Help!! MOT Flop, Welding Required!

[Hoppo1979]

as above, I use leigh and he's cracking, but get your wallet ready

Ill check him out mate, although I have a chap called Glyn who worked for ADR in CHesterfield for 10 years, won National Auto Painter of the year award (or something like that) used to have a 16v, so knows how to mod a standard sill etc and sounds proper clued up, his shop is in Bolsover. Someones had a pop (badly) at fixing rear arches, but I am looking at 2 sills, some patchwork underneath, a patch under a wheel arch, then both sides, bonnet and bootlid repainting. Whats that going to cost me, £1,500?

[Vandella]

id be over the moon to get that for 1500... dont now anyone down this way who would know exactly what they're doing with a mk 1 clio or 16v/williams body.. obviously best to find someone who's had previous experience.. i have a body shop and garages few hundred yards down the road from me.. they deal mainly with lotus's as there a ex lotus mechanic, the other ex lotus body shop employee.. have some nice cars down there.. they have been doin an old gt40 recently..sounds breathtaking hearing it come up the road full chat.. but i hate to guess how much they would charge the work that Hoppo1979 has listed. the guy in there and another guy also build kit cars they have one of two or three probes in the country/possibly world from a clockwork orange in there..this one is green tho..they do my mechanical bits and arnt too bad for that side.. not sure why im telling you all this.. but the longer i have the car the more ill end up spending so it may be nice to know of any reputable body shops in the south (preferably south east)...

Good luck with yours though mate, keep us updated with ur quotes, before and during and after pics.. always nice to the work that goes in!

[Hoppo1979]

id be over the moon to get that for 1500... dont now anyone down this way who would know exactly what they're doing with a mk 1 clio or 16v/williams body.. obviously best to find someone who's had previous experience.. i have a body shop and garages few hundred yards down the road from me.. they deal mainly with lotus's as there a ex lotus mechanic, the other ex lotus body shop employee.. have some nice cars down there.. they have been doin an old gt40 recently..sounds breathtaking hearing it come up the road full chat.. but i hate to guess how much they would charge the work that Hoppo1979 has listed. the guy in there and another guy also build kit cars they have one of two or three probes in the country/possibly world from a clockwork orange in there..this one is green tho..they do my mechanical bits and arnt too bad for that side.. not sure why im telling you all this.. but the longer i have the car the more ill end up spending so it may be nice to know of any reputable body shops in the south (preferably south east)...

Good luck with yours though mate, keep us updated with ur quotes, before and during and after pics.. always nice to the work that goes in!

Glyn has been to look at it. Rear arch repairs OK and can be made good, so not in need of anything major. weld on 2 new complete sills plus patching and fully undersealing what needs doing. Strip and repaint all car except roof, windscreen out, everything properly stripped back. £1,000 cash, I supply the 2 sills.

He seems to know his apples, seems a top bloke. Granted the doors arent going to be stripped totally, but that to me is a minor element. I am dropping the car off tomorrow, he is keeping it a month. I will ask him to take a few pictures to whet your appetite along the way.

[Hoppo1979]

Quick update! Jobs going very well. Only got a couple of pics, but I'll upload more as I go along.

[Hoppo1979]

Quick update on the rebuild. Welding is nearly completed and its looking fantastic! I have also had the windscreen out, and the rust on the A Pillars ground out. Its worth noting that a windscreen from a scrapyard was £40, but I got a brand new one for £54 inc VAT from National Windscreens in Chesterfield! Bargain! I have also sourced a brand new jacking point from Renault (thanks to the guys that gave me the part numbers) and 2 used but rust free doors off a 1.2 RN 3 door. So my wallets taking a pasting but the result should be stunning!

Glyn is taking plenty of pics and once the car is back and I have an opinion on the finished product I will give you guys some finished pics and update you again.

[Chris197F1]

Cant wait to see the pics mate!

[p4cks]

Mine is away having similar work done ready for its new owner. I'll be gutted to be handing it over in such good nick!

[northy]

would be intrested to see the metal work behind that new sill.

Dont forget the sill isnt dead straight on a williams like it is on the 1.2 and needs rebending to suit.

[Coops]

nice progress, I will be coming to nosey over this job once complete, always good to have other bodyshop options if needed

[Hoppo1979]

Ok guys quick progress update. The car had been previously painted badly. We have been finding fibreglass everywhere and some of the bodged jobs found are absolutely shocking. On the old sill they had welded a plate over filler, and they've patched rust holes with fibreglass! On the boot lid yesterday we found filler over rust, then blown over with stonechip!

anyways Glyn has attempted to paint twice, and the old paint has reacted with the new making a right mess. Paint rep viewed it and advised us to strip back, and seal with a water based primer which has now been done. I spent all day helping to sand and prep the car and it will be painted next week.