Rust on sills and on components behind rear side panels - more cost effective options

Out of curiosity you are calling the grey e-coat. I’d always thought it a grey epoxy 2k primer or chassis paint mazda were using on it - which is what I paint anything that isn’t red with - is it really just e-coat?

Actually having looked it up there is e-coat and e-coat.

Mazda has patents going back years for electro-priming

I see now thanks - I only thought of e-coat as that crud they put on pattern panels that you can almost wash off.

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e-coat is a full immersion process where the assembled chassis is dunked in a vat of electrically charged goop with the chassis at the other end of the circuit. The goop bonds to the electrically conductive bare metal and insulates it causing no further goop to bond to it and forcing the goop in soloution to migrate to other parts of the bare metal. From observation of how the chassis got coated I think the Mk1/2 MX5 used a 2 stage process (plus cleansing) where the fist stage was zinc rich and the second was more a low surface energy top coat. The problem in the way they did it, the chemistry, whatever… was that the resultant coating was pathetically thin and wasn’t bonded in the same way that other manufacturers were, VAG cars were probably 5+ years ahead of Mazda in corrosion protection when the Mk2.5 was in production

Sorry for going off topic James

To be honest , its not that bad, 3k ? must be the part of the country that as higher rates ???
We have dealt with far far worse than that, but good sorted MK 1’s with proof hold good value now.
She is an old car now ,and still going, and for many many more years to come , best value for money two seater on the road with character .
See it this way…if you pay 3k to get her back right, inject wax and under seal treatment to help manage and the control the tin worm from now on.
You have a very good roadster to use again for your 3k , what car are you going to get for 3 k that is still climbing in value daily .
Hind sight is a wonderful thing and if everyone added some form of protection from the start ???, but she needs to be spent on now after her many many years of service.

M-m

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Interestingly mine was also with thrussington originally, it might be my price is higher because the rust extends behind the inner sill, or possibly they’ve raised their prices to match demand since 2017, they definitely seem like one of the best and busiest mx5 restorers out there

Hi all, thank you again for all the advice sent on this thread! There’s been a decent hiatus on this due to time finding a welder and waiting for availability, however the car is now fixed! It transpired that the rust was deeper than thought previously behind the inner sill (image below).
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I would recommend Ryan at RJM Classics in Lakenheath near Cambridgeshire / Suffolk. I am very pleased with repair quality and price, and he has been happy to discuss and advise throughout. He also inspected and preventative-treated behind the front sills as well for better futureproofing.


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