So I had Mornington Prestige take a look at the car, their first line was similar to Ritter's - 'I wouldn't spend any more money on that car'
The chassis crack was the main thing again, and from the laundry list Ritter gave me, they gave me some conservative ballparks:
- All steering tie rod ends need replacing - $500
- Front axle upper and lower ball joints need replacing both sides - $1200
- Sway bay D rubbers need replacing front and rear - $100
- Engine fan bearing worn/freeplay - $580 (to change the bearing and punch a couple of grub screws through the aluminium housing)
- Right transmission mount split - $150-200
They also reckon my front shocks and springs need replacing - which will only make the crack likely to grow until that's done, but isn't a particularly cheap bandaid if I don't end up keeping the car. Quoted $1500.
They couldn't find any faults on the ACE system so that must have been an ancient fault that Ritter cleared and hasn't come back.
On top of that the rear brake pads are still low, and I still don't have any signal to my reverse lights/camera. I pulled the XYZ apart a couple of weeks ago and it had been changed to the 2003ish model which replaced the rotary contacts that failed in the old ones. Still, I sanded the contacts and put it back together, but no signal. I feel the fact I lost the signal when the transmission was reconditioned is unlikely a coincidence but I'm unsure where to look from here. I haven't bothered taking it back at the time as I had some serious family stuff in play, and I have reverse worklights I can manually trigger (same with the camera). Still, not roadworthy.
So aside from the XYZ mystery, looking at about $4k+ based on the ballparks. Some of this list I could definitely tackle myself and save some coin, other things I wouldn't be confident about.
BUT BACK TO THE MAIN ISSUE AT HAND...
I had a friend who's a very proficient metalworker and machinist look at the chassis crack, which appears to be halfway up the driver side, across the bottom, and all the way up on the passenger side. Photos below with crack circled in green, also showing the crappy patch weld that was done by a previous owner.
Attachment 183316Attachment 183318
As far as I can tell it hasn't spread across the top yet, but it's a tight spot to inspect. My mate reckons it would be unwise to weld it without having access from the top - I feel that taking out the radiator and some hoses should give enough access without the steering box having to come out, albeit not the most comfortable access? See below - removing the parts circled in red
Attachment 183315
He would like to see pictures of the reinforcement plate LR used to produce, to see how it fits. Does anyone here have one fitted that they could send a couple of snaps of?
Was also wondering about the option of adding a gusset - keeping clear of the steering rods....?
Attachment 183320
All (kind) opinions welcome...
