rust in hardtop roof

[racsov500]

hey guys im looking at buying a hardtop c210 however it has a few bad spots of rust in the roof along the chrome trims, has actually got holes in some spots. the doglegs look ok though and the panels look pretty straight. has anyone tried to repair this kind of rust before themselves? or would this be too hard for the home DIY restorer and the car not worth fixing?

[khughes]

depends on how big the holes are i guess.. are they in locations where the trim clips in? is this around the windscreen or the gutters?

if you can weld it should be easy.. otherwise if not to bad.. how about bog?

at least your dog legs are ok.. they are i think, a lot harder the fix (welding etc)

[240kconvertible]

Kent is spot on, it all depends on how well you can weld and also how well you can make pieces of steel to fit in the holes.

Remember cars rust from the inside out, so a few holes may actually turn out to be a lot more like mine was :tapemouth

[racsov500]

add to that a hole under the accel pedal and a hole in the battery tray. too far gone or fixiable?

[racsov500]

[Mr Camouflage]

Fixable. Just depends if you want to bother or not. If you can weld, or have a friend that can, go for it. If you are paying a body shop to fix it, it may not be worth the money. Or you could always bog it up, after cutting the rust out/ treating it rust eater.

How much is the car?

[racsov500]

well cheap enough to buy just for parts. if it was manual i would buy it in a heartbeat. it has a larger carb (hence the gay hole in the bonnet) extractors exhaust ect. complete apart from the radiator for some reason. going back this weekend with a battery and fuel to get it going.

im motivated but dont have any experience or equipment for panel repairs. ive dont thick steel welding before with success but never tried thin metal. anyway if i do buy it and decide to fix it ill be over several years.

[240kconvertible]

There's a lot of work there to do and it's in some very hard to weld places. You will need to make up some fancy pieces of steel to fix it.

To be totally honest I'd advise you to buy it as a parts car and search out a better body as there is hours upon hours of work just in the roof alone. I'd be amazed if the sills weren't rusted quite badly too. The problem you have is the holes in the roof will let water go down inside the pillars and into the inside of the sills where it will sit and rust.

Buy it and then get the grinder & screwdriver out and find out how much usable steel is left in the roof and pillars, then decide weather or not to keep it or strip it.

[khughes]

i agree.. get it for parts.. if you have the room for another.. the glass etc. alone is probably enough to pay for itself!!

problem is once you start looking with a screw driver you may find that there is a tonne more rust in other spots (esp. as 240kconvertible said, the water would have dripped through).. have you checked the floor wells and under the seats etc? how is the door sills and how about in the sides of the boot?

and given the hole in the bonnet.. i doubt any old rust would have been repaired properly

[racsov500]

yer thing is the owner thinks the rust is fixiable and so they want to too much for it. im going back this weekend to get the car going and ill make an offer.

[racsov500]

boot it completely rust free, sills look ok/sound solid when you tap them apart from a few small patches. engine bay has nothing, floors are pretty bad, drivers has a hole, passenger is still solid but is rusty.

[Mastadd240K]

hey mate honestly i would steer well clear even for a parts car, i know where a Man c210 coupe is in melbourne if your really keen, the guy wants like $5k but its all there, needs a new bonnet but he says he has one, damage to drivers rear 1/4 repaired, (but i don't know how well) needs a rear bumper, that's the only bit he says he doesn't have for it,