Well, today must be the crappiest since owning my +2 (5 years this month). Was going to take it out for a drive, as I had the day off from work. First thing I did was get under the car to have a look at the drip tray to see how much oil had leaked in the 2 weeks since I last drove it (the usual couple of drops). As I did so, I had a quick glance at the bottom of the turrets with the torch. Oh ****, that looks like a crack.
Take the wheel off to have a better look, and there's a crack all the way across the turret
Prodding with a screwdriver I've enlarged it to quite a big hole. I had a good prod at it a year or so ago, so it's deteriorated badly since then.
The hole is rather difficult to see in the front view as the inside is the same rust colour, but you can see it from the missing welding seam.
To be honest, I'd been expecting this sooner or later, as there had always been something odd about the turrets. Firstly the drain holes are completely blocked. Secondly there were some signs of corrosion but everything was solid when I prodded it firmly.
Now I think I understand. It appears that the bottom inch or so of the turret has been filled with metal (it is metal, not filler as it has turned to rust, and I've chipped large chunks of it away with the screwdriver). This explains the blocked drain holes. Whether this was a previous repair or somebody's idea of strengthening I don't know...
So I've now got to decide what to do. As winter is approaching it would be a perfect opportunity to do a chassis replacement myself, but I simply do not have the room. I only have a single garage with insufficient clearance to remove the body, and the driveway is on a slope
Trying to rent somewhere is also out - I've been looking for a second garage in Chepstow for years.
So I'm going to have to pay somebody to do it
I tried ringing up Paul Matty today but despite several attempts was unable to be put through to the workshop (I wanted to discuss it with somebody to find out a rough idea of how much it would cost - I think I'm looking at something like ?4000). In the meantime, looking at pictures on their website it looks like their chassis are Spyder Lotus type replacement stress skinned (as they have towing hooks). If that's the case I might as well go to Spyder directly. SJ Sportscars seem to sell non-galvanised LR replacement chassis, but as I said, there's no way I can fit this myself.
More wine is called for - bugger work tomorrow.