Today Andy Eccles kindly agreed to come and do some rust busting on the M3. Ben and I noticed some crinkly metal behind the wheel arch liners, so I armed myself with Robin’s welder and Andy and I set to work. Initially things didn’t look too bad on the driver’s side:

But inevitably…

So the operation began.

Here’s the offending hole cleaned up ready for plating:

And from the inside:

Andy set to work creating a plate, while I prepared the interior and inspected the other side of the car.

The other side of the car was sound on the bulkhead, but the bottom of the wing was rusty. So Andy decided the wing was coming off. This operation starts with the bumper:

It was a good opportunity to get the metalwork treated:

Typically we were a little rushed by darkness and hunger, so I forgot to take photos as the plates were fitted and blended and sealed, but rest assured it’s all done. The car’s back on the ground now, but the interior is still a little stripped as I’m waiting for the underbody seal on the car floor and foot well to properly dry before I replace the carpet.

I’ll pick this up at the weekend. Now’s a pretty good time to do all this anyway as the exhaust baffles are so rattly the car’s more than a touch embarrassing to drive…