Welding help after MOT yesterday

Nftob1

Member
Hey all, took my gc8 wrx yesterday for its annual MOT check here in NI. The inspector kindly found hole in the rear strut mount housing in the side you can’t see if that makes sense. I put car up on lift when I got home with my failure notice and had a look. I took 2 back wheels off. Arches are completely sound other than the hole this guy found. You literally have to put your hand up alongside the strut and turn your fingers towards yourself to feel it. It’s the same on both sides, drivers and passengers.Trying to work out how I can repair. The rear strut will obviously need removed but there isn’t much room up there to carry out repairs. Got new had coilovers to put in so will do that. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 

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Your turrets are most likely on the way out
A lot of work to do it properly, rear quarter panel off ,
Had the same on my own car ,
Of course you can do it on the cheap but you’ll be revisiting something in that area every few years
 

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Thanks for that. Think I will repair for now to get in through MOT with the intention of fixing permanently when I get on the road and can take it to someone more capable than me. Thinking do I just patch?
 
Likely be a quarter panel off job later on. To be honest the rest of the turret and arch is really solid. Hole is about size of a golf ball. Abit pissed at the mot guys, they do some wrecking up here. I have a 300 tdi defender restoration complete this year and mot guy broke gear linkage, piece fell into box and ruined everything. That was July 25. Got it back and after £2.5k it went through ok yesterday but Scooby failed for them holes and rear jack points only.
 
The bit you can see is only a fraction of what’s there, it didn’t just effect one spot.. as Barry has said, it’s a nasty enough repair to do, and is something that would write off a lot of normal cars, as the repair is one aspect but it also kicks off a lot of paint work. There is a guy on Facebook “Charlie’s” doing a repair at moment with quarter off… you will need to sit down and make a decision, we all know what most are doing in the situation, patching, getting mot, mauling with Schultz and selling on to some poor soul.
 
thanks for that. Temporarily I think I will patch and protect but certainly long term I will do the quarter off repair. My intention was refresh the paint in entire car at some point but at least this will get the MOT. Only did 100 miles last year. Sits in garage most of the time tbh. Glad in a way it has been revealed.
 
You’d want a 20k budget minimum to do it right
Hours get swallowed up very quickly
 
You’d want a 20k budget minimum to do it right
Hours get swallowed up very quickly
Yeah it would want to be a rare sought after model that had serious value at the other end when finished or like yourself sentimental value… I don’t think you could justify throwing it into just any ordinary WRX
 
ran into another issue want advice on. Seized strut bolt which is now rounded. Help…. Got a guy to look at the holes, back seats out etc. in his opinion he can repair no issues but obviously wanted fuel drained for safety. I have fuel drained almost but reluctant to let it run dry completely Incase of fuel pump problems. Can I apply heat safely to bolt and also would tank need to be 100% empty for guy to weld patch…. Thanks
 
Drop the fuel tank the Vapor’s can ignite . Personally I wouldn’t even attempt to weld in the inner archs with the tank and pipes in place .
The struts will need to go too as access is very limited up there .
Which bolt rounded the 19mm strut to the hub bolt if so cut it off and get another 1 if it’s the one of the top 12mm bolt to the shock tower get a grip socket on it
 
It’s the 19mm bolt. I will cut as advised. I intend to take struts out and fuel filler neck. I think dropping the fuel tank is the best option. Tbh honest I am very nervous around fuel and welding. Is there much work dropping the tank?
 
Not a lot but it can turn into a nightmare fairly quickly if the captive nuts ring off in the chassis rail when lowering the subframe . There’s only 4 main bolts to worry about the rest can be left on . But there’s no way yo know if they will open or not with out trying. Iv seen badly rusted ones come out perfect and others that look good Fáil
 
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