Finally went through the paperwork for the car today and discovered that in 2007 it had an MOT advisory on the chassis rail gusset on the near side. Kind of wish one of the previous owners had tackled it before it came as bad as it is now. Crushed metal, underseal and regular exposure to water and salt is recipe for bodywork disaster. Here’s why:
Initial inspection
Picked off the loose underseal
Twisted knot brush on the angle grinder started to reveal the extent of the rot
Started cutting out the rot, but only revealed more problems
Decided that it was easier to reconstruct the chassis rail gusset off the car so removed the whole panel. It also allowed me to properly chop out the rot from the chassis rail itself. All cleaned up and sprayed in etch primer tonight last thing.
Next jobs are to fabricate up the repair sections and get them welded back onto the car. No way it would have passed the MOT this year without this issue being addressed. To be honest I am amazed it passed in 2009 (last test the car went through).
Rallye Project 
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