Re: Weak jack points, how big a deal?

["David R Johnson" <johnsnd@domain.elided>]

Andrew,

didn't see anyone reply to this, so here goes.  Judging by what I found while
stripping the bodyshell of my 1982 GTV-6, this could be indicative of bigger
problems.  Granted, my car had advanced rust on the rocker panels which are a
giveaway of worse problems within; if your car appears sound everwhere except
the jacking points then this might be a false alarm, but it would be worth the
time to investigate IMHO.

When I bought my car, I thought I checked it out pretty thoroughly.  Used a
magnet to check for bondo, the works.  However, once I got the carpets and dash
out, I discovered that the rocker panel rust (which had lead to the weakness of
the jacking points) was at the end of a rust trail beginning at the lower
windshield corners and running down the seams between the firewall and the door
hinge pillars.  There were several large holes neatly hidden by the
soundproofing material, which became obvious when I scraped the material off
with the aid of a heat gun.  These holes go through to the wheel wells, but are
hidden from sight there by the vertical arch closure panels.  These panels are
screwed in place, and the quickest way to check for such rust is probably to
remove them and poke the firewall from behind, rather than pulling the carpets
from a running car.  In my case the rust extended down into the inner and outer
rocker panels, going right through the rear bottom corners of the front wheel
wells.  Pretty nasty.

I can't say if this is a typical rust pattern for a GTV-6, but there is no
visible leak or problem on my car that would cause this, so I would guess it is
the result of a drainage design flaw or leaking windshield seal.  I am
concerned that if you are seeing the jacking points weaken that this other
rust, which I would think would certainly weaken the structure of the car, is
already underway.  If this is the case, then I hope it is not very far advanced
and can be repaired for a not too unreasonable sum.  If you can afford to, I
would recommend repairing it and fixing the source as soon as possible.  In my
case, an estimate for $3000 for rocker panel repair plus some fender work
jumped to over $7000 when I brought in photographs of the damage (actually
$15000 when including fixing up the rest of the body and repainting it).  This
was enough to persuade me to invest in some welding equipment and learn to do
it myself.  News of my success or otherwise will of course be posted to the
digest, but don't hold your breath ;-).

Not trying to scare you or anything, just hoping to alert you to a possible
problem before it's too late!

Dave J.
1982 GTV-6 (stripped & waiting for me to convert my garage into a bodyshop)


On May 22,  4:11pm, Andrew wrote:

> My '82 GTV6 has weak front jack points (from rust that worked its way from
> the wheel well in).  Given that this is the only weak spot in the underbody,
> is this at all structurally significant (seems that it is not to me given
> the way the suspension is set up, but I have nothing other than intuition to
> go on)?  If it is a structural problem, how involved would it be to have
> someone fix it?  The first state inspection guy I went too (not an Alfa guy)
> didn't like it at all.

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