Felicia's chassis woes

[iMacThere4iAm]

The mechanic has taken Felicia's suspension off to reveal a catalogue of horrors :eek: These pictures tell the story, from left to right.
The chassis is rotten in the usual places. The rear suspension bushes seem to have lost most of their rubber - they just flop around loosely :? Finally the brake cylinders are both leaking a bit :cry:

 

[Cornish4]

Hi Tom, very sorry to see this fella, you certainly have your work cut out now to fix it, but of course it is fixable. It's a reminder to us all though of how the dreaded rust can take hold.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

I agree it's fixable, but I'm having doubts as to whether we can afford it. Our charity registration is pending, and that's holding back our fundraising efforts slightly as you know. However generous our friends are though, this sort of work is going to need big corporate sponsors to help cover the costs. We're doing our best but times are hard for everyone! And I'm supposed to be earning a degree at some point :\

 

[Snoopy1974]

Poor Felicia Are you going to repair all this area by yourself ???

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

It is more than I can do myself with no welding experience and a restricted deadline. I've got this weekend to decide whether to pay the mechanic to repair it.

 

[malcolm]

Looks fairly normal. It will be cheaper to fix it than swap everything over to a different chassis. The standard of fix doesn't need to be high for the MOT - patches would work, but if you are planning to keep the car for longer then cutting out rusty stuff first is a plan. Proper job for the inner rear mounts would probably be about £700 from Renospeed. I think rear chassis legs have become available from Melun Retro Passion since I last repaired one. That might work out cheaper than repairing the existing.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

You're right, the repair sections are available and at €50 each would definitely reduce the cost of a repair. Thanks for the advice My mechanic gave a similar estimate for the work.
Unfortunately I don't think I could trust an MOT patch enough to set out on the rally like that!

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

Malcolm, I meant to ask whether you still have any of your spares cars left? Because I'd like to get hold of a spare rear axle assembly if possible.

 

[malcolm]

Pretty sure I have a decent rear axle if you can arrange collection.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

Where there's a will, there's a way. And if it will save me taking mine to pieces then it's worth it!

You should really see my bushes, you can literally wiggle them as if they're made of jelly not rubber. I'll try to take a video for your enjoyment.

 

[Cornish4]

Hi Tom, I'm glad to see you have a plan starting and of course if you use repair sections you know then that Felicia will be good and strong where it matters, wether you are driving around the Somerset countryside or up a track somewhere in North Africa.

 

[petak]

Malcolm: I can not find rear chassis legs at melun-retro-passion. Are you certain that are available? Or my French is so bad that can not find it!

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

You're right petak, I think only the outer sections are available. I don't know anyone else who makes the inner rails.

 

[mike4gtl]

I thought Franzose were making them but maybe i was wrong

 

[mike4gtl]

http://www.renaultreborn.co.uk/Projects/Chassis Jig/ChassisJig.html

 

[mojobaby]

Poor Felicia has had a rough year! I wish you "bon courage" in getting her sorted. I also haven't learnt to weld yet but its on my New Year resolution list

 

[politeperson]

Its not that bad, really.

The inner skin is solid. It retains the alignment of he crushable tubes that holds the axle bolts.

Simply cut the outer section off with an angle grinder and remove the rest with a spot weld drill.

Butt weld in 2mm folded mild steel and drill new bolt holes once welded.

Fill with waxoyle and done. Will last for years and look factory stock.

Buy and unworn second haNd axle with cast (not pressed) swinging arms.

Easier with the body off, a pleasant Sunday afternoon.

Crack on with it, after all, How hard can it be?

 

[mike4gtl]

Hi, I am not a specialist and probably one of the youngest forum members on here. I have carried out this repair on a car i then sold onto Lobster on the forum. The repair took me a week of long evenings to do but when i had finished it, it looked purrrfect and will outlast the car because i used one thick plate rather than two thin plates.

After a coat of chassis black you couldn't see the repair.

The tricky part i found was re-aligning the axle, or you get through a lot of scuffed out tyres

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

Thanks for your advice politeperson and young Mike.
Politeperson, why do you recommend the cast swinging arms?
Mike, aligning the axle should be a little easier because alewis came to visit today and has kindly lent me his suspension jig

The inner arms should be done in a day or two (not by me, as I can't weld), the outer ones still await a repair section, because I couldn't see any other way of doing a decent repair. I might have to borrow a car to go and see Malcolm about a rear axle, but I'll get there somehow.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

The inner arms are done now, and I'm pleased to report that the mechanic has managed to extract the torsion bars. That was the good news...
The bad news is, I still haven't managed to pick up Malcolm's axle. Now I have a problem, because the mechanic wants to get Felicia off his only lift in the morning and putting the old axle back together without replacing the bushes seems like a waste of time. I still haven't managed to identify which replacement bushes are needed for the inners.

On friday the insurance company told me that they have to cancel my contract because I've kept Felicia out of France for too long Looks like the law's finally caught up with me!
I'll probably have to finally change the plates. Fortunately it's only a financial problem now, because she's almost MOT worthy.