Is it inevitable?
Discussion
Rot that is. Unless the chassis has already been completely stripped and reconned (possibly even a body off job) is it inevitable that a 13 or so year old S will be infected somewhere and it's just a matter of time before its found? How can you ever be truely sure that a chassis is sound unless you take the body off?
It's not necessarily inevitable but your last point is correct in that unless you take the body off you cannot be sure your chassis is sound. The chassis on my S2 appears rock solid in all visible areas including the outriggers and has passed all it's MOTs. 18 months ago I lifted the body a couple of inches to paint the chassis and found a small hole on the main chassis member above the cross brace from an outrigger. I did a temporary fix until I lift the body later this year but it is still passing MOTs. My take on this that unless you jack the body up you cannot guarantee the condition of the chassis and you cannot use condition of outriggers as an indicator either.
...possibly, but as you say it's difficult to know or spot without a body-off.
My car was checked about a year ago and given a clean bill of health. It was checked again recently and a hole was found in one of the outriggers which will need fixing.
It need not be a total disaster though as lots of work can be done without a full body-off, which happens to be the case with my S's outrigger. Cost will be around the £500 mark...
My car was checked about a year ago and given a clean bill of health. It was checked again recently and a hole was found in one of the outriggers which will need fixing.
It need not be a total disaster though as lots of work can be done without a full body-off, which happens to be the case with my S's outrigger. Cost will be around the £500 mark...
I was horrified by the state of my chassis - see pics posted elsewhere. It is only 14 years old and from a cost point of view should probably have been written off. It still had a current MOT. The point being that the MOT inspector can only access what he sees in terms of corrosion and the S chassis is difficult to access, particularly around the tops of the outriggers.
So basically as long as you are happy thats what is visible and accessable is sound (with MoTs to back it) then it should be OK. Nasty suprises may occur at re-paint time but not all is lost if theres a little bit of tinworm?
My situation is thus. I have been looking around for a while and went to see a car on Wednesday. I spent 2 hours going over the car especially the chassis, the history (which is perfect right back to original invoice) aswell as going for a spin. All the accessable parts of the underside were checked and double checked with little more than a bit of surface corrosion where the paint had flaked off. The car was waxoyled yearly. All of this was done with a torch at ground level (I ripped my jeans in the process
)
The car is going for a proper inspection on a lift tomorrow morning to see if there is anything that I couldn't get to on Wednesday. My concern is that I am worried that I an getting too hung up on the chassis. Does it have to be absolutely perfect? I have seen pictures of the undersides of S's owned by people on the forum and on other sites and they are perfect, almost as if they are never driven. The car I am looking at is sound underneath but not 'manicured'. It has about 4 coats of waxoyl built up on it, especially the outriggers. Am I being TOO cautious?
My situation is thus. I have been looking around for a while and went to see a car on Wednesday. I spent 2 hours going over the car especially the chassis, the history (which is perfect right back to original invoice) aswell as going for a spin. All the accessable parts of the underside were checked and double checked with little more than a bit of surface corrosion where the paint had flaked off. The car was waxoyled yearly. All of this was done with a torch at ground level (I ripped my jeans in the process
) The car is going for a proper inspection on a lift tomorrow morning to see if there is anything that I couldn't get to on Wednesday. My concern is that I am worried that I an getting too hung up on the chassis. Does it have to be absolutely perfect? I have seen pictures of the undersides of S's owned by people on the forum and on other sites and they are perfect, almost as if they are never driven. The car I am looking at is sound underneath but not 'manicured'. It has about 4 coats of waxoyl built up on it, especially the outriggers. Am I being TOO cautious?
Certainly more than I was! Chassis condition is very important - but just because its perfect now doesn't mean it will be in a year. Unless you are very unlucky, it will be fixable and not a total fortune.
The Chassis on my S doesn't look anywhere near as pretty as those photos I've seen here - but I'm told its basically sound and I make sure its looked after. I use my car as a daily driver and it lives outside so its never going to look 'showroom' perfect.
You are obviously a stronger person than I. Inspected car, drove car, engaged grin, bought it
(Edited because I haven't had enough coffee yet today...)
>> Edited by page3 on Friday 17th June 13:45
The Chassis on my S doesn't look anywhere near as pretty as those photos I've seen here - but I'm told its basically sound and I make sure its looked after. I use my car as a daily driver and it lives outside so its never going to look 'showroom' perfect.
You are obviously a stronger person than I. Inspected car, drove car, engaged grin, bought it
(Edited because I haven't had enough coffee yet today...)
>> Edited by page3 on Friday 17th June 13:45
page3 said:
You are obviously a stronger person than I. Inspected car, drove car, engaged grin, bought it
I fully expect that's what will happen tomorrow unles there's enough holes to strain pasta through.
page3 said:
(Edited because I haven't had enough coffee yet today...)
I switch to full fat Coke when the weather gets warm - refreshing caffine.
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