Rust Repair & Chassis Restoration

Balance Motor Works have recently finished restoring an Audi 90 Quattro (well it started as an engine rebuild but look what we found in the engine bay)

When you see a bit of corrosion on an old car - it's usually worse underneath.

Be very wary when you see great globs of underseal - when removed it's probably hiding a less than professional repair, which is rotting underneath the underseal

This hole developed from a poorly executed previous repair, which allowed water to enter the box section and then it rotted from inside out.

Although repairs were made near the subframe - this corrosion was not seen under the airbox, and here water entered to wreak havoc on the existing chassis repair

Here we've cut all the old rot away - next step to fabricate a repair panel

New Repair Panel in place - this steel has light zinc coating - great for long term life, but you have to be careful to remove the zinc coating by the area you are welding.

With the panel now welded in place the repair is taking shape, by the time we've finished it will be hard to see where the repair was

More progress on the repair to correct corrosion by the front subframe mount

Audi 90 Chassis leg repair made to the large hole which was hiding under the airbox.
Here's how the chassis leg, which had the big hole hiding under the K-Jetronic airbox, is looking now, as the major welding nears completion

shot of the Audi 90 Quattro with steering rack and brake servo and wiring removed to facilitate engine bay painting
Originally we were only going to address a few minor areas of corrosion. Now we are going to repaint the engine bay, courtesy of our local body shop. This meant removing the steering rack, brake servo, and wiring, to facilitate engine bay painting. Next job remove 30 years of grease and grime.

Audi 90 Quattro wiring loom pushed back through the bulkhead
The wiring loom pushed back through the bulkhead. The end result would be ruined if you had all your wires sprayed in Lhasa Green.

Audi 90 Engine bar degreased
There's a reason why the paintshop won't do engine bay work unless it's degreased first. It takes forver. You degrease, clean and then rinse and repeat. Then just when you think it's grease free and go over with Scotchbrite and panel wipe, you see the Scotch is going black from yet more grease. There's a 911 specialist in the North of England that take 1000 hours on body shell preparation (not paint!) alone. The next step is to use the amazing Buzz Weld Rust Encapsulator, and then she's booked in for paint this week

audi with Buzz weld rust encapsulator primer ready for paint
Engine Bay ready for paint now. We've used Buzz Weld Rust Encapsulator to prime the bare metal repaired areas, and the same product inside the box sections.

Audi 90 Quattro Engine bay after final paint and lacquer
Here is the engine bay finished! Rolling the chassis on a dolly, up to the paint shop was fun, but many men made light work of it. The end result justifies all the effort. It wouldn't have looked this good when new :-)

Audi 90 2.2 5 Cylinder - engine back in
She's nearly ready to run...

All finshed ! Lovely 5 Cylinder noise is back.

A shot of the Audi 90 outside our workshop

The Audi 90, showing off its elegant Giugiaro lines, outside the Golding Barn Raceway

We are able to offer a variety of services from a simple sill repair for an MOT, right up to more extensive chassis repair like this Audi 90. So please get in touch today to discuss your chassis repair requirements. Read our blog about Toyota GT-Four ST 205 Restoration or see all blog posts on Restoration

Stop the need for these major rust repair works by getting Balance Motor Works to Lanoguard your car

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