Modern car chassis rust repair

[Andymoor94]

Good evening ,

My friend treated himself to his dream car a few months ago and today, I was fortunate enough to be able to leave the house as a favour to go and clean the cars at their house and sort out their garden (he's broken his leg, she's broken her arm!!)

Now I knew that when he bought it, it was Moggy level of rust, but today inspected the underneath and saw this chassis leg... (Picture attached)

Now, as far as repairing this goes, how much could it differ from a Morris chassis leg repair, other than sourcing the part?

Cheers

EDIT: Small detail missed - It's a Honda Integra Type R

[ianmack]

The main difference on a modern car is all the electronic stuff which can be damaged by mig welding impulses. Some items may need to be disconnected or removed.

[MattsGPOvan]

No worries have a closer look... could be a engine cradle which you could be able to take off and replace...OR ... send to a media blaster and then paint or powder coat.

Most type R,s have had Front ends l,ve done about 5...sorry.

[kennatt]

It is essential that repairs to corroded areas are properly carried out. Only welding is acceptable for repairs to 'prescribed areas'.
Suitable materials of appropriate gauge and thickness should be used for repairs so that
- Any plating or welding extends to a sound part of a load bearing component, and
- The repair must be virtually as strong as the original structure
So only a continuous seam weld is acceptable for patch repairs, although spot welded joints are acceptable where they originally existed.
Welded repairs to highly stressed components such as steering/suspension arms, rods, levers etc are not normally acceptable

Above from mot manual.......... Not familiar with that vehicle but looks like the front subframe with the front wishbone attached, so would need to be replaced,apart from probably being unweldable(From the state of it) any repair to it would probably be regarded as not acceptable from an M O T point of view.

[MattsGPOvan]

Well spoken, looking at it closer just replace the subframe it’s been many years since l was in Accident repair but l think (think) the frame just holds up the Gearbox.

Modern metal is more specific for welding nowadays ... with ultra high strength steels , Boron, and TRIP steel use of many German cars.

I have all my qualifications for welding these materials. Senior ATA master technician.

[Chipper]

I would take a stiff wire brush to it, to remove the loose/flaky stuff, to get a better idea of the true state of it - it may well be fairly easily repaired in situ.

To replace it (front subframe, by the looks of it), I suspect you'd also need to remove the engine, gearbox and driveshafts, which is quite a palaver.

[kennatt]

it will take more than a wire brush, that looks like serious corrosion on a structural section. Get a hammer and give it a good knock around and if it survives without dropping most of the metal/rust onto the floor with the resulting holes all over it then it may just be salvageable, but you can only see the underside,the chances are that is just as bad on the top. Replacement will be the best and will then last for years,but will require quite a bit of dismantling,you certainly will find it difficult to weld up to a satisfactory level,if you are experienced with the welder then you will know how hard it is to weld upside down,if not then you will soon find out . Its also within the 30cm of a suspension point therefore making a patch weld un mot passable .Sometimes replacement is the only way ,unfortunately. You could be lucky and be able to clean it up. Good luck

[Andymoor94]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions. I had forgotten that many parts of cars are bolt one, including the subframe! So we've ordered a new subframe to replace. Thanks for the held.