Rust Hunting!

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:54 pm

Hi there guys.

Just wanting to ask about BX rust.

As I may have mentioned in another post somewhere I have a mate that moved over here a few years ago. He brought with him his UK BX 19TRS. It's showing a few signs of rust on the inner wings and we are going to give it a thorough going over in a few weeks time.

Because rust to me on a BX is unheard of it's something a little new to me.

Anyone got recommendations of the places to go rust hunting?

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:08 pm

1. Inner wings, remove the wheel arch liner and take a look, you may get a shock!

2. Remove the Washer bottles and look underneath. leaves normaly collect in there, block the drain hole and rust forms

3. Boot floor corners and rear lamp panel where it joins.

4. Rear end of the sills.

5. A pillars especially, around the door hinges

6. Open the rear doors and look where the door step section meets the rear quater as that can rust at the welded join.

7. Blow out the sunroof drain tubes if it has one with your airline.

8. Front subframes rust and split around the bolts holes.

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:09 pm

Lovely Tim.

Thanks very much.

Anywhere else? LOL

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:18 am

Not that I can think of, as we all know the outer panels are pretty rust resitant, hovere if the door drain holes become blocked the could rust out. Mk1s seem to be less resistant than Mk2s

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:35 am

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 11:17 am

I pretty much thought that avoiding buying anything that was driven in Europe was the way to go to avoid rust. Well everything that has said imported has had rust on it that I have seen.

So if it said NZ New then no rust....well so I thought until I got the 16RS I am now dismantling. Subframe Rusty, hole in firewall near pax water bottle side. Now looking at its history of belonging to a Farmer of the Western Coast I can understand why. Probably had it parked in the open 100m from the beach

9, Add to you list the area around the windscreen. especially the top corners near the roof gutter trim.

prm · Post by **prm** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 5:17 pm

A few other drain points that may require unblocking.

On hatch models – The rear cross member, has two very small D type slots, acting as drain points for the sun roof. You can extended the existing clear plastic tubes behind the rear lights, with 6mm od pipe, to exit via these openings.
Makes life easy, with regular cleaning.

Same with the front sunroof drains. These exit with similar type slots, on the vertical section on the front part of the door sills These may require easing out slightly to insert the new tubing.

On the front section of the inner wing, where the chassis box section joins the headlamp vertical panel.
In the very corner, where these panels meet, there should be a very small opening to drain any water from the horizontal chassis member, Theses can vary in size due to tolerances when built, sometimes filled with paint.
Opening these out may require a 5-6mm drill.

With 16v P2’s.rear spoiler.
About 2-3 inches in, from either side, there’s a slot type opening in the upper section of the spoiler, acting as drains for the trough when stationary, exiting with similar slots on the lower vertical section. A cable tie inserted from both directions works well.
Also worth clearing the small drain hole on the rear wiper mounting bush, to avoid ingress into the main spindle.

m_2975 · Post by **m_2975** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:47 pm

kiwi wrote:I pretty much thought that avoiding buying anything that was driven in Europe was the way to go to avoid rust. Well everything that has said imported has had rust on it that I have seen.

Thanks Kiwi.

Well as I mentioned this is my mates car and he brought it with him when he moved from Engand to here. He realised as soon as he bought our rust free, 60,000mile MK1 BX 16TRS auto with airconditioning and showroom finish that he had made a mistake. It was too late, it was on its way over.

Now he's got lots of rust on it (the Mk2 19TRS form the UK) and from what he tells me it hasn't been undersealed since new. I had a bit of a look at it under the back and such and it's preety rusty. That's why i'm asking for advice of where to look. I have a mate who owns a panel shop and he will fix it all up well.

Thanks for everyones input!

Michael