at a cross roads?

[Bs6VR6 10]

Hey guys, reached a crossroads with regard the motor and need some help and advice.

Basically had the car for about a year and a half now and have been steadily replacing many components to bring it up to as new standard but the problem i have lies with the bodywork. when i bought it i was aware that it had a small amount of rust on the rear seams by the vr6 logo but i had checked it to see if itd been written off and it came back negative also showed it had never been cat c or d so presumed it was just light repair damair damage. However, when i fitted the new wheels i had the rear arches rolled whcih caused a large crack on the drivers side rear arch to appear due to large amounts of filler.

Then on closer inspection to my horror i found that the rear panel was a replacement and had been welded in. so essentially it has had a rear end shunt at some stage and had quite extensive repairs. From what my garage tells me it looks like it was repaird early in its life when its value made it viable. Also as a result of it now running lower on wider rears wheels the drivers side one rubs on the arch wheras the passenger side doesnt.

So here lies my dilema, is the shell worth repairing. I have almost got my new enterior together and planned on a full respray before fitting it but now i dont know if this shell is worth repairing. is it better to try and source a new shell, get that sprayed and move all the parts from my current car over to that. Im just doing my head in now as i dearly wish id known more when biuying it and had spotted this damage then and bought one with a straight and clean shell. So. What would you guys suggest, is this shell salvagable or is it best to cut my losses source a new shell and build this back up. SO further questions are, how much would i be looking to pay for a rolling, late VR6 shell, and do any of you know of one available, or should i stick with it, see the restoration through and get her fixed??

Answers on a postcard guys, thanks in advance,

Regards,

 

Max,

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

pics of damage would be a real help, realy depends on how far you want to go with the car, a respray changes everything! , if it was me i would just get it refinished and have the paint blended into existing paint and go from there, fit your interior as that can allways be removed , i know its going to bug you but fact is it would be no different to owning a mint example and whos to say this mint example doesnt have bodywork horrors hidden beneath, aslong as the body shop do a good job with there filler work nobody will ever know! now with the rubbing maybe the rear axle brackets have come out of alignment? not sure how much movement is on the bolt holes? but maybe enough to cause rubbing? , idd say stick with it but dont get a full spray job unless you can get it done m8s rates..

[bristolbaron 11]

Hmm.. hard to say without seeing the car or seeing pics, I guess its going t come down to how much it'll cost you to get everything sorted. Are you bristol based? I have a friend with a late car for breaking with from memory a decent rear end. You could probably cut away as much as you want for a fairly low cost - otherwise Cazza on here also had one. May end up a bit 'cut n shut' but if it's not structural it'll be more down to quality of workmanship this time round.

 

Alternatively, you could contact this Ebay seller and see if that shell is still available?

[sexybourbon 0]

How much does it stick out further on the deivers side ? If my memory serves correctly the drivers side is 10mm wider as the fuel tank is there or something like that , youd have to do some research but im sure thats right

[Bs6VR6 10]

Hey guys thanks for getting back, given me a lot to chew over.

 

Vr owner:

I'm currently working away from home so will not be able to post up pictures until Friday. I see what your saying but the current state of the cars pair is fairly poor, it has had a blow over at some stage, probably when the rear end damage was done as you can see the original paint in the boot and engine bay, also quite a few dinks dents and the bonnet is badly stone chipped also have large piece of rust on the bottom of the drivers front wing. So in my mind it needs a fair bit of body work and a respray is surely the only answer. I love the car have always wanted one and never plan on selling so really want it, finally to be 'like' new in appearance and feel. Obviously you'll have to wait to see the damage before you pass judgement but I have a ball park figure of between 2,000-3,000 for all the bodywork and respray, don't want what is a lot of money spent on a shell that is not worth the effort!

 

BristolBaron:

 

Hi mate, yeah base in portishead so just outside Bristol. Is your mates shell straight all over or does it just have some front end damage, it's probably my own ignorance with regard bodywork but the thought of cutting out sections and welding in kinda perturbed me, it is probably fine, like I said my ignorance, but I much prefer the thought of a complete shell, although if general consensus is that welding in a new rear section is fine then obviously it is something I could consider as I feel that is what would be needed to salvage mine!! Ill pm Cazza, any idea if his shell is straight from and back? What does appeal about this idea is that I would then have a few panels to choose from and I would give me a chance to really build it up perfect from the shell up.

 

RedBorbet:

 

Hi mate it sticks out only a few mm more just enough so that it catches on the very outer bit of tread where it meats the side wall, like i said I've had them rolled which revealed the filler so it only scuffs the tyre after eigt months there is just a very fain black band on tyre so it's safe but it is worrying and annoying as to why it only does it he one side. The rear beam has been off to have new bushes fitted and the garage I use has not enamoured itself to me with a plethora of past mistakes so I is very possible that it hasn't been refitted correctly, could this account for the discrepancy? Although I fear it is more likely that that arch was damaged and bent inward during the crash and has no been pulled out correctly when repaired only highlighted now by me lowering it and fitting the wider wheels.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, and finally if anyone can recommend a good body shop in the SouthWest I would love to take it over and get a professional appraisal of what is involved and costs.

 

Regards

Max,

Edited February 20, 2013 by Bs6VR6

[Bs6VR6 10]

Hey guys a little late i know but here are the pictures of the damage to the rear end so that you can better asses it and possibly give me a better idea of which path to take regarding the respray, bodywork,:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]72546[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72547[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72548[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72549[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72550[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72551[/ATTACH]

 

The first three are in and around the boot area, then the arch and obviously then the two seams. I know they are not the best but hopefully they show the damage well enough. BTW i am evidently far worse on computers than i though, resizing them was a right mare and still managed to mess the last on up, lol!! Thanks in advance,

 

Regards,

 

max,

Edited February 24, 2013 by Bs6VR6

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

doesnt look great does it, i think everything needs to be stripped back to metal and then you can get a better look at how solid it is or isnt, all the gunk in the boot looks worrying , whats it hideing?, if it was me i would strip it all back starting with the boot and then assess the damage and go from there, it does look prety scary and its heading for the crusher but that can all change fairly quickly once everythings back to metal , might be a good idea to get them back end seams cleaned out and then welded and smoothed in if you were getting the work done...

[KIPVW 0]

That's making me feel a bit sick :( it looks to have been a pretty bad job from the pics but the pic quality isn't helping.

 

I had one of mine repaired to an exceptional standard so it is possible, if it had a much worse bump than mine had I dont know if i'd want it doing.

 

Have a look through here and this could be a little help decide, would love a good look round it in the flesh though as you can easily see one that's been repaired to a good standard or indeed a bad one.

 

http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?51605-Nugget-almost-done!-Well-top-bit-anyway-)&highlight=kips

 

 

Good luck with it.

[Bs6VR6 10]

Hey guys, wow, not sure what to think now, i assumed it was just a rough repair but the last two comments have got me worried. I love the car and have spent so much time and money getting her to where she is it would really pain me to give up on her but on the other hand she is by no means mint, in fact she been very unloved before me. Kip having reads through that entire thread your car was of a much higher standard than mine so it makes me think more and more as if the shell is worth saving but again i dont want to give up on her and the work involved moving ev erything from my existing car onto a new shell is a mammouth job, many decisions to make.

However my plan is as follows, this weekend i am going to get a touch brutal with it to find out the extent of the damage, i shall remove the sealant form the boot, what then am i looking for, creases i imagine, any tell tale signs of major rear end damage. also going to borrow my mates orbital sander and get those seams down to metal, going to look rough but at least then i shall know the extent of the damage. ill ppost pictures up here but also take it to a couple of bodyshops and get there opinion, hopefully the fundamental repair is sound and it is mearly corrosion from moisture in filler or under paint that is causing the bubbles, wishful thinking i know but fingers crossed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and opinoons on what youd do would be equally well recieved, however painful.

Also thanks to Andy for the shell offer, top man, will give you a definative answer as soon as i know the extent of the damage on mine,

 

Wish me luck,

Regards,

 

Max,

[bristolbaron 11]

Ouch. To be honest, I'd say the same, from photos it doesn't look good.

You're doing exactly the right thing though, rip it apart, see what you're really looking at. I'd be paying attention to everything else at the same time though, floorpan, windscreen, front chassis legs etc. There's plenty that could be wrong with it!

 

In terms of what I'd do, it depends on what situation you're in, what experience you have, what time/space/money you have available to you and what you want as an end result. There's too many variables really to say. What would you want to transfer from your car to a donor? Would you be better selling everything you have complete or broken to raise funds towards an already tidy car? or a car with good paint that just needs your engine swapped in etc?

 

More questions than answers i'm afraid! Do you come into bristol? I'd take a look around etc, but not sure i'd be able to help with in depth bodywork knowledge!

[Portent 0]

Hope it's not as bad as it looks. I don't suppose you bought that from somewhere just outside London?

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

with the outside, sand everything out back to bare metal with 40 -80 grit then assess it, take pics what ever, then degrease the metal with pre wipe degreaser / panel wipe,

then mix up this stuff to the correct ratio in a paint mixing cup and brush it on over the bare metal http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Max-Meyer-2k-Epoxy-Primer-Kit-Ltr-inc-Ltr-Activator-/111016947071?pt=UK_Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item19d9202d7f it should seal out the moisture so you can just leave it like that until your ready and have made up your mind on what to do next and its a realy good base to work off , its a high qaulity bodyshop standard product designed for bare metal application.

[Bs6VR6 10]

....Right time to pass me the rope......

 

I am so sick I'm struggeling to right this, just went outside and decided to pull out the boot carpet and have a good dig around and see the extent of the damage, suffice to say i nearly threw up. Tore the carpet out and was met with true horror. passenger side there is a one inch gap between boot floor and rear of car where new panel was welded in, sealer everywhere, rust everywhere, drivers side is even worse, rust is straight through was digging around with a screwdriver and it has literally pushed straight through the panel and exited by the corrado badge.

****, ****, ****.........its dead, gone a vile rusty mess, no way i can justify fixing it, whole rear end is just a rusty mess. I cant begin to tell you how stupid i feel, wasted so much money on a total dog of a car because i was to stupid ignorant and nieve to shop around, what a complete idiot!!!!!!!!

Only optiuon is to now purchase a new shell. The only saving grace is everything ive done so far can be swapped over, but my god its going to be a massive job. cant even bring myself to post the pictures its that vile. This is going to be a big undertaking, a huge learning curve and at the moment seems a bit overwhelming. i guess i can drive it for the time being but i just feel sick.

Not a good day, feel like jacking but i wouldnt get a penny for the car as it is regardless of all the stuff ive replaced, total nightmare.

Any words of encouragement or reasurance that this job can be pulled off would be greatly appreciated. I did a complete engine swap on my old mk2 golf so part of me knows that i can do this but seems a huge mountain to climb right now.

Just going to find a corner to cry in for a while.

Will post pictures up later when ive calmed down so you can see the extent of my stupidity.

Regards,

 

Max......

[tony_ack 0]

My back panel is a bit of a mess at the moment too, but I'll probably fix it as it's not accident damaged, and otherwise straight. Since your's been bodged and accident damaged, I don't think it's worth throwing any more money at.

 

If you were budgeting £2k - £3k on a respray, then why don't you get another VR with the money? You can then swap over all the bits off your current car you want to keep, and then break and sell everything else. You *should* make your money back. Looking for another car will also help you get over this one :-)

[Bs6VR6 10]

Was considering this option but have hopefully just secured a clean and straight shell, the £2k-£3k was including repairing the damage, before i realised how bad it was, so that should be less now the shell is straight, Im lucky enough to have access to a double garage at my dads where i can do the work so this way i can get the fresh paint and rebuild the car from the ground up, making sure i get everything right. Luckily, if anything about this is luck is that everything i have swapped or replaced on the current car can be swapped over so with a clean shell i essentially have the car, just need to invest the man hours to do the swap. Daunting but at the same time quite exciting, every cloud and all that!!!

[Purple Tom 0]

Think of it as a new challenge - you've cut your teeth with the rough one and now it's time to move onto the next one. Now you're a bit more aware of what to look for then you can crack on and get everything swapped. It'll be worth it in the end!

 

Get some pics of the poorly one up as I think we'd all be interested to see quite how bad the corrosion/repairs are, and more details in this clean and straight shell please :-)

 

Cheers

Tom

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

...., wasted so much money on a total dog of a car because i was to stupid ignorant and nieve to shop around, what a complete idiot!!!!!!!!

Only optiuon is to now purchase a new shell. Will post pictures up later when ive calmed down so you can see the extent of my stupidity.

Regards,

 

Max......

 

this is so me!! except your car sounds worse then what mine was, gave me a chance to get into body and paint with out feeling guilty of ruining a perfectly good car so its all good! i think by the sounds of it , its prety safe to say a shell swap is the only way out of this, otherwise it will allways haunt you , deffo get some pics tho!hopefully you can get a decent rolling chassis fairly cheap, good luck

[Bs6VR6 10]

Portent: No mate, got it in plymouth, seems crap is available nationwide!

 

Right calmed down a touch now and am starting to look at this as an opertunity to build myself the car ive always wanted, without any hidden gremlins or horrors. Its going to be a hell of learning curve as its a far greater undertaking then anything ive managed before but im up for it. Lucky enough to have a large albeit slightly dark and dingy garage to work in so its a case of engaging the old grey matter and cracking on. hopefully got the shell sorted, thanks andy, so now just a case of forming a plan of attack and getting stuck in. Got a feeling im going to be on here racking your collective brains a lot more in the near future.

Anyway, just to confirm to you that this course of action is the right one below are the photos of the horros i found earlier, hope your not eating, lol!!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]72610[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72611[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]72612[/ATTACH]

 

Not pretty is it?

Anywho thanks for all the advice, time for the next chapter in my eventful Corrado ownership.

Regards,

 

Max,

[captainredeye 0]

Such a shame fella, if you can get your hands on a shell that's great I remember looking at the work you had done on the interior and being really impressed that is great news if you can swap it over.

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

i know you plan on swaping some stuff over to a good shell , good plan! but i would consider trying to keep this on the roads with cheap bits for the simple fact that it can be used and enjoyed as a care free daily, you will never have the same care free feeling driveing around in something which cant get much worse if you know what i mean and that cant get much better then a vr6 corrado :) , maybe see your new shell as a long term project? dunno but its something to consider maybe,

[tonytiger 0]

Well, I don't think there's any getting away from how bad that looks - but have you seen the air-cooled wrecks that get salvaged and restored - in comparison to a lot of them this looks almost showroom condition! It's refreshing to hear somebody wanting to repair (or possibly re-shell) a corrado rather than just breaking.

 

I think there's definitely something in what VW_OwneR_85 said though, as this may end up taking over your life (and bank account).

 

What ever route you take with this, good luck!

[Bs6VR6 10]

Such a shame fella, if you can get your hands on a shell that's great I remember looking at the work you had done on the interior and being really impressed that is great news if you can swap it over.

 

Appreciated mate, yeah got my head around it now, new shell it is spent most of the afternoon phoning various body shops getting rough quotes, Corrado number 2 will be a beauty. Just got to form a plan of attack and get moving with it.

 

Vw owner and tony I totally understand what your saying, but Im honest I've had enough of driving ropey looking motors and want to have one that looks and feels sorted. The state that the rear end is I. Now I'm almost embarrassed when I stop in traffic, probably being overly self conscious but it's like having a massive boil on your neck and knowing everyone can see it!!!!

However I will be following aspects of your idea, going to source new bonnet doors and boot, get it all sprayed I can then go about fitting the Interior whilst still driving mine and once it is all ready I will then finally swap over running gear and engine should mean a less painful transition. So shopping list and 'to do' list are being compiled at the moment, getting very excited now. Thanks for all the comments guys, and the enevitable future help, lol!!

 

Regards, max

Edited March 1, 2013 by Bs6VR6

[clumpy1 11]

Good luck with it all i'm sure if you need any help you will be able to turn to people on here who will undoubtedly help you good to see someone going for it :notworthy::wave:

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

Appreciated mate, yeah got my head around it now, new shell it is spent most of the afternoon phoning various body shops getting rough quotes, Corrado number 2 will be a beauty. Just got to form a plan of attack and get moving with it.

 

Vw owner and tony I totally understand what your saying, but Im honest I've had enough of driving ropey looking motors and want to have one that looks and feels sorted. The state that the rear end is I. Now I'm almost embarrassed when I stop in traffic, probably being overly self conscious but it's like having a massive boil on your neck and knowing everyone can see it!!!!

However I will be following aspects of your idea, going to source new bonnet doors and boot, get it all sprayed I can then go about fitting the Interior whilst still driving mine and once it is all ready I will then finally swap over running gear and engine should mean a less painful transition. So shopping list and 'to do' list are being compiled at the moment, getting very excited now. Thanks for all the comments guys, and the enevitable future help, lol!!

 

Regards, max

 

sounds like you know what you want with your corrado so your deffo doing the right thing, may seem daunting removeing the engine and all that but its fairly straight forward, just get your garge sorted out so its a nice place to be with lighting and a kettle!! and your love it!! set yourself goals and do it in sections so you dont get overwhelmed and good luck!