Club 80-90 Forums

Decided to clean underneath of sliding door track cover panel, took me a while to get it off as one of the self tapping screws refused to budge, eventually had to drill it out.  Bit of a shock as did not realise how much rust had built up on the body panel and the removed panel.  I have been greasing the track for ages as it always had made a crunching noise thought it was the runner itself but now having removed the cover I could see that the track had been filling up with rust debris. Few holes in body but repaired with fibre glass strips as not near the mechanism or track.   Wire brushed, applied rust killer, next move to repaint.  I think I got to this just in time as a bit longer  more serious damage could have been experienced. The image is before repairs


 

Mine was knackered common area. Probably worth some welding and fresh metal before it does go to far. Mine was made up of cardboard and filler. I had to make a custom piece to weld in. So if you can get away with a smaller repair now it’s be worth it


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Jackrobbo wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 20:49 Mine was knackered common area. Probably worth some welding and fresh metal before it does go to far. Mine was made up of cardboard and filler. I had to make a custom piece to weld in. So if you can get away with a smaller repair now it’s be worth it


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After cleaning up applying Kurust, a patch of fibregalss, I think I got away with it.

Fair enough. I dare say it’ll be worse underneath the track. It’s mad how these t25s rot on the body so bad. But the chassis tend to stay pretty decent


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Jackrobbo wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 20:55 Fair enough. I dare say it’ll be worse underneath the track. It’s mad how these t25s rot on the body so bad. But the chassis tend to stay pretty decent


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Thanks noticed a bit of patchy rust under track so will give that a service too.

Fibreglass over an area treated with rust killer ( rust slower downer) will not last . It really needs cutting out and new metal welding in.
Imo anyway.

Thanks again, will have to monitor it to see if it deteriorates over time, the bit I repaired with fibre glass was only small and well above the actual track..

Mine looked ok.. but in reality was absolutely gone.. bought a replacement panel, up to window frame, then a new door runner..
Lots of effort, but mine was shot..

Dazco wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 22:40 Fibreglass over an area treated with rust killer ( rust slower downer) will not last . It really needs cutting out and new metal welding in.
Imo anyway.

This ^^^ it's the only permanent solution.

You saw the condition of mine in My T25 restoration thread. Behind the actual sliding rail will be knackered.

Tks for that just been viewing your T25 Restoration thread, good images there and lots of helpful information.  I intend to take the inside panel cover off to see what it looks like from the inside.  Hopefully enough access to see and not damage what appears to be pins holding the panel cover in place.

That sounds good, you'll get a better idea of the damage from inside. You can get replacement card trim clips if you happen to break any on removal. 

Managed to remove card trim but could not see the inside of the track which was obscured by what appears to be another panel bulbous in shape, which was unmarked and solid

You may be lucky then because behind the trim panel where the sliding door rail is welded, mine had started to become 'crunchy' rust

Thanks, I am sure I was looking in the right place but was expecting to see the inside of the track, but the piece I was looking at looks like a curved cover which covers the inside of the track which was unmarked, the inside of the track must be inside this.  I have been looking on line to see what should be visible to me but cannot find a good enough image.  Cannot take a picture as only partially removed the inner covers to get visibility.