cheap car body work for MOT

[pclayto]

Hello, I have a 1991 Mk3 Ford Fiesta. It failed its MOT today because the filler neck of the fuel pipe is insecure. The fuel pipe is plastic and the wobbles around.

(strange as its been like this for 4 years and there's never been a mention of it and its been the same MOT test station for the past 4 years as well.)

Anyway, I consider the car to be a banger, and I want to secure the filler neck myself. below are some photos of the car:

General view

Close up:

I do not works on cars generally, but would this be a case f just buying some body filler and packing it in? I only want to keep the car going for another year or two before it will get scrapped. Its a perfect runner otherwise (touch wood).

would something like this be sufficient?
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_193933_langId_-1_categoryId_165625

Many thanks

 

[Peter.N.]

By the look of that the problem will be trying to find something for the filler to stick to, you will have to grind back until you find some reasonably solid metal.

Peter

 

[Mursal]

Not bad of them to let you away until now

My advice would be to tap gently with a spanner, see what falls off. Then wrap a sheet of newspaper around the neck of the tank. This will stop the filler hardening to the pipe. Also fill behind the panel with compressed newspaper to support the filler until it dries. Fill with Isopon P40 (chopped fibreglass) or a cheaper equivalent.
Before you start filling, might be worth using sandpaper (P60) to get the remaining loose rust off.

Dont use anything that will cause sparks or flames around the neck of the petrol tank.

Sand filler until smooth and apply grey primer. You can apply more filler at any stage.

It won't look pretty until the very end

Good luck, sounds like a 10 minute job, but it would take me a few days to do this.

PS Dont be afraid to tap the panel in a little (4-5mm) then you can fill out with the filler to original.

 

[Belle427]

you will have a job trying to secure the filler neck even with fibreglass and filler!

 

[Burnerman]

A Halfords fibreglass kit is the only way forward there mate.....don't take this the wrong way please but do you reckon it'll make a couple more years?
John

 

[pclayto]

thanks for the comments guys. I had a look at the rust and tapped a spanner against the paint work. bad move, it all fell away.

Time the the scrappie I think (or sell for spares). Shame as apart from the bodywork, the car was a perfect runner and would have easily lasted another 12months. time to start looking for a new car me thinks.

This is what's left:

 

[Belle427]

good job the spanner wasnt any bigger or the back end would have fallen off!
bit of t cut and it should polish out

 

[xr4x4]

If you don't care what it looks like, just fill it with filler.

Put enough in and if your carefull how you do it, it should be fine.

Prob should of failed on the wheel arch too.

 

[libby lou lou]

It's failed cos it's wobbly, stop it wobbling.you very lucky that the rust around it has been passed before, it's at least 2-3 old.

 

[Avocet]

I don't know if you'll want to go to all the trouble, or if you have access to a pop rivet gun and some steel, but it looks like the bodyword steel is still sound closer to the rear light and a few inches above the wheelarch. If you could pop-rivet a strip of steel, under the filler neck, so make a bridge between the arch and the rear light to support the filler neck, you could then just attack the rest of the area with a fibreglassing kit and some filler Obviously, the steel strip goes behind the outer skin of the body! You can countersing the pop rivet heads with a ball ended hammer and just fill them. Not pretty, but ought to give the necessary strength to "hang" the fibreglass and filler on!

Not sure if it would be worth it though - a couple of days hard graft in this weather (the fibreglass and filler will take ages to go off unless you have a heated garage)!

 

[pclayto]

thanks to everyone for your replies and comments. Although the car was mechanically sound, I considered that rust has finally ended this cars life. I decided to scrap the vehicle and got £165!