Classic Alfa Forums

Amazing....both the rust inside out and the repair itself. Sounds like we’ve all been under the weather, I’ve got a gammy foot and cant get me shoe on

Keith Get a bigger shoe.

With all the festivities over it's time to get back to the Sud.
The passenger A pillar had some rust coming through, the knotted wheel soon dug out any weakness

Once the outer section was cut away the inner piece was also rusted through, a new section made up and welded in.

A new outer skin then made things rust free again..

A previous repair on the screen corner got tidied up then the flange cut out to rid more rust in the seams.
Inner pillar where the roll cage had been welded before tidied up well enough so the pillar declared fit for purpose.

With that done a small repair in the rear seat area the onto the rera quarter panel where they rust under the window seal.

Grinder soon made a mess!

Inner section repaired mostly...

Outer section near the B pillar though had been filled over, looked OK but a bit of exploration revealed it had just been filled over rusty holes...

I'll repair that next time, at least I'm making a bit of progress again.
All bits cleaned and primed for protection.

I can't believe how similar your photos are to the ones I have Kev.
Screen pillar and top of quarter panel look the same.
Grind on my friend , thumbs up.

Rust hot spots mate that's for sure!
Still had some of the foam in it, bloody stuff. Put a square of it in a little splash of water and it soaked it up a treat! What on earth was the thinking there

Back in the day, someone told me you could hear Alfasuds rusting when next to them at the lights!

Alfa saltzer as they fizzed when they got wet

It is true they rusted, but everything did back then. I learned to weld on Austin Maxis' and Ford Cortinas' trying to get them through the MoT.
I can remember the early Sierra was no better, at the used car place where I worked we sold any make from 3or 4 years old to 10 years old.
Having to replace rear arches on a 3 year old Sierra was common, holes in the roof weren't unheard of.
Trouble is that people wanted Fords' and Vauxhalls' back then over anything Italian so when we got them from the main dealers as their cast off trade ins the stuff that would sell got gobbed up and sprayed to make look pretty, the stuff that wouldn't sell so well like anything Fiat/Alfa/Lancia even Audi back then got left alone so always looked down at heel. The Mk3 escort full of fresh paint and filler got a new owner, then 18 months later when it was blistering up it got traded in.....then gobbed up again and made shiny for the next purchaser....."these Fords last better than the Italian stuff" I've heard from many an ignorant customer....yes, you wait another year and see how happy you are I smiled to myself not that I often got to see the customer at purchase time, usually a month or two later when all the faults started and water came in all over the place, Mk3 escort battery trays were a highlight! I've seen them perched on top of the glove box having fallen through the bulkhead
But Ford, they made good cars

Suds usually rust under the battery.
My X1/9 had a proper tray under the battery with a drain hole and pipe to ground.

I wonder if there is a modern version in some sort of acid resistant material?

Anyway, I'm glad I bought Tim's S2 Sud......its solid in all the areas you've had to repair Kev!

Got some more time on the car this afternoon so a plate was made up for the hole I made in the rear quarter top..

Tacked in place then slowly welded all around to avoid distortion

Looking good Kev as always

Inside tidied up and a bit at the back so this side is done

I've got this to do on mine. Thanks for the heads up on what I need to do. Fine work by the way!

Thanks for the comments guys , very much appreciated

Cracking job done there Kev.
I made an identical patch to yours, but you did a much better job of fitting it. I caused a lot of distortion to my panels.

Thanks Kev, great work . That A screen pillar always worried me. The rear quarters repairs look good also.

Just goes to show you that even something that looks solid enough isn’t when you get your wire wheel on it. Fingers crossed you don’t find too much more

I saw a sud for sale recently , thought how solid it looked then reminded myself it probably wouldn’t be once some reasonable prodding and poking took place.

Another resto your flying though kev . Puts us all to shame . definitely me

Don't know about that JB, I seem to struggle to find time with all this relaxing

Went up this afternoon to keep things ticking along, won't be painting it anytime soon but need to be working with a rust free solid base when the time does come, so no time to start slacking!

Where to start next??

Drivers side A pillar seemed OK on the face of it although a rusty crack near the bottom was troubling me.
There was also a pretty ugly repair to the underside.
An investigation with the grinder started to reveal the filler....

Talking of grinders, my weapon of choice is a knotted wheel on a 4" angle grinder.
They are nasty things, need great respect and both hands on the grinder as they grab, especially when new.
But they take the paint and filler out in no time plus if there's any weak rusted bits it digs them out to leave solid metal, may look drastic but at least what's left is useable!

Used and new, they eventually wear down plus the strands fly out, best off wearing a full face mask...

With the filler removed my fears were realised......what a mess!

Before starting to chop this lot out there was a section missing on the inner face, where a roll cage had been welded to previously. I did this piece first rather than the outer bits so at least some of the pillar was attached!

Underside then cut away where the previous repair was...
Opened out a bit more then a return flange piece welded to the inside to be picked up eventually by the new underside section...
New underside section made up ready to fit...
A much neater repair, if I do say so myself

Just left then to make a new outer skin and weld it in place

Inside got a good soaking in etch primer so it could run between the seams, protection from future issues being important.