Samurai body parts, prices on last page

[Christoff]

Im already past the point where i should have taken care of a few bodywork issues on the sammy

As a result the anus will not be passing Novembers test if i dont have some serious welding and fabrication done. Which is a pain in the arse because it means i have to sorn it, send it to a bodyshop and hope the bill isnt too crazy. I dont mind mechanical problems because im a vehicle technician anyway so that i can deal with.


Anyway can anybody give me some advise on where to go with this please? I was thinking of having 4 new wheel arches on, removing and repainting the bumpers and cutting out all the old rust behind it all, including possibly a new rear inner arch around the fuel filler neck.

Il post some pics up later but this is where most of the rust is. Also a hole has appeared behind the passenger seat mount on the floor pan, and a hole is also forming in the boot floor next to the fuel filler neck area.

If i do most of the stripping and preparing myself, its then up to a bodyshop to weld and fabricate whatever it needs. My worry is that im going to start removing bolts and screws for the arches and bumpers, and it just pulling all the metal from around it because of the rot. Which could then turn into a much bigger and more costly renovation.

If i let the tax run out and sorn it next month i can be getting on with it what do you think?

Cheers,
Chris

[Christoff]

hellooo?

[Edweird]

I'm surprised you haven't got a reply from Twiss, Scott or Henry, so I'll give you my take on it.

If you plan on sending it to a body shop to have work done, like fitting new arches, then, to my mind, stripping back and de-rusting as much as you can in the areas you'd like the shop to repair is going to save you money, as the expression goes, time is money, and your money is their time, you save them the time it'd take to strip back, the less it'll cost you.

I can't see much of a downside to what you're proposing if you don't think you can do the repair yourself. The only thing I'd say is that if you start grinding on the rusted bodywork, you may find the problem is bigger than it appeared. We found that with Mum's L**d R***r D******y, when we stared cleaning back to metal on the rear inner arches, the hole was a shit load bigger once the rust was gone. We're talking from a hole you could put your thumb through going to a hole you could put both fists in.

I need to do something about my truck's arches too. Problem is I want to keep it road legal and looking standard, so I can't just take a grinder to it and whack in a piece of sheet steel bent to shape.

[twiss]

Cheers for the write up ed...
I didn't comment because the most precise bodywork tools I have are a hammer and a bit of wood.

[ScottieJ]

Hello

Sorry matey, I dont get on here much at the weekends, sounds like all the usual rust spots are coming through on the suzuki then.

For the MOT you only need to worry about rust that is within 12" of a body mount or seatbelt mount.

So technically you could ignore the arches for now and just get the welding done in the other places to get it through.

It's going to be very costly for a garage to do all 4 arches, to cut out and weld new ones in its going to be a few hours for each and then you have the paintwork on top of that, It might be worth you only getting the rear ones repaired and trying to find a good front end second hand, so you can just unbolt the old one and bolt on the new one and get it sprayed to match.

the whole front clip unbolts comes off complete


It might also work out cheaper to buy yourself a cheap mig (only need a 100/130A MIG for sj bodywork) get some scraps of sheet metal and teach yourself to weld, as long as you have a steady hand it's not that hard, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube and http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You need to take it real slow and grind it back for bodywork anyway so I'm sure you coud get good results after a bit of practice. I couldn't weld before I got my SJ and I just threw myself in at the deep end

[Christoff]

I didnt realise the whole front came off like that. That's pretty cool

Thanks for the replys my mate does agricultural welding I might ask him for a hand with it then. I'm sure he would be up for giving it a go for a bit of practise

As you say though I'l do as much work myself as possible to keep costs down.

How do the arch flares come off?

[ScottieJ]

I've stolen one of Darrells better diagrams for this



The arches are held on by little clips like this, They are an pain in the arse! You need to get the red pin out and they just pull off after that, best thing to use is a thin flat head screw driver to prise the pin out a bit then pull it out with some pliers.

If your mate does agricultural welding then its more than likely going to be ARC welding, but he'll more than likely be able to MIG as well so yeah get him to give you some lessons and see how you pick it up! I had a crash course from a mate who was the same, he showed me what to do, handed me the MIG torch and threw me under his zuki

[Edweird]

Cheers for the write up ed...

In hindsight....oh bugger, that reads a bit harsh doesn't it?

[twiss]

Hahah don't worry about it... I meant cheers for replying to Christoff!

My bodywork talent is... how do they say in France...? NIL

[Edweird]

Mine goes as far as a grinder, a drill and a rivet gun. If I wasn't trying to keep mine pretty, it'd be plated all over with patches.