The general consensus was Don't Bother - scrap it - a replacement can be picked for little money - not worth welding up a rusty one etc

 

So armed with the above advice I purchased a pattern sill on e-bay for £65 ordered extra MIG wire and plugged in the angle grinder and had a crack. It looks like the sill has been full of water as a result of blocked drain holes, it needed a couple of repair patches to the central sill panel and the box sections at the base of the A & B posts needed rebuilding. It took me about 2 and half weeks of spare time and weekends after which it passed its MOT, I have now spent another couple of weeks grinding, filling and painting to an almost imperceptible match* (viewed from approx. 50 yards) so the big question is

 

WHY BOTHER?? would you or would it have been a one way ticket to the bridge?

[MarvinsMom]

been a tight arse, but lacking and welding or fixing skillz i would have gone down the fixing route too.

 

plus i am often skint, and assuming that the car is mechanically fit, then surely its gotta be cheaper to fix it rather than throw it away.

 

also with another second hand car, there is no guarantee that whatever you buy won't be someone else's trouble.

 

on the other hand, if the car has a list of things wrong with it, then i would be prepared to send it over the bridge.

[jonathan_dyane]

Nice neat job. reminds me I need to inject some oil into my XM's sills...

 

Would have I gone to that level of trouble? Not for a 206...

[HMC]

Nice work! You gave 2 options- do what you did or bridge it. I suspect a third option would be the most common- lob a messy patch over it and hoy a load of underseal over the lot to satisfy the MOT.

[UltraWomble]

I would have bridged it

But then I dislike the 206 a lot.

 

But for less than a ton you can't grumble really.

Well done

[phil_lihp]

Nice work, should give that car a few more years yet.  It's always good to see real effort being put in to keeping a car in working order, especially when it saves the need to buy a new one.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

You've done a cracking job there, nice work. Is your son impressed??

[Timewaster]

Hopefully you have gone up in your sons estimation.

[Skizzer]

Not sure I would have bothered for a 206 as I'm not a big fan and don't have the tools or skills to do it myself.  

 

BUT that's irrelevant - I'm full of respect that you chose The Way of the True Shiter and took pride in prolonging the useful life of a blameless car that most people don't care about and would have killed.  Great work.  

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Good man. Looks a decent job where you've actually chopped out all the grot, rather than bleb a load of patches all over it. Are 206s prone to still rot, then? Whatever the case, you just gave your lad's motor at least another 12 months on the queen's highways.

[Pillock]

That's a bloody remarkable job, well done!

Maybe you shouldn't have bothered with a 206, but just above this thread is one with people moaning about decent cars getting scrapped....

[danthecapriman]

Very nice work.

Personally, I wouldn't have bothered on such a car but well done for getting it another years ticket and doing the job properly and not just wacking a plate over the holes and a quick coat of black.

[Austin of England]

Well my son is pleased his car is back on the road, although he hasn't had the bill yet. Fortunately my son has use of a company car for now and has agreed that in return for doing the work I will be able to use it as a winter hack.

 

I think 206s are reasonably rot proof on the whole, from what I gather the sill drain holes are a bit on the small side and block easily and some of them left the factory with the drain holes blocked with paint and sealant, the other side sill is rock solid,

 

The car came back from its first MOT with 4 holes the tester made in the sill pretty much the whole way along, there was nothing there really to weld patches to!!, below is a photo of the inside of the sill showing the rust tidemark

 

 

 

[strangeangel]

You've done a cracking job there, bet your lad is well pleased.

 

I hate welding (and I'm shit at it), grinding and lying under cars while rust falls in my eyes so I would have scrapped it straight off, so kudos to you for having the skillz to fix the heap

[philibusmo]

I would have done exactly the same. Here's to fixing slightly rubbish cars that no one wants.

[brownnova]

Muchos Shite points to you sir! An impressive job!

 

As with others I can't say I'm a fan of the 206 (at all) but if you can fix something then why not!

 

I only wish I knew how to weld!!

[doobietoo]

This just goes to show where we are in this throw away world... An easy repair costing pennies and a little time is a big deal against throwing it away and getting another one.

 

Good job !!!

[sloth]

you are that guy who got banned the other week aicmfp

[dollywobbler]

Truly this is Autoshite personified. A quality repair job on an unworthy car.

[gordonbennet]

Good man, i'm useless at welding but if the car was otherwise good, then i'd have got the job done too.

 

I do wish people who keep saying moderns, and this is a modern design, don't rust actually looked underneath a car once in a while, they don't look as rusty as once they did because the valances front and rear that used to rot like buggery are in almost all cases plastic now and/or part of the bumper if it has bumpers and so many sills are covered by plastic bodykit mouldings to give it the sporty look.

[Taff]

The motor is almost irrelevant. What you have down is shown your lad that stuff can be fixed, and at home too, with minimum of fuss and just a little effort.

Get him to do the other side under supervision next year

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Slartibartfast]

That's a pretty fine job you've done there. It makes me very sad to think of a car that has nothing wrong with it but a rusted sill going for scrap.

 

I greatly admire the ability to weld. I don't know if any of you follow Mighty Car Mods on the You Tubes but they have a series of videos where they build an "11 second sleeper" called gramps. The bit that impressed me the most out of the whole build wasn't the crazy engine or the quarter mile times, it was the guy (they call him Turbo Yoda) who fabricated all the bits to fit the engine into the car. Taking sections of steel pipe and measuring, cutting and welding them into the intake and exhaust pipes just looked so damn impressive.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

206's are good little cars, reliable, decent to drive and pretty rustproof* in the main. To me they are still a modern car, and thus well worth repairing.

[Twiggy]

That`s a very impressive job - well done !

[mouseflakes]

 I have now spent another couple of weeks grinding, filling and painting to an almost imperceptible match* (viewed from approx. 50 yards) 

 

Looks bloomin' good to me. Nice work.

[nacho man]

Job well done there. Now after all your hard work, sell it. That's what normally happens.

 

Buy another car and repeat process.

[fordperv]

The way I see it, this is the spirit of shiting, fixing a motor that is worth the square root of fuck all just because you want to, when it would be easier to just buy another, top work fella

[beko1987]

Very nice! I had a 206 2.0hdi as my first car, was great, if not a little previously crashed I think. Fond memories, I am happy that this one has been saved!

[beko1987]

Did you post on 206info? Have you posted the afters? May have a look at the thread, if only to see you rub their noses in it that you can replace a sill in a weekend, and all they can do is fit stupid fucking morette headlights and fit a stiffening bar across the front struts, and a new radio...

[Split_Pin]

You can do my car any time, your son should be very grateful!