2009 CashCow - Oil change

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

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.

I've got a local friend who says he'll help, he even has Fibreglass sheets and has done boats in the past. No idea how successful those endeavors were but the car doesn't have to float!

Mesh is a fair idea, would be easier to mould to the curved shape too I guess and make the inside passable at a glance (I might get some cheap cans of the body colour and spray the inside once done so it doesn't look a different colour or etc. Then maybe hide it more with cheap dynamat in those corners and across the boot floor to pretend I'm dampening down noise 🤔

[sierraman]

17 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

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.

But he hasn’t got a welder…

[Dobloseven]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

But he hasn’t got a welder…

But if he had, the job would be done,seamsealed,painted, rustproofed and reassembled,without fearing the MOT testers gaze.And beko could get on with worrying about his head unit,his clutch and all the other delights of keeping an old car alive.He likes the car and has spent a lot of time and money on it already.It's probably at a bit of a sweet spot parts wise,with stuff cheaply and easily available,new and used.Worth looking after, I'd say.

[sierraman]

I would weld it but I’ve got a welder, if you haven’t got one or cba with learning it or whatever then it’s Hobson’s Choice. Either live with the hole or rivet a bit of tin over it or fibreglass it. 

[andy18s]

Tbh the metal is going to be too thin to learn how to weld with.

The easily formed mesh and rivets,with some sealing fibreglass would be my choice if the cars not a keeper.

[hairnet]

21 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

Horse

Stable Door

Bolted

 

horse had already changed trains(that meme joke)

[wuvvum]

5 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

But if he had, the job would be done,seamsealed,painted, rustproofed and reassembled,without fearing the MOT testers gaze.

 

 

[beko1987]

Took my gran up the road yesterday as she wanted some shopping and she likes the qq! Says it's easier to get into the front seat than dad's enyaq, there side bolster ridge is too high on his 🙄 Got to park it in a blue badge space too.

She liked my head unit as well, mostly the reversing camera. She doesn't drive currently as she's got a bad back and reversing into a space is impossible for her as she can't move about as much. She drives in and reverses out as she can see more (but inside I cN picture the utter oap horror show that occurs each time...) My uncle had a rear view mirror screen camera fitted to his car and she expressed similar interest. Then she said they paid the thick end of £350 and I told her I'd have a look about and fit it for her, it's probably the same cheap co-ax shit mine is at its heart. They've only got a Hyundai i10, it can't be that hard

Wob action has picked back up, I get paid this week so will get resin and mesh, my mate says he'll dig out his Fibreglass sheets in the week. Now it's been raining it'll be required more, been fine in the dry heat so far this month 😂

It does knock from the rear at low speeds though. Radio cures it, and it's mildly worse since I was pissing about back there, I don't think I fully clipped all the liners back tight. Once the holes are filled and it's going back together properly I'll make sure everything is tight and rule out plastic rattle. If it's got a weak bush back there I'll wait for the mot to pick it up, if it passes otherwise there's some smoll droplinky type things on the rear axle that are prone to going 

[Markeh]

I followed a similar aged one on the M6 the other day, fully laden in the back with some interesting* negative camber - to the point where I questioned the integrity of the rear suspension.

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, Markeh said:

I followed a similar aged one on the M6 the other day, fully laden in the back with some interesting* negative camber - to the point where I questioned the integrity of the rear suspension.

Hopefully thats normal... Walking up behind mine parked on a flat driveway empty I thought I could see camber on the rear wheels... Tyre wear is fine so hopefully it sorts itself out when weight goes in/my grans drive is just funny 🤞

[hairnet]

On 24/05/2025 at 16:07, beko1987 said:

Hopefully thats normal... Walking up behind mine parked on a flat driveway empty I thought I could see camber on the rear wheels... Tyre wear is fine so hopefully it sorts itself out when weight goes in/my grans drive is just funny 🤞

Bekos world Is on the piss?

Take it somewhere you know is flat m9

[beko1987]

I bought my, er, welding supplies today 👌

A friends going to find his Fibreglass sheets ans the plan can be formed.

[sierraman]

It’s pretty straightforward to be honest, forget any notion of cleaning the brush out. Layer it up with plenty of coarse sheets bonded onto clean metal. 

[beko1987]

It's wobmas eve.

We're due a thunderstorm overnight but dry again tomorrow. So I pulled the car round, pulled it's arse off and spent half an hour with a wire brush and the rust converter, then gave that an hour to dry.

My mate who is coming to help me tomorrow said to mix up some resin and paint a thin layer of that all over it so it helps it stick tomorrow, so I've just basted the turkey

I'll need to find a sheet to cover the rear wheels tomorrow, loads of resin dropped down the drivers side one.

 

[beko1987]

Covered it from the rain thats coming. I don't think I used enough hardener as it's still tacky but equally it's got until mid morning tomorrow so 🤷

Part of me did wonder if I could just layer up bin bags and resin but I'll try it properly once first...

[Dobloseven]

Personally,I'd have used an angle grinder with a grinding disc or flap wheel and got the metal a lot cleaner than that.But best of luck and be interesting to see how it turns out.It is evil stuff to use though.The smell alone makes me feel ill.And if you get it on your hands,you end up with sticky paw prints everywhere!Bfg is our resident GRP genius.He seems able to make and repair anything with the stuff.He'd probably make a complete bodyshell to convert a rusty Quashquai into a two seat sports car!

[Dobloseven]

Perhaps drill some small holes in the metal to help the fibreglass key into it.

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Perhaps drill some small holes in the metal to help the fibreglass key into it.

There's tons of those already 🤣

I don't have an angle grinder either. I could have drill brushed it a bit, I've got a tiny wire wheel for that but the metal is so thin around the edges I'll loose tons of material and make the hole even bigger. It's reasonably clean, I chiseled all the loose and flakey bits off with a screwdriver, it'll be fine*! I probably should have cleaned it all down, that black shite is the rust converter where I painted it over the paint and scrubbed it into every rust pore there was

I think I fucked up mixing the epoxy though, because I didn't make a batch that's marked on my measuring cup thing (that came with the rust converter) and just sloshed a tiny bit in a Butter pot I didn't add enough hardener and it's still mildly tacky this morning 😬

Hoping once we mix a properly ratio'd batch up it'll sort everything out 🤞 Not getting cracking until later this morning, my mate's out until later.

I got some in my hair too, that wasn't fun to pull out. I did buy gloves though 👌

[sierraman]

It’ll be fine, if it lasts a few years who gives a shit, it’s better than a big hole there. 

[beko1987]

Turns out my friend couldn't stay and help today, so I went in blind-ish 😬

This stuff falls apart as soon as it's touched 😡

This resin is a twat toi

And my first attempt was woeful and fell off.  I cut most of it off and had another think.

I re did my mesh from the inside and fibreglassed that down

This made the outside far nicer so I started layering up the drivers side a bit

It won't fold and stay around the edge it needs to so it's got clothes pegs holding it now

I'm giving it an hour to cure, and I have an hour to find more brushes 😡 Gone through half a tub of the resin too, I'm not doing it right, but I'm hoping I'm doing it right enough.

The gloves I bought are fucking shit too, the resin eats them. I'm wearing them now whilst having a coffee and typing thisas my fingers stick to everything 🙄

[jonathan_dyane]

Ah you'll have the skill mastered by you're done.

Maybe you could scratch build your own speedboat as your next project?

[Tickman]

Nice work with the pegs.

Should be decent when you have finished.

[beko1987]

Define decent... 😂

Once it set off, it's gone rock solid! I tidied the edges with a little hacksaw blade and sharp knife, then did a waft of black around the inside of the arches to knock the edge off it all

Same on the passenger side, I used that tin of silver I bought for the xsara on a few spots just to hide the rust/make sure if you peek between the bumper edge you don't see nuffink.

Some war plane then did a few laps which was nice

inside I sprayed more black paint. This stopped one being able to see light through the repair from right under the bumper with your head in the right place. It worked. 

I've got the car back together now (going out tomorrow). The interior of the boot is better than I was before as I've made bloody sure every carpet fixing hole has a fixing in, there's no having a peek behind there now 👌

I think another day I'm going to get some thick black underseal and do some thick coats over it all so it vanishes from underneath. That's easy to do without taking the whole bumper off tbh.

It should be watertight now, once the first bit set as I ran out of epoxy each time I poured it onto everything from the top so it crept into everywhere. Wether it's worthy of an mot pass, we'll find out in August 🤷

[Dan302]

That's done exactly what you needed it to, it's water tight and isn't going to be visible, nothing wrong with that

[beko1987]

18 minutes ago, Dan302 said:

That's done exactly what you needed it to, it's water tight and isn't going to be visible, nothing wrong with that

Thanks! Hopefully it's done the job! It's tempting to leave it a few weeks now then go back over with a thick layer of epoxy from the bit I've got left to fill any voids that are left, then some nice gloopy underseal so if the tester does stick his hand up there it'll feel smooth-ish

I also noticed as I lay under it that the exhaust backbox is stamped Nissan... There's no blows that I can see or hear but I do think it's the original exhaust system...😂

[Dobloseven]

Looks very good indeed.Horrible stuff to work with though, isn't it? I'd spray some of that textured stone chip stuff, followed by some silver paint for an authentic factory finish.

[Snipes]

Top tier giffer bodging in the finest tradition and you've probably done more to stop it rusting than Nissan ever did. 

[bigfella2]

It's amazing that the exhaust is less rust resistant than the car.

[beko1987]

Thanks!

Drove out yesterday for my daughter's birthday and the car stinks of epoxy 😂 The kids say they like the smell...

Spoke to my mate again later on Saturday when I dropped his bits back and he suggested we buzz it mildly flat with his grinder and a wheel, then do another layer of very fine Fibreglass, then underseal it smooth. That sounds like a decent idea. Will get more supplies on payday, although I won't need the big tub of epoxy this time.

There's also less clonks from the rear end now the bumper is back on better than before. I refitted the polystyrene bumper filler this time which made the most difference, I think it stops the massive omgfake4x4 bumper from flopping about on itself when I hit the nasty sharp bumps 👌

I had the first decent use of the new battery too. We arrived 20 minutes early yesterday as I got my timing wrong so we sat in the car with it off but the radio on with the kids putting YouTube videos on. And I didn't worry about the car starting after

[GrumpiusMaximus]

@beko1987 that war plane is a Lancaster bomber.