Big Rusty Hole In The Bulkhead.

[Guest rick03054]

I finally got some time on my hands so I took the seats and carpet out today to get a better look at the hole in the bulkhead I've known about for ages. Its right above the exhaust .

 

 

 

 

 

And a sideways one

 

I'm going to give it a bit of a clean up tommorow then see about getting somebody to weld it up for me.

 

If I take the engine out to get access from the other side and shield anything flammable, should I be able to have it done without taking the dash out ? I really hope so!

[DrSeuss 0]

if your taking the engine out taking the dash out is a piece of piss in comparison. Its got 3 nuts to undo and a number of screws, nothing difficult anyway!

[Guest rick03054]

Yeah, but if I have to take it out anyway I'll decide it'd be rude not to get a phase 2 dash, I'm trying to keep myself focused and away from temptation!

 

I'm thinking I have to take the engine out because theres a lot of burnt bits and surface rust on the engine side of the bulkhead, so I wanted to get that sorted at the same time then put some heat-shielding on it.

 

I'm wondering now if I could do it with the engine in and then just stick the turbo etc back on. I was going to

put a 1.6 engine I got from Col into it and clean up the tt, try to make it all look pretty etc. and save up for insurance!

 

Maybe I should stop being such a fairy.

 

Comments/slagging welcome.

[DaveW 6]

dash out, and heater matrix too.

[Paintguy 0]

Now that's a hole!

 

I'd always prefer to strip out as much as possible in a situation like that. The less flammable material inside the car the better in my opinion. But if you really don't want to strip too much, I'd say at the very least take out all the sound proofing, and move the steering column grommet out of the way.

 

Then shield everything else. Specialised welding blankets are available for this sort of thing, but I've found fire blankets to be a reasonably good alternative.

 

And take time with the welding itself, and allow the heat to dissapate, so you've got less chance of burning/melting anything.

[hoody_g 4]

now thats a big hole need to move the exhaust, heat sheild to get to it from the other side

 

Hoody

Edited November 1, 2005 by hoody_g

[Guest rick03054]

I thought about it a bit and decided to take your advice, I've got the dash, heater etc. out and can in about it better now. And I reckon if I take the exhaust off and gear rods and any other bits and bobs behind there it might be easy enought to get to with the engine still in.

 

Can you tell I want to just stick the turbo back on and drive it?! I got a job that starts a week tomorrow so as of then I won't be a poor student anymore so I should be able to afford to fix AND insure it

 

Here's another pic if anyones interested

[taylorspug 7]

If it were me id heat sheild everything in the engine bay (or get someone on standby with a hose!), and then weld from the inside, stitching a repair plate into the original metal, not just putting a plate over the top. In the end weld from wherever is easiest to get to if you can, makes the job alot easier and you can make sure you get it right 1st time.

[Guest rick03054]

Im looking into heat shielding it just now, probably get loads of fire blankets or something as paintguy suggested, and water, and fire extinguishers, and anything else I can think of!

 

I'll be getting somebody else to do the welding so I can be sure it's done right. Whoever I get I'll let them have a look at it once I get it jacked up and the exhaust off so that they can suggest what they think is the best idea. The exhaust has to come off no matter what because the engine side of the bulkhead is all burnt and rusty and I want to clean, paint and heat shield it. (and the exhaust has to come off to refit the turbo anyway )

 

I'll probably try to get them to look at it before I do any preparation or anything, I don't know what I'm doing so theres no point me getting stuck in cutting metal out yet.

 

I'm going to order some etch weld primer or whatever it's called. Or can you get it in halfords?

 

Either way it doesn't matter, there are 2 guys that could weld it for me, one just had an operation on his eye and the other is offshore for 2 weeks from tomorrow. bugger

[taylorspug 7]

You can get it in some bigger Halfords if your lucky, its not Halfords own brand though.

[Paintguy 0]

I'm going to order some etch weld primer or whatever it's called. Or can you get it in halfords?

As Dan says, you can get it in Halfords. The brand they stock is made by U-Pol, and called WELD #2, in a green and silver tin.

[Guest rick03054]

Well, after being mucked around by no less than 4 people who promised to do the welding for me I decided to learn to weld myself!

 

I got myself a nice little welder Clarke 155T and set about learning. I've got all the heatshielding together except I think I'm missing a standard bit of heatshield that I'm sure Ive seen on other peoples cars? I got some of that Weld #2 from halfords, cheers Dan and Paintguy.

 

I've got a few days off so I finally started on it today. I had to take subframe, exhaust and manifold off the car to get access to the other side. Other than having to cut one of the droplinks off that went without a hitch

 

Heres a link to a better pic of the problem.

 

 

I've (pretty much) cleaned up the inside and cut out the bad bits:

 

 

 

The pink thing is a wet sheet over the engine / electrics etc. I also practically filled the inside with wet towels, a fire extinguisher and a huge bucket of water next to it!

 

Now it's raining so I'll have to wait to clean up the engine side

 

I have plenty of access with all the subframe etc out the way, I was worried I wouldn't get all the way up with the angle grinder and one of those wiry wheel things.

[paul205mi16 4]

id like to see how u do witht the welder is it a gasless mig or gas/mig?

Paul.

[Guest rick03054]

It's gas. I'm just using little bottles at the moment. Expensive in the long run I know.

 

I've been using Co2 but now I'm wondering if it's worth geting argon mix. Or if you can even get it in little bottles.

[B1ack_Mi16 67]

Just start with exercising on some small metalsheets with the same thickness as the one you're welding in so that you can get the settings on the welder correct before you start on the car. Ensure it's penetrating properly.

 

Else just take your time, and be very careful when cutting out the plate you're gonna weld in place, as there should ideally be a very tiny but even gap between the plate and the hole all the way around.

 

And after all, guess you'll do a better job than the other ones that was going to help ypu anyway, you at least care for your car, something the "others" probably wouldn't have done

[Guest rick03054]

It's done! My weldings like spam though... Rubbish but fills a hole!

 

I ground it down a buit and belted it with the hammer a few times, didn't budge!

 

 

Now to prime it, hammerite it and I got some waxoyl underbody seal stuff to slap on the engine side too.

 

I'm well chuffed, that's been bugging me for months!

[Guest rick03054]

All gone and a first coat of body sealer

 

[paul205mi16 4]

good job m8-looks like the same standard of welding as mine (needs improving!)

but its done the job and probably quicker than waiting for a m8 or someone else to do the job.

[Guest rick03054]

Exactly, look at the date I started this topic and you'll see why I did it!

[aw11_hgt 0]

I finally got some time on my hands so I took the seats and carpet out today to get a better look at the hole in the bulkhead I've known about for ages. Its right above the exhaust .

And a sideways one

 

I'm going to give it a bit of a clean up tommorow then see about getting somebody to weld it up for me.

 

If I take the engine out to get access from the other side and shield anything flammable, should I be able to have it done without taking the dash out ? I really hope so!

 

 

Wow - Never known a pug to rot like that, is this a common place - something to be aware of when buying one??

[Guest rick03054]

It's because my car's a turbo technics. Thats the exhaust you can see in the photo behind the hole.

 

Basically I think the bulkhead wasn't heatshielded at all. So the heat of the turbo & downpipe etc. has burnt the paint off. Over time this let rust set in and resulted in one huge hole!

[aw11_hgt 0]

Ah - it did seem odd it rusting like that, not that I'm a stranger to rust running a mr2 presently!! TT - quite a rare conversion aren't they??

[Guest rick03054]

MR2 - rusty arches by any chance?

 

Theres quite a few TT's on the forum I think. No idea how many were converted though.

[aw11_hgt 0]

Yeah - rusty arches although there rot free now!! Often wondered what a turbo'ed 205 is like as I always associate the gti with seamless throttle response - do you get much lag?

[Guest rick03054]

Personally I don't know... It's been in bits since I got it Hope to find out soon though This hole has been my biggest problem, that I couldn't get past.

 

Apparently not much lag to them, I'm sure one of the other TT boys will be able to tell you all about it.