Puma from Belgium

[TylerB]

Good evening everyone, i'm just a guy from Belgium loving his Puma. Its a Moondust Silver edition 1700cc with 130000km on it. I drove it for 2years, not stripped it looked fine actually.

Main products i used so far:

-Brunox epoxy primer
-Hamerrite rust converter
-Dinitrol ML
-Dinitrol 1000
-Dinitrol Metallic
-Teroson 4 in 1 for sealing
-Debrasel polyester
-Dinitrol polystar polyester







Looked cool to me, but soon i would find out how bad it was rust rust rust everywhere! Since i looked at many other pumas, and they were all bad rusty, in the end i decided to repair this one.
I am not a professional, i have learned a lot doing this. Probably some of you will say i had better looked out for a Puma in better condition, but all pumas i crossed were really bad and rust.. so, since this engine has low mileage and good condition, i decided to do it. This is how it looked when i started out













First patches for the welding on the chassis







Home made sills, since they are not available for the puma.. they were both sides completely rust. From frond to rear







On the front, it looked really bad too, after all the rust cut out this is what i had left..









Had to weld in a small piece first because even on the inside it was rusted out





2nd door sill





After welding the under and sills









Fuel tank done:
before:



and after:





The famous rear arches, they were completely rusted out, as usual



inner arch repaired, i don't know if this the correct way to do it, i hope it will hold for some time, what u guyz think is the best way to fix this, i fear the rust will come back here in time..





Home made arches..









welded..











epoxy on it first







Debrasel (metaalplamuur as we say in dutch)











arches on the inside





new exhaust system, not a race exhaust, just original parts...



under the car











After having the whole rear unrusted and sprayed with epoxy, i had the dinitrol Metallic over it, i didn't like this job, it's very dirty























the inside, i still need to finish the inside of the car, will be after the winter...



Back to the arches



after the debrasel metal polyester, i used dinitrol polystar polyester











This is how the car stands right now, gonna finish it next summer


This post took me about an hour, so i hope all pics and everything gonna post as it should i know i am not an expert, so, if u have any suggestions, or see any mistakes in my work let me know, i am glad to learn this kind of stuff. i am not planning to drive this puma as a daily, it has been too far i think, the rust will come back one day too i guess
Gonna post more pics when i finished this job.
Tyler

[tuonokid]

Hello and welcome Tyler. Good work with the Puma, it looks like another one's been saved now.
Barry

[TylerB]

Hello and welcome Tyler. Good work with the Puma, it looks like another one's been saved now.
Barry

Thnx Barry, I just don't want my Puma to end up on the junkyard too soon
Tyler

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Puma Belgium
viewtopic.php?f=64&t=29080&p=345151#p345151

[tuonokid]

You're welcome Tyler. As per always a car is nothing without a sound bodyshell.
Barry

[Wild E. Coyote]

Tyler, let me welcome you here! And, if I may say so, there is nothing wrong with your repair technique. That metal you used to replace the rotten sills, is it zinc coated? If it is, the rust one return there...

Having said that, prepare for hunting it on the rest of the car.....

But, top job, well done!

[Catweasel]

Great job !

[TylerB]

Thanks guys!!
I just got a question, maybe anybody here knows the answer.
Once you have welded a sill/arch, what is the best thing to put on the metal before you start putting polyester?

[moondustka]

I would use etch primer personally.

Good job on the bodywork also

[tuonokid]

I always use etch primer on bare metal.
Barry

[TylerB]

Yes i have heared of this self etch primer. Will definitely try it out
For the ones who are curious (like myself) this guy explains a lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNYOhCBZH4g

[rnnicol]

Good job, I've got similar rust issue with mine, currently searching for a welder, anyway good to see the progress.

[TylerB]

Finally, summer and good weather coming up! Allmost time to finish this Puma. I plan to put it in full original condition. Can't wait

[tuonokid]

Hi Tyler
We had our Summer yesterday and now we're back into winter again bloody windy, rainy and freezing!!!!
Barry

[Wild E. Coyote]

Barry, it was 24C here today..... Windy, but 24C

[tuonokid]

Hi Sinisa
Probably 12C here but wind chill taking it down to about 8C. Then I taxed my Puma (on the road now) and it's hardly stopped raining since. I think we've had 2 nice days here since Xmas. Makes me wonder why there's so many people wanting to come over here as it can't be for the weather
Barry

[TylerB]

Hi there, I am now dealing with all the rust on other places of the car. Really need to before finishing the rest of it. There was a lot around the top engine mount, so I started there. Other side is better but I'm threating all arches the same way.

After brushing it all first rust neutralizer:





Epoxy primer:





Painted:






Also fitted new brake pipes and ordered a new engine mount from Ford (costly!!)



The rear arches are nearly done, one side is ready to go in a filler but I will not spray it myself ( I don't have the skills and facilities)






Here you can see the underside is not perfect. I regret this but well, I prefer not putting too much polyester on it. I hope it will not be too visible in the end!

[moondustka]

Good work there

[TylerB]

Hi puma fans
It has been like extremely bad weather past month but I managed to get rid of most of the rust/corrosion on critical places of the car now. The arches are now ready to get paint, I put a small coat for the time to protect it and to see what the result will be once I will have it sprayed professionally (probably August or so). I am quite pleased. However, on the left side (pics) I had some difficulties to get the arch completely straight and natural, had some welding issues there so the underside is not perfect, right side is a lot better and was less work to finish.

[TylerB]

With some delay, managed to finish the inside of this puma. Did all the welding, rust proofing and sealing. Arches are all done, need some good body filler and decent paintjob which i will not do myself.































The arches will get painted properly very soon now, finally





In all i'm happy about the bodywork, it has been a lot of work but it feels good to have hard and solid sills and knowing all the rust has been cut out. The car has been offroad for 4 years now, so finally I was able to take it on the road for a small test drive. Some knocking on the front, a wheel bearing in need of replacing, noisy tyres (or maybe this will all be better when tracking done properly) but engine wise it drives very well after all this time. Engine maintenance will be the next step

[Wild E. Coyote]

Well done! Clap-clap-clap!

[TylerB]

Source of the post Well done! Clap-clap-clap!

Thanks mate!

[TylerB]

Drove the car some more today, it's so fast compared to my other Puma! I wonder how this difference in power is possible. It has the same engine, same year, it's just the same car and standed still for years. It was much less well maintained, and yet it is much faster, especially in acceleration. Love it

[tuonokid]

Hi Tyler
Looks like you did a really thorough job on that so I hope you can enjoy it now. Well done mate
Barry

[TylerB]

Thanks mate! Some things to fix up but is allmost ready now!

[zinc2000]

My God that was a job and a half my friend, well done and if anyone ever doubts your repair skills you have my permission to hit them with something heavy
Top job and you appear to have done it all outdoors!!
Well done, enjoy the car with pride