Help! Welding needed

[gareth]

help! my beloved 340 needs £450 of welding (garage quote) to get it through the MOT;
does anyone know of anywhere cheap for welding in cheshire? (northwich based) (im away with work at the mo, so cant
ring around, and if i dont get it sorted soon, it might be too late!).
i reeeeally dont want to scrap it, we've had some great times, but even i can see it would be silly to spend £450 on a car thats probably worth £150! (shes a bit battered and bruised at this stage!)

Gareth

[classicswede]

Hi,

what is teh extent of the welding needed?

[gareth]

hi,
cant remember exactly what needed doing, as told me over phone, but it sounded quite a bit!
think it was front suspension (both sides), something to do with the seat belt (?) and something to hold the exhaust on; i should probably be able to phone them tomorrow to find out though(on a rig at the moment).

gareth

[classicswede]

If you let me know I might be able to help out

[gareth]

hi classic swede,
i just spoke to teh garage, and it sounds pretty terminal, he said it was a LOT of welding;
theres the exhaust mounting and offside seat belt anchorage, which doesnt sound too much,
but also pretty much the whole of the rear suspension ("rear suspension component mounting"), by the sound of it :/

doesnt sound too good!

[340GLT]

The MOT station has to fail anything with rust 20cm from a suspension component from memory, i had the same on the white car and that was due to the jacking point failing which is pretty common.
Adam

[gareth]

in the cold light of day, i think this might be it for the old girl; shes not been starting great lately, too, though that might jusst be the spark plugs, and theres a bit of oil coming up into the air cleaner box (seals going?)
p.s. thanks a million for the offer of welding, classicswede, but i think this sounds like too much work?
let me know if you need any spares, you can have first dibs on any if i decide to break her! (for free, like)

[classicswede]

Does sound like a quite a bit of rot. Possibly doable. If it does it broken there are a fw bits that would be usefull. And there rest can go to anyone here needing bits. Best think it to have a look and evaluate.

[foggyjames]

There are quite a lot of clean cars getting crushed pretty much because no-one wants them. In that context, it seems pointless to spend a fortune on welding unless you're really, really attached to the car (or it's something special). Been there, done that...regretted it!

I've got someone in the London area looking to send their car (which sounds quite nice) to a good home. Could be pretty cheap if you catch a train...

cheers

James

[gareth]

aye, its been in teh family for about 16 years now, so im pretty attached, but i think its time to let go!
i'd like to donate it for spares for the common good (if theres anything worth salvaging!), but not sure of the best way; ive nowhere to store it myself, is there somewhere 340s go to when they die??

i could be interested in a new one thanks, do you have any details?
my dream is to have a standard looking 340 with a souped up engine under teh bonnet! do you know of any of these up for sale?!

p.s. classicswede, let me know what you need!

[foggyjames]

I don't have any details of that car to hand, but I can enquire, if you like. I suspect it won't be cheap, but there'll be others...

cheers

James

[jennydinc]

How was fixing your welding needs? I just read this thread and it is quite old now. However, Labco Welding Inc.‎129 Industrial Park Road, Middletown, CT 06457 is the best welding shop I know near the Cheshire. They can be contacted through (860) 632-2625. Customers had reviewed this as the most honest company.

[valman]

don't jump to conclusions on how bad the rot is, the mot places, as said above, fail cars with rust within 20cm of a vital suspension/seatbelt component, sound like its just your sills that are bad, its not a hard job. just takes time, and i would get someone in the know,who isn't from that MOT garage, to check out the car for you it might not be as bad as what you think, and if you have time chuck up some pics of said rust
thanks,