2009 CashCow - Glowplug code gone!

[beko1987]

4 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Now sadly I'm old enough to remember when you could buy cheap MIG welders with permanently live torches.I bet they were fun to use!

Probably forced the user to become really fucking good at using them very quickly though 😂

[sierraman]

14 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Now sadly I'm old enough to remember when you could buy cheap MIG welders with permanently live torches.I bet they were fun to use!

A few nights of the old hot sand in the eye experience… 😂

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Dobloseven said:

Now sadly I'm old enough to remember when you could buy cheap MIG welders with permanently live torches.I bet they were fun to use!

I'm pretty sure you still can - a mate had a cheap Chinese eBay MIG no more than about 5 years ago which had a permanently live torch.  It does keep one on one's toes.

[beko1987]

I got the bumper off! Under the passenger side trim was all full of what I knocked out

And 1 screw seized but the whole lot is floppy enough to be unbolted and come off with it together

Here's what's left of the passenger corner 

And this shows the densely packed mud then bodywork that rained out

What follows is quite grim, my question with these photos now is can it be saved (or can I afford to get it saved/is it worth it etc). The actual boot floor is fine and solid (I poked a fair bit, I'm going to poke some more), it's just the outer skin on both sides. 

 

 

[goosey]

At least the bumper will cover up any repairs you do so they don’t have to be perfect 

[beko1987]

21 minutes ago, goosey said:

At least the bumper will cover up any repairs you do so they don’t have to be perfect 

That's more and more where I'm heading. Back to saving up but I wonder if I could get it through another mot... 

The actual boot floor is fine, I've been pissing about after the horse bolted since I bought it anyway

And bar tyres which will be annoying when I need them after the work I've done so far, it could have some miles in it with zero more expenditure 🤔

Lesson learnt. I do like these, and now I know them a bit better I'll be checking the boot corners after I've said hello to whoever...need to save up again though 🙄

I'll put the bumper back on now

[jonathan_dyane]

Was it a Scottish car?

Option 1: weld up properly 

Option 2: get rid

Option 3: cut out rust with tin snips and pop rivet in patches with alloy plate and camouflage for MOT

Option 4: fiberglass matting and resin

Option 5: mesh then hairy bodge

[Dyslexic Viking]

If you're thinking of trying to get what you can out of this, maybe it's filler/fiberglass time?

A demonstration of what's possible.

 

[Dobloseven]

As Steve Harley out of Cockney Rebel would say,"It's only metal......"Seriously,nice easy welding job,that.Easy access,no need for it to look particularly tidy,decent distance from the ground,so no need to be rolling on the floor.Get it done!

[MrBiscuits]

An MOT tester is unlikely to find that. They can't remove the bumper or any of the arch liners. I'd wager a lot of cashcows and other cars are in a similar state under all the plastic and their owners are oblivious.

Honestly if it's not letting in water, I'd be putting that bumper back on and driving it until something else expensive goes pop.

[beko1987]

37 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

An MOT tester is unlikely to find that. They can't remove the bumper or any of the arch liners. I'd wager a lot of cashcows and other cars are in a similar state under all the plastic and their owners are oblivious.

Honestly if it's not letting in water, I'd be putting that bumper back on and driving it until something else expensive goes pop.

It is letting water in (when it rains) from the spray. Waterproof is now the kind of repair I'm going for...

Bar a small hole on one edge that I'd need to fill it fully hidden behind the bumper from underneath, the metal work hiding it is solid. 

If the tester can pull the boot carpet back then I'll have to do a tidy job inside, otherwise I can glue the carpet down.

I only had  few year plan for this anyway. I've been burned a bit now, but if I could blag an mot in sept, then get another winter out if it I could try again in 2026 knowing much more about where to look...

I forgot the foam that lives behind the rear bumper after doing a bloody solid job cable tying it back on 🙄 I'll refit it when I'm back in there Bodging it up

I also removed the nut from the broken bit of heatshield, fitted an big washer and did the nut back up incase it cures a rattle. 

On a mildly serious note I've sent pics to a mate I have who used to weld up cars, but fucked it off years ago as he got older. He also said it's physically doable but is it worth it? But is going to have words with people he known incase it can be done properly for £not alot.

At least it's still drivable. But this changes my plans a bit. The aux belt and tensioner can wait now, the belt is a bit cracked but will be fine. Cba looking at the aircon now, it is mildly cold though so maybe a cheap recharge in a can might work?

The android auto head unit is agnostic bar the fascia trim so as long as the next car as a double din slot that's not wasted money either.

I don't have to worry about dinking or scraping it now I guess 🤷 Honeymoon over 😂 Although it's still really nice to drive, is doing 54.8mpg over a wide varied mix of driving and I feel big and high up and important 😢

[beko1987]

51 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Was it a Scottish car?

Option 1: weld up properly 

Option 2: get rid

Option 3: cut out rust with tin snips and pop rivet in patches with alloy plate and camouflage for MOT

Option 4: fiberglass matting and resin

Option 5: mesh then hairy bodge

Wore an Irish plate according to the v5 so I imagine mud has featured in its life alot.

I spent 20 minutes with that rust converter and a screwdriver under it whilst the bumper was off and letting more light in. Everything is solid, and if I smash rust converter over it all now, then drive for 3 months it might earn it a "general underbody corrosion" and be done with it.

As long as it is safe, that's the main thing. I imagine a crash big enough to need those back bits of metal is gonna hurt regardless of if it's there or not 🤷

[loserone]

I hate to agree with sierraman but I would be getting a cheap gasless welder and a filing cabinet on there.  It's virtually zero risk welding practice.

[Shoysty]

MOT tester won't be worried about that , not near any suspension mounts etc , not a difficult thing to weld but in your situation would clean up and fibreglass it as others have said , last a few years then

[sierraman]

Fibreglass kit in Toolstation, £13.28. Get it done today then move on with life. 

[Tickman]

Some great access for a repair.

There wouldn't be too much work at all getting that solid enough for a few years.

[beko1987]

33 minutes ago, Tickman said:

Some great access for a repair.

There wouldn't be too much work at all getting that solid enough for a few years.

Would I have to fully hide it all from the outside view? I'd have to get a good line and edge on 2 parts of it if so, if I can just wrap it around the corner into view then smooth it down and paint the whole inner arch in cheap gloop that might be better.

Inside the access isn't too bad either with the boot mildly stripped . Enough to make the inside smooth then maybe some cheap silver paint to take a glancing eye off it should anyone ever look 🤔

There was me thinking this car isn't very autoshite and here we are planning to wob it up like it's a 5 year old Cortina 👌

[meshking]

Have you fibreglassed this yet? Seriously, just get it done. Now the bumper is off, and you’ve treated the rust, it doesn’t make any sense to do anything else. If you had a welder, yadda yadda, but you don’t . That’s not worth buying one, just fibreglass, seam sealer, paint, bumper back on and get on with your life

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Would I have to fully hide it all from the outside view? I'd have to get a good line and edge on 2 parts of it if so, if I can just wrap it around the corner into view then smooth it down and paint the whole inner arch in cheap gloop that might be better.

Inside the access isn't too bad either with the boot mildly stripped . Enough to make the inside smooth then maybe some cheap silver paint to take a glancing eye off it should anyone ever look 🤔

There was me thinking this car isn't very autoshite and here we are planning to wob it up like it's a 5 year old Cortina 👌

It is 100% Autoshite, it’s 16 years old. GRP job will outlast the car, like I said realistically you could expect 2 years tops possibly 3 out of it most likely. It’s not going to be a heirloom to hand down to the kids, I wouldn’t worry about some repair lasting 10 years etc, it’ll be bean tins long long before then. 

[beko1987]

I agree. This always was a dip in the water of a modern-er car, I'm not going to spend tons on it, especially now! Still not got past the first mot in my ownership 😂

I've got a local friend too I've found who has done Fibreglass stuff in the past. He says he has sheets of the Fibreglass, I'd just need a litre of resin which is £20 from Toolstation 

[beko1987]

47 minutes ago, meshking said:

Have you fibreglassed this yet? Seriously, just get it done. Now the bumper is off, and you’ve treated the rust, it doesn’t make any sense to do anything else. If you had a welder, yadda yadda, but you don’t . That’s not worth buying one, just fibreglass, seam sealer, paint, bumper back on and get on with your life

The bumper is back on now, but I am going to Fibreglass it. Probably later this month.

I was never going to buy a welder over this, would cost a fortune in time and money that, as everyone agrees on (and that's been nice to hear, a resounding agreement on an fix) would be pointless. When I was 17 and had a series 3 landrover parked on my mums drive I should have done it there and then and who knows how good I'd be nowadays. But that ship is long sailed! 

Its parked back up now, I don't need to drive until Tuesday 🤷

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, beko1987 said:

I agree. This always was a dip in the water of a modern-er car, I'm not going to spend tons on it, especially now! Still not got past the first mot in my ownership 😂

I've got a local friend too I've found who has done Fibreglass stuff in the past. He says he has sheets of the Fibreglass, I'd just need a litre of resin which is £20 from Toolstation 

Get the surface clean where it bonds, use some plastic as a former and just layer it up with the coarse grade mat. Paste it over with paint of your choice. Job done! 

[Dobloseven]

If you've got a welder and some sheet metal,welding is quicker and cleaner than fibreglassing.I hate the stuff, especially the smell and the cleaning up.Used to do some body "repairs" with that thin aluminium sheet that used to be used behind gas fires.You could cut it with scissors and shape it easily.Think if I wasn't welding,I'd perhaps try that and stick it into place.

[Shoysty]

Could even use expanding foam to reform whats missing ?

[UltraWomble]

On 09/05/2025 at 19:05, beko1987 said:

Horse

Stable Door

Bolted

[Mally]

1 hour ago, Shoysty said:

Could even use expanding foam to reform whats missing ?

I like this one.

There's a big lump of expanding foam type stuff in my garage that I forgot to stick back in the rear bumper when I fitted the towbar to my 75.

[UltraWomble]

1 hour ago, Shoysty said:

Could even use expanding foam to reform whats missing ?

Dont be silly - you need some Ramen Noodles & super glue.

[Tickman]

10 hours ago, Shoysty said:

Could even use expanding foam to reform whats missing ?

That would make short work of rotting the rest out when it soaked up any water 

[Mally]

2 hours ago, Tickman said:

That would make short work of rotting the rest out when it soaked up any water 

Some foams are waterproof.

[captain_70s]

Beyond economical repair at normal welding rates. Most cars of that age are probably going to be similar under splash panels and plastic trims.

The easiest fix to keep water out would be to plastic sheeting over it inside and out...

You could get a plate of 0.8mm steel and adhesive/rivet it over the holes.

I wouldn't bother with fibreglass. It's horrible stuff and to bridge those gaps you'll need some mesh or something to give it support.