Hi There, not been on here for a while, hope you're all well....

So, I love my Ami, it carrys me around Bristol everyday and keeps on going...but.....there's some holes appearing....

the question is purely rhetorical - and I'm expecting all sorts of name-calling

"how do you keep the faith in your pride and joy, when the screwdriver slides through the metal like butter?"

........

Firstly, buy a rivet gun

And to restore the faith, all I have to do is roll back the roof (ah, you have an ami....) and crank the tunez as I hoon into corners on a countryside A road.

Nice. I do own a rivet gun - and some tin snips....maybe my whole concept should be - "keep it French" and see what I get away with.....after all, it keeps passing its test and the holes are there for all to see....sill, bump stops, outer bulkhead....

cheers

Ignoring the holes/rust/parts that fall off the car works fine for me!

I prefer a car that works when I need it and is technicaly fine over a shiny car that doesn't work when I want it to.

dont buy a rivet gun, buy a welder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's hard to keep the faith when your car's a shitter. I've left mine 90 miles away at my 'rents house for 6 weeks and I can honestly say its problems haven't bothered me in the least.

I had a good look over the underbelly and took a blucnt screwdriver to the suspect areas:-

N/S A post is bad, no hole bigger than a 50p coin, but it's come away from the sill
both inner wings where the bumpstops sit - bigger holes....
small hole (20p coin) in N/S sill
O/S outer bulkhead / footplate - big holes right where it sits on the chassis, just behind the front arms....that's a body off job, unless it's welded from above, which would obviously take more work and messing with the solid upper bulkhead / footplate....
inner skins of the door tops...

for now I'm going to de-rust then Bilt Hamber the holes and wait until the day i take the whole thing apart (when i have time and a garage)

the purists must hate me....

I suddenly feel a HOLE lot better about my car



That sounds familiar, except my outer bulkhead in that corner is no longer there and the iron oxide that was, was held in place with kitchen tissue and bathroom sealant.

I have since replaced this with a panel made from a Packard Bell pc case.

Personally I like the view of the road from beneath the drivers seat. The fact that my seat wobbles as the legs go through the floor provides additional damping, meaning the ride (on my seat) is impeccably smooth.

My girlfriend has, however, expressed concern that I may unexpectadly exit the vehicle through the floor so I will be riveting some reinforcement onto the floor before france.

panel made from a Packard Bell pc case.

like it....

unexpectadly exit the vehicle

nice.....



i think it's good to share bad points on one anothers cars, it helps everyone (who can't afford a full body off resto.) keep a sense of purpose and a feeling of "we're all in the same sinking ship"

good work!!!

like the idea of a computer case, i always think a roofing suppliers can work well too. some nice double roman's to cover of the holes, you could even use a bit of lean mix mortar!!!

I found a big hole in the base of the C-pillar just before the mot last year, it's only visible from under the rear wing, but it's big enough to fit four fingers in.

Fixed it with 'Chassis-in-a-Tin'
It might need touching up again for this year's test.