Incase you missed it...

I've just got my M-reg 1.4 Tipo through the MOT, with a bit of effort.

All of these cars will now be in danger of floorpan rot alongside the sills underneath - the underseal ages and damp gets inside without you knowing. I cleaned off loads of old underseal and scraped / ground a lot of flaky, rusty metal and uncovered quite a few holes. It all got plated up and primed / undersealed, should be OK for a while now.

I suggest everyone at least lifts their front carpets and has a good poke around along the edges and in the corners, and also jack up each side as much as you can and jab away inside the sill seam, you'll probably find some rot that needs sorting. Obviously the best bet is to get it on a ramp with a good inspection lamp!

My car was much worse along the passenger side, my theory is that road spray from the front wheels gets inside the underseal and starts the rust, and there's probably more water on the left side of the road.

In any case when you're getting welding done, you need to really lift the carpets away from the floorpan and move any wires or pipes so they don't get fried, ideally someone sits in the car monitoring and blowing out any sparks or flames!

Let's see who else discovers some hidden problems!

It's going into the bodyshop next to where it's being resurected this week for the floorpan welding. Then it's on with the new rear discs and replacement of the required brake pipes.... so that I can drive it about a bit with my foot on the foot brake. That should clean them up a bit.

Then it's sort out the few wiring issues - probably just bad connections, and lastly get hold of a idle valve. With any luck Gaz will have a working spare from one of his Tipos that he'll be willing to part with.

corrosion on body and brake discs...gremlins in the electrics....the tub and teapot really are closely related

Rear brakes are done, new handbrake cables on order.
All lights are sorted out.
2 holes and a soft bit will be welded up this weekend.

Think that leaves the front brakes to clean up, and the emissions to pass - then it's find an insurance company and tax!

bring it on, the hooligan awaits

You could try a shot of this stuff which was tested by car mechanic magazine and improved emmissions - mind if you have a hole in the exhaust that needs to be sorted first.

http://www.systemproducts.com/

Ah no, the holes are in the floorpan

Exhaust is SS.

thats a big WELL DONE then!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it's back on the road!

Thanks to everyone who helped, especially Gaz for the refurbed head, F.A.S.T for putting it all back together, and all the numpties who rang me up while I was on call giving me the cash to be able to do this. Sufficient to say I could have bought a few Sedici's for the price it's cost to get the milkbottle back up and running. The 1 mile run from the garage to work made it all worth while though

Bring on mitcar!