Trust rust to spoil things

papa_lazaroo · 07-11-07, 12:56 PM

Just a quick line, I got under my MKII a couple of weekends ago, I was amazed at the surface rust on the Fuel tank, tank straps, and Exhaust. Towers should be strung up for the anti-corrosion cost reduction stunts his boys pulled out of late models. Consequently, I spent 10 hours de scaling and fully undersealing it. Looks mint now. Check yours, before uncle rust gets a firm hold.

arwilson80 · 07-11-07, 12:59 PM

Yeah. I noticed that on mine.... and got the underbody seal on it ASAP.

john180 · 07-11-07, 01:03 PM

whats involved in sorting this??? im hoping to buy a mk2 in next week or so and i dont want it rusting up...

arwilson80 · 07-11-07, 01:06 PM

Basically what i did was clean down the tank and spray it with a can (or 2) of underbody sealant. Simple job. Just takes a little time. It best if you can get it onto a car lift or a 'pit'.

john180 · 07-11-07, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arwilson80

Basically what i did was clean down the tank and spray it with a can (or 2) of underbody sealant. Simple job. Just takes a little time. It best if you can get it onto a car lift or a 'pit'.

i can do that no problem. where do you get the underseal stuff from???

papa_lazaroo · 07-11-07, 01:28 PM

The problem is that Garages are no longer allowed to do this for you, do to His Toniness and health and safety knobheads, so we have to do it our selves.

Tips
1, Do it with nearly no fule in, slacken off tank straps, and you get access to the top of the tank, a real salt trap.
2, Make sure you spray the full length of the Brake and Fuel line cluster as the MKII has the Nickle Zinc removed to save cost. so a good coating here is really a good idea.
3, Despite the fact that it.ll get on the exhaust and smaell for the first 50 miles as it burns off, give the Chassis rails, and rear inner arches a good going over.
4, If you get time, get the door cards off inside and smear handfulls and I mean handfulls of Vaseline, or similar on the inside of the door skins, Rover deleted the inner door final coatings to save cost (it's a wonder they went bust the amount of £'s they pulled back out from cars no longer made to BMW specs).
5, Look out for a MKI Exhaust for Your MKII, as the MKI was made of 441 grade stainless, and Tower made the Chassis boys go back to Galvanised MS so they rust through by 4 years old, usually from inside out.

Hope this helps.
Rob

papa_lazaroo · 07-11-07, 01:30 PM

Most motor factors have 2 or 3 different makes, try to get one that will still spray regardless of can orientation.

And don't get any in your eyes or lungs, it's a killer.

john180 · 07-11-07, 02:00 PM

great stuff, ill prob invest in some of that and get it done when i get the car.

interceptor · 07-11-07, 04:15 PM

Altough i have almost no rust on my 5.5 years old mk1 ZS 180, i almost can't believe the mk1 standard exhaust was made of a grade of stainless steel because the end of the intermediate pipe was completely rusted after 5 years and needed replacement.
Replaced it with a real stainless intermediate pipe from janspeed.

Southern Storm · 07-11-07, 04:50 PM

Funny you should say that. My wifes ZR also failed at the same point after 3 years. My Mk1 ZS also failed at this point within 4 years.