Hi folks id like some advice on whether I should use a welder here or not. I want to buy this ford escort estate so much, as it is being sold cheap at £250 having only 25K mileage as it was purchased off a previous owner whose wife used to drive it about. Having seen it there is a rust patch which is becoming a little hole 2 inches in diameter where the back windscreen wiper sits...Can I get this welded or should I forget about buying the car? The MOT is about to run out too, and I dont know whether there are other hidden faults too but I have test driven it and its as smooth as you like.
- Thread starter dusky
- Start date
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
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- 9,730
- Location
- Bedford UK
Wouldn't bother buying a welder to do the repair yourself. A new tailgate sounds like the easy option, otherwise a garage should be able to weld a patch in and respray the panel, but it might not look as neat as a new one. Otherwise fibreglass might be your friend if you aren't too bothered about neatness.
As for the rest of the car - could be worth paying the seller to MOT it (if you fund the cost of the MOT). If it fails on loads of things then you've only lost £45 (or whatever it is these days.
As for the rest of the car - could be worth paying the seller to MOT it (if you fund the cost of the MOT). If it fails on loads of things then you've only lost £45 (or whatever it is these days.
irondarren
Member
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Getting it welded should be no trouble, doing it yourself might be a little more difficult if you have no welding experience. Just means you will need to learn to weld and get a little practice in. New Mig units can be bought for as little as 150 quid but with everything in life you get what you pay for. Clarke units seem to be a favoured one amounst DIY ers on the forum, producing reasonable welds with good machine reliability and spares back up. Stay clear of SIP and Wolf welders as these seem to have problems with the wire feed units as they age.
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/diy-mig-welders
These people sell the clarke units, but weldequip here on the forum can normally beat them for price and can certainly knock spots off them in terms of service
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/categories/search/diy-mig-welders
These people sell the clarke units, but weldequip here on the forum can normally beat them for price and can certainly knock spots off them in terms of service
peterd51
happy to be here!
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Hi,
quick fix for MOT...
slap some insulation tape over the hole.
It can only fail if it's a sharp edge that a passer-by could cut themselves on or if it's within 12" of a 'load-bearing' point, ie, chassis near the suspension struts.
The rear wiper doesn't need to work and there's nothing load-bearing around there.
I once had an Escort with a 2" square hole in the front wing and I just renewed the tape every six months or so. It passed three MOTs with that.
Regards
Peter
quick fix for MOT...
slap some insulation tape over the hole.
It can only fail if it's a sharp edge that a passer-by could cut themselves on or if it's within 12" of a 'load-bearing' point, ie, chassis near the suspension struts.
The rear wiper doesn't need to work and there's nothing load-bearing around there.
I once had an Escort with a 2" square hole in the front wing and I just renewed the tape every six months or so. It passed three MOTs with that.
Regards
Peter
I had a MK1 Cavalier with ally patches cut from the bottom of an old pram pop rivetted over immense holes in the front wings. I did it after returning to my car in town to find someone had shoved two empty beer cans in one of the holes. Mind that was a few years back when the MoT man wasn't quite so keen with the old tappety tap hammer.
