I'm ready to repair the rust damage on the chassis of my MGA, and would like
some opinions from people who have done this type of work.
Some background... This chassis has been de-rusted professionally at metal
strip of New England, so there is currently no rust anywhere on the chassis,
just the aftermath of the damage caused by rust. The chassis is structurally
strong and straight.
I have some holes in the side rails of the frame, and have two options in
fixing them. Option 1 is to cut out the areas of the frame that are damaged
and butt weld replacement pieces in place of the areas cut out. Option 2 is
to take a pre cut overlay, which covers the entire area, and weld it on top of
the damaged area. Option 2 will, in effect, seal the area and the inside of
the frame will have a double wall and some added strength.
Here is a poor drawing. @ and dots denote holes of larger (@) or smaller (.)
size.
//
---------------------------------------//--__________
..................... [] @ @@
-----------------------------------------------------
The overlay is slightly shorter and has as cut out for the cross beam denoted
by the []. It would go almost from top to bottom and would cover all of the
holes.
Here are the pros and cons I see with each option:
Option 1
---------
Pros -
.If done properly this will be most like original
.There will not be a thin area to trap moisture
Cons -
.It may be difficult to not get distortion of the metal, as this is
all sheet metal, about 18 gauge.
.Time consuming.
Option 2
---------
Pros -
.Extra strength because of the added metal
.Installation of overlay is quick and easy
Cons -
.Not original construction
.possibility of moisture being trapped between surface of overlay and
remaining original metal.
Opinions, please.
Thanks,
-Al
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