What Have You Done to Your Cougar Today?

I know, and I've just checked the mot, it's due June 30th, not July like I thought :oops:
It's deffo gonna fail on that?

Weird how it looked ok on the face of it, then the wire brush pulled up the original underseal and it was wet through underneath...
 
S##t. Is it where its been repaired before? It doesnt look like it from here but i got a decent amount of underseal at it both inside the sills and out. Or is that a chassis rail? Hopefully its not terminal, I was thinking the other day the mot must be due.
 
No it hasn't been fixed/ sealed there before, it was the original underseal which looked good until it was disturbed.
 
Really hope so, I love this car :whistle:

On the plus side the rest of it looks decent, glad I cleared those sill drain holes though.
 
How bad is this, gonna need more than filler huh? :oops:

Both sides are all wire brushed down now and treated with kurust.
Just waiting for it to dry then blathering it in waxoyl.

I also found most of the sill drain holes blocked up but have cleared them.

Chassis rail rotten, bad news, give the whole underneath a good going over with screwdriver and see where else she gone, at least it will then give you an idea before you start spending on her!


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Is this terminal then, or can it be patched up?

As I said be a bit ruthless and see how far the rot is mate. Once you’ve found it all then you can make a decision on repair or worse. Sorry to be this blunt but I made that mistake and it cost me dear!


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Those pics were after 5-10 mins of going at it with a wire brush, so what's left there is solid.

I'd already wire brushed it all (from the outer sill to the inside lip of the chassis rail) and it all seemed solid, with random bits of surface rust brushed off and treated.

It was when I went back out and waxoyled the other side I noticed a large amount of the chassis rail at the other side has previously been welded/replaced, so this small area should be fixable?
It was still a shock to see, just need to look in to getting her patched up now.

Here's how it looks now with kurust, then waxoyl.
(First pic looks worse than it actually was due to the bright light)
IMAG3483.jpg
IMAG3489.jpg
 
First off, I'm really sorry to hear/see this. I know you have great affection for Klaus, and discovering this only 3-ish weeks before it's MOT is due is a collossal pain.

Obviously the MOT regs have changed recently, but I don't think they will have got any more lenient; probably the reverse. That being the case, I'm fairly confident in saying that what you're got there would be a fail, (you may not have penetrating rust within 30cm of any suspension/subframe/seatbelt mounting point, and if you think about the belly of a Cougar, that's pretty much everywhere under there except for just behind the handbrake mounts).

You've got options, and they range from "grind it back and slap on a patch" to "strip it to its shell and de-rust the lot".

What you do is up to you and, if it turns out that Klaus has done its time and is rotten everywhere... well, you'll do what you have to do.

Whatever path you take, I wish you and Klaus the best of luck.
 
Cheers Chris, Claus ain't going nowhere.
She has to be fixed (y)


Awesome! Good for you. I've always said to anyone who has welded on Tiger that, if the job is insurmountable, stop so we can re-evaluate.

And by that I meant, "If this needs to become a parting out MFSM, speak now."

Neither Trufflehound not Shirtyzeus ever did, (though the last one was close...) so let's hope we can get Claus watertight, safe, and happy, just as they did for her.