Save our Sills!

[xmexclusive]

Hi Russ

I take a good few photos of the XM jobs and bits that I carry out.
I have always meant to start posting some of them but other things always get in the way.

That car came my way for scrapping just over 7 years ago.
The main interest was the engine which had only done 60k but the rest including exclusive trim helped build the spares heaps.
It had a buyer lined up and was sent to get a new MOT.
All looked very good, for example jacking points all straight with covers present.
It was the recent extra layers of underseal on a car that had no welding history that set things going.

It is not the only 2.5 exclusive car that has come my way due to rust bucket problems.
The other one was high mileage but with a very unusual pinhole rust problem, owner induced while trying to protect it.
There were a few other weldable rust problems and with that done it got a years MOT.
So it got used for a while then stripped internally, filled with unwanted spares and the driven to a friend to dispose of the shell.
As a result no photos of that one.
In this case it seems the previous owner had at some stage become concerned about the condition of the underseal.
It had been stripped and the underseal coating renewed.
It must have been damp when this was done as the under surface of the coating was a series of penny size little bumps virtually everywhere.
You needed to spot one before you realised they were there and noticed the rest.
With it on a ramp we started to probe a few of the bumps with a small electrical screwdriver.
Small quantities of rusty water dropped from each.
The worst bit though was that in nearly every case the screwdriver blade went through the floor pan at the centre.
It became clear there were hundreds of 3-4mm holes in the floor pans.

John

[russ92xmsed]

Oh my goodness. That is worrying. But very unusual the penny sized rust scabs. Never heard of that before.

So it certainly pays to rust proof anything when it's warm and dry. But with oil at least it coats and creeps and expels mositure from the surface of the metal... or so I hope!

[White Exec]

I do take the point about injecting inflammable wax/oil into cavities, and then finding you need to have some welding done. Pain.

Apart from thorough inspection before doing any of that, I'm not familiar with any non-flam anti-rust waxes/oils. Only exception I can think of is the good old phosphoric acid (?) based treatment, that was supposed to 'turn rust back into "solid" metal' (or so the hype went). Kurust, was it called?

[MTXM]

Another handy hint, do not forget to wind up your windows before spraying inside the doors, as I did in one case! The smell of the waxoil does also hang around for a bit!! Regards, Matthew T.

[Pshemsky]

That was interesting to read. Such a amount of experience is just priceless. Soon I should have some photos of my sills.
Somebody should collect these 'rust prevent' information in one topic with photos of all access points/holes and put it in 'self help' part of forum.

[Dieselman]

I gave the Cobalt car a squirt the other day, but am not on my PC at present so can't upload photos. I have an underseal gun for Shutz and long hose that reaches the full length of the sills, though a bit more air pressure wouldn't go amis in the cold weather.

I found that an oiling gun was excellent for spraying onto the rear underfloor and members.

My coctail is approx 10 % Millers rust preventaitve oil, 30% Waxoyl, 60% waste oil. I can smell waxoyl in the car, so it's definitely in there.
Be wary of using Waxoyl, I find it tends to pancake and fall off if applied thicker than a very light smear. In addition, I understand it doesn't contain any rust killing additive, it just acts as a barrier, hence I add Millers rust preventative oil.

[xmexclusive]

Hi Pshemsky

Why not become "Somebody".
Collection of material to make a self help is open to all members.
Once you start on generating an item you often get lots of help for other members.
If you wait for an expert to pull it all together then as likely as not it will never happen.

John

[Pshemsky]

Hi Pshemsky

Why not become "Somebody".
John

You're right about that John. I may do that when when get my car back (with new sills on) so I can get good photos. Maybe sometimes just getting to lazy or relay too much on other forum members. I think it's time to improve myself and start 'doing things' instead just talking about them :]

[White Exec]

All you need to do is to remember to take lots of photos, as you go along! That's sometimes the difficult bit.
When the job's done, you can then knock them together into a How To self-help story, which will be hugely useful to others.
As John says, other members will throw in and info photos too.

[Assich]

Is there an access hole to that front outrigger box section which sits in front of the front footwells for waxing?