Rover 400 rusted beyond repair?

[UncleRover]

Hi all,

First post here and looking for some advice please on an old Rover 400 1998 which has significant rusting on both wheel arches.

First up I want to keep the car and would like to get it back in working order, happy to put money into that. So I'm not looking for a quick patch up here this could be a longer term project to restore the car.

The main concern is the rusting on the rear wheel arches. Are these fixable or should I just give up at this point?

[UncleRover]

Another one closer in...

[gamefreaks]

Looks to me like it's already had a repair patch welded in and that has also rusted out.

You need to get that sill cover off as there could be a real horror-show under there.

I'm sure it's repairable but my guess is that once you start cutting back the bad metal, there won't be a lot of car left over!!!

How are the subframe/suspension mounting areas?

[UncleRover]

It has been welded already, many years ago. A botch job for sure. But it's been off the road for a few years now, still a decent looking vehicle and keen to get an idea on how much this will cost.

Being my first car, I'm keen to restore it. I'll try to get a few closer pictures of it but I suspect as you say I won't know until I start peeling it all back!

Probably needs a trip to a bodyshop but it's current SORNd and doesn't start.

[ARHarh]

How ever hard you try it will cost far more than buying another one that is in good condition.

I have just attacked a 2 inch diameter hole in my series land rover floor, and its ended up being a whole new foot well. When you take that apart you will be looking at new sills, wheel arches, and probably substantial amounts of floor. No idea how much it will cost but I guess a lot.

[steveo3002]

everything is repairable , just do you have the time and money to put into it

agree you would buy another cleaner version of this car for a fraction of the money you would put into fixing this one , then question is the rest of the car also in such bad condition too

[paintman]

Your other issue is finding a bodyshop that would be interested in taking it on.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Rust on vehicles is always far worse than it ever looks initially when you start digging into it.

[bangerhoarder]

You’ll need to get that up on a ramp ideally. It’s not looking positive though - I’d be surprised if there isn’t some major structural corrosion underneath and that’s when it gets difficult/expensive/pointless/impossible. Even cosmetically, that’s an expensive amount of work.

I’d be confident that you could still find a (very?) clean one for less than the cost of that repair work.

[sortedcossie]

hate to say it but that will be beyond saving unless you really, really have an attachment to it just due to the costs involved. That's going to have problems in all the key strength areas, so it'll need some with perhaps a body jig to hold it all together whilst it's done.

[UncleRover]

Thanks for the replies so far. If I was mad enough and money no object, which is not the case (at least on the latter!) can anyone suggest a worst case scenario cost?

I get there's more rust unseen and it's probably not a good question in any case but I guess like everything there's a tipping point between cost and benefit.

[shalmaneser]

The point is that if the arches look like that what do the sills look like? And the subframe mounting points? footwells?

Realistically you need to strip the car to a shell then assess. Weld in fresh metal thoughout, fill, prep and paint then reassemble. You could easily be looking at 10k+ if you farm the whole job out, and that is on the cheap side.

If you're doing the job yourself for the love of it and have the space it would be a multi year project.

[steveo3002]

blank cheque sort of job

cant you find another and have it painted same colour ? wont be anything left of that if its for sentimental reasons , imagine a museum quality rover isnt a huge amount of money

[lufbramatt]

I've been down the keeping a car on the road for sentimental reasons route. My advice: don't bother wasting time and money on it. Move on and buy something better. Life's too short to waste on stuff like this. Will defo be worse the deeper you get into it and the car isn't special enough.

I kept my first car for way too long but when I eventually got rid of it it was like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Might be interesting as a project to learn to weld and fabricate panels on but paying someone to do it is going to be ££££

[alisdairm]

As a very high level estimate, I reckon you would be at least £500 to get the rear arches repaired and painted.

The painting would be done in a 'mates' garage, not a spray booth.

But as others have said, once you start cutting away the rust, the less metal you find, and you could quickly be into the £thousands.

[steveo3002]

£500 wouldnt even paint one side after the repairs

[InitialDave]

Have you had a look up front around the leading edge of the sill, and in particular, the inner arch/front rails either side?

I had a ZS (same shell) that looked very smart, but I could shove my arm into the holes in the front end when I got it.

Now, anything is fixable, but I suspect you may have an awful lot of work to do here, so it's going to be quite an expensive exercise in bloodymindedness.

[ARHarh]

buy this and save a deposit for a house in the process https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1491147

[steveo3002]

if you want it fixed best start looking around to see if any rear end panels are still available to buy , or have to cut the bits off a cleaner scrap car and graft onto yours

[Bannock]

It'll cost you far more than this,

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202206156...

...and you'll probably find another massive, terminal rust problem after you've spent that money.