My Granada Mk1 and an 'RO Performance' Restoration - angry and disappointed, money lost

 Hole under spring seat. Now welded up. Ready for new outer strengthening plate to be welded on

New section welded inside the chassis rail, due to some piecemeal repairs to stop anything moving or twisting this was quite hard as the metal thickness varied. I just had to make sure that I didn't blow holes or not get any penetration - this was more important than scabby looking welds. The important join between the body and boot floor part of the rail now has a continuous piece of new 18s gauge steel. 😊 There is also another section 18s gauge underneath where the large hole was so this hole has new steel both above and below. Acid protected and painted with Hammerite. Once the metal over the rail has been replaced I can repaint it with Rustoleum which matches that factory colour almost perfectly - unlike the new paint. Next job is to plate the side of the chassis rail and re-join it to the wheelhouse section. I can then thoroughly seal and paint everything. It's great how solid things sound now when tapped with the hammer.

 I've now opened up the boot floor enough to do an internal repair. Bear in mind that the axle was removed and put back again at the restorers and obviously this was missed. Not 'alf! It's a good job I didn't drive it like this.  I don't think it would have passed an MoT either.  I'm going to have put in an approx  8-10" repair section so that the join between the boot chassis section and the body one is continuous.

 I've now got enough metal welded in to feel OK about cutting the metal over the chassis rail. Now to open up the top of the chassis rail. Needs good clean out with the air file and then I can start putting metal in.

 I've been careful not to cut out too much metal in case anything moved so now I've got the boot floor partially repaired I can take a look under the wheel arch and start to remove corroded metal from there section at a time to maintain structural integrity. Under the wheel arch. I'll have to start with some careful cutting. Some biscuits and a brew while I think! See the hole above the spring seat in the below pic I've got the car on an axle stand and removed the shocker so that there is no load on the spring seat.

 Just repairing boot floor over the rear chassis rail before I dare remove anymore metal. Will be plugged and seamed on the overlap to make sure it's all strong and obviously the rust has been cut out.

This is where the inner rear valance joins the inner quarter panel. Not my holes" Not fastened to anything so had to be welded up.   Looks a bit better now. Everything now joined together and no rust.

I have now removed the rust and silicone sealant and welded the inner panel to the outer - it no longer moves when you press it with your finger. A section has been added in at the bottom because part of the inner quarter panel had rusted away so the bottom of the quarter was mostly single skin. Big improvement in rigidity when you pull on the panel 😊 Just needs another coat of Hammerite and then ready for stonechip once the hole to the right is also repaired.

 This is where the rear quarter outer meets the inner panel.  There was a flap folded up at an odd angle leaving a triangular shaped gap.  You can see to tall columns of weld - these were covered up with silicone sealant. This was the lump of silicone I pulled out. I'll remove the flap and welds and make a new edge piece to join the inner and outer properly. At the moment the inner section to the left of the pic will visibly move as is it not attached to anything. 🤯

 Looks like good old cartridge gun sealant to me. FFS 😠 What a set of twats.