[mj2k]

A bit of a tabloid title, but in the absence of a proper 'project' thread I thought I might as well share a couple of pictures of the lovely rust I've found so far in my 156 GTA SW.

Luckily it's all just surface rust and a good clean with a wire brush or scurfing with a grinder got off the worst, though I needed to chip away some of the larger crusts with a small chisel.

It could have been a lot worse (e.g. if it was a late 90s merc!) but I'm glad I did this job now and not 5 years down the line, when the strut top and subframe mount rot could have become terminal.

At the risk of teaching granny to suck eggs, next time you have to change that annoying upper arm, make sure you give the surrounding components a good going over with a wire brush and a good coat of hammerite or something similar. Otherwise you could be looking at something a whole lot worse a few years down the line...

 

[115686]

That last picture - the one of the shock turret. The rust at the bottom will be coming from the inside - remember the pics in my 156 restoration thread. If it is not too far gone, fill the cavity with waxoyl/stuff via the two holes below the rusty section - you'll see them when you are lying under the car.

 

[cue2]

The car is thirteen years old now ?
Well caught though.

 

[Pud237]

I second what rxe said, that bit at the bottom is probably going to come through at some point regardless. But its not a difficult repair when all the suspension is stripped out. Do you have a welder? I'd be tempted just to get on with it and do it now.

What is the A-pillar like, any rot near the big drain plug that you can only see with the arch liner out?

 

[mj2k]

A pillar looks pretty good, and surprisingly it seems to be 'outwards-in' rot on the subframe mount - I was expecting to find a hole when I started chiselling / grinding that bit down but eventually came to clean metal, and the other side's no so bad, so it might just be down to the legendary Alfa 'iffy paint quality' combined with the cable clip which was mounted just in front of the rot. I haven't had a look at the inside face yet (I've got plenty of room to do it with the box out) so there might still be some welding to do though.

As for the waxoyl, unfortunately I had to get rid of my compressor but I've ordered one of those new 'pressure can' waxoyl systems so hopefully I'll be able to force the waxoyl into the cavity far enough when it's been thinned a bit.

 

[mj2k]

The car is thirteen years old now ?
Well caught though.

Yep, it certainly is 13 years old, but the rust's a lot worse than any other 13 year old car I've worked on since the 90s.*

I reckon that's down to the patchy paint quality (it's one thing if it was applied by a human, but Fiat / Alfa have some serious problems if it was applied by a robot!) but I was expecting that, and in some ways looking forward to it :nuts:

*note - I exclude mid 90's Chrysler-Mercs from this - I've never owned one 'cos the rot scares me too much. I nearly bought a lovely rot-free 12 year old 300TD E class estate once, but the n/s/f spring hanger was hanging on by a thread, so I got out from under the wheelarch before the car dropped on my head and ran away from the car as fast as my legs could carry me :shocked: I also exclude the Mk1 Ka from this - they rust rather nicely, but it's not worth the bother of trying to save one.

 

[maxiboy wales]

Yep, it certainly is 13 years old, but the rust's a lot worse than any other 13 year old car I've worked on since the 90s.*

I reckon that's down to the patchy paint quality (it's one thing if it was applied by a human, but Fiat / Alfa have some serious problems if it was applied by a robot!) but I was expecting that, and in some ways looking forward to it :nuts:

*note - I exclude mid 90's Chrysler-Mercs from this - I've never owned one 'cos the rot scares me too much. I went to look at a lovely 12 year old 300TD E class estate once - it didn't have any of the front wing, sill or rear end rot the cars are so famous for, but the n/s/f spring hanger was hanging on by a thread, so I got out from under the wheelarch asap and ran away from the car as fast as my legs could carry me :shocked: I also exclude the Mk1 Ka from this - they rust rather nicely, but it's not worth the bother of trying to save one.

Oh too have time and money to send if for an envirostrip treatment and a full spray lol

 

[mj2k]

Oh too have time and money to send if for an envirostrip treatment and a full spray lol

Mmm, that'd be great, maybe one day they'll be worth enough to make that worthwhile :thumbup:

(I'm really looking forward to that moment, maybe my other half will finally stop sneering at my unusual tastes in cars)

But in the mean time, a coating of hammerite, stone chip protect and a thin coat of underseal should hopefully keep the rust at bay:

 

[mj2k]

Quick pic of the subframe mount from underneath - doesn't look too bad...

 

[will01]

Defo gonna have to tackle mines next time around. It wasn't quite that bad but won't be far away.
It's definitely worth keeping them good. Not gonna be that many left in few years!

 

[mj2k]

Mine's one of the older ones and was used as a 'daily' so probably has more rust than most, but it's definitely worth doing.

And yeah, you're right, at the rate 156s are falling off the roads there won't be very many left at all soon. Still I reckon GTAs will survive better than most 147 / 156s, purely because they're more likely to have had an enthusiast owner.