Vaz 2110 do-it-yourself bottom repair

In detail: vaz 2110 do-it-yourself bottom repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

No amount of tuning will save your car if the bodywork leaves a lot to be desired. You will sell a VAZ-2110 with a good engine for a pittance if the body is in a deplorable state. Who needs a car, for example, with a rotten bottom? How long will he travel? There is definitely no positive answer here.

You can repair the bottom of the VAZ-2110 with your own hands, if you have some experience in such work. Most likely, you cannot do without welding, because all parts should be fixed as firmly as possible. Now even repairing a rotten bottom is a solvable problem, especially in auto repair shops.

As you know, why repair a too rotten bottom, if this can be delayed. To do this, you must follow preventive measures. Of course, if the reason for corrosion is age, then no prevention will help. However, there are factors that should be considered in order to minimize the risk of bottom damage:

avoid accidents and drive a car following all traffic rules;
give your car for repair only to a trusted specialist who is able to do the job efficiently;
wash off adhered snow in winter;
avoid rooms with high levels of humidity in the air;
try to drive on good roads;
exclude the possibility of moisture getting into the passenger compartment, because otherwise rotting of the bottom directly from inside the passenger compartment cannot be avoided.

It is equally important to treat the underbody with special anti-corrosion agents - they will also help your body to serve without repair for several more years. When preventive measures have not been taken, and rust has already appeared on the bottom, it is time to start repairs.

First of all, it is worth noting that you will have to spend a lot of time and patience for repairs, prepare a large set of tools and enlist the help of a couple more people. The most important thing is to have on hand:

spacers for your VAZ-2110;
welding machine;
a sander that will help remove all rust;
paint, primer, anti-corrosion agents, wrench set, jack, etc.

After you have the right tools at hand, it's time to do a complete dismantling of the cabin, which will take you a lot of time. Pay special attention to the wiring, collect it in bundles, so that later you can easily fold everything back. Depending on how serious the damage is, you will have to either just remove the rust and weld on patches, or change the bottom element, or even replace it entirely. Most often, a situation arises when you only need to weld on a patch. It is important here to clean the metal from rust, and simply attach a small patch by welding. Then comes the metal processing and assembly of the cabin.

Less often you will have to change whole elements. In this case, the damaged element is cut out, and a new one is welded in its place. Complete replacement of the bottom is extremely rare, because it is carried out with very large damage, when the bottom has simply turned into dust - it is already better to do such work in a car workshop.

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The body of a car undergoes corrosion over the years, especially quickly it begins to rust if you do not take care of it, do not make an anti-corrosion coating. How soon the body parts begin to rust, also largely depends on the quality of the iron, factory processing, over time, the car needs repairs to the bottom, sills, side members, wheel arches, and so on.

Rusted sills and a rotten bottom are a fairly common problem on a VAZ-2110 car, and since such work in a car service is quite expensive, many car owners try to repair the car with their own hands.You can patch holes on the body and bring the car back to its normal form by various methods, there are non-welding methods, but basically all car owners try to make repairs using welding.

With any body repair, first of all, it is necessary to make an external examination of the iron, to identify and note for yourself which areas are in a deplorable state, need repair or replacement. The state of the bottom metal is determined in different ways:

using a hammer and a core drill - if you think that there is rust in a certain area, you need to lightly hit the metal, check if there is rotten iron under the anti-corrosion coating;
try to raise the car on a jack on each side - if the stubborn platforms are rotten, it will be noticeable when you try to jack up the car;
push in different places on the floor of the car - weak, rotten iron will bend under your feet;
try to move the front seats back and forth in the cabin - problematic seat movements also often indicate the poor condition of the metal.

Any repair of thresholds and bottom by a non-welding method is not professional, and the craftsmen are considered only a temporary measure in order to restore the condition of the body in an amicable way, one cannot do without a welding machine. When repairing the bottom without welding, patches and new body elements are not welded, but installed on rivets or self-tapping screws (bolts), preparation and all other work is done in the same way as in traditional body repair using a welding machine.

Before proceeding with the restoration of the body in the traditional way (using welding), you need to prepare everything you need, from the tools you will need:

welding machine;
Bulgarian;
electric drill with drills;
screwdrivers;
hammer.

To remove old noise insulation, you may need a chisel, you can quickly and efficiently remove the "noise" using a perforator. To clean metal, sandpaper of various grain sizes is needed; to increase productivity, it is recommended to use a sanding machine. You cannot do without materials when repairing the bottom, here a lot depends on the volume of restoration work. Most often you have to use:

patches (pieces of new iron) or ready-made spare parts such as floor spars, panels, sill amplifiers, etc .;
priming;
rust converter;
anti-corrosion and noise-insulating materials (you can use Movil, Tektil, bitumen mastic, Dinitrol, Prim Antishum, etc.).

Since the brake, fuel pipes under the bottom often corrode thoroughly, stick and do not turn away, in many cases they also need to be replaced.

Before setting new salaries on the bottom or weld on body elements, you need to make preparations, partially disassemble the car:

remove the seats;
remove carpet;
dismantle the old soundproofing;
move aside the electrical wiring in those places where repairs will be carried out.

Before replacing individual elements, installing patches, the entire metal surface is freed from the old noise insulation, thoroughly washed and wiped off, cleaned with a grinder, a stripper or sandpaper. Then the metal should be degreased and treated with a rust converter, only after that you can start working directly with iron.

Most often, when replacing individual parts of the bottom or installing patches, welding is used; a semiautomatic welding machine is best suited for such repairs. If a complete individual part is changed, for example, a cross member, rivets can be drilled here and the element can be dismantled without welding.

When the bottom and the sills change at the same time, the latter are removed from the car first, and when replacing the sills, it is important to control the geometry of the body.When replacing floor panels, the bottom parts are always mounted from below, then welded or riveted. When there are many holes and foci of corrosion in the floor of the body, it is better to replace the bottom completely, all the more since it is relatively inexpensive when assembled for a Top Ten.

After carrying out work on restoring the bottom of the body, it is necessary to treat the surface with anti-corrosion compounds, it is best to first prime the iron, and then apply anti-corrosion. Before applying a protective layer, the metal must be thoroughly washed and dried, the best option is to degrease it with white spirit, acetone, solvent or a special chemical composition after washing. Also, do not forget about the processing of welds, they are lubricated with mastic.

In case of significant damage, the bottom often changes entirely, replacement in this case is more profitable than repairing:

the purchase of one large integral part as a result is cheaper than purchasing all the spare parts separately;
the amount of work in general for replacing the bottom is less than repairing it;
no need to waste time on thorough cleaning of metal from rust, removal of old sound insulation;
completely replacing the bottom can be quite simple, without welding, by drilling out the rivets, and then installing new fasteners.

If you are going to use an automatic welding machine, it is imperative to dismantle the fuel tank when replacing the floor of the body, non-observance of safety precautions can lead to a fire or even an explosion. And although the work of replacing a one-piece body element at first glance seems quite simple, there are some nuances here - on the new factory floor there are no studs, a bracket for a parking brake cable, and other fasteners that will need to be rearranged from the old floor.

When preparing iron for patches, it is necessary to take into account its thickness - too thin metal will be fragile, and a thick sheet is poorly welded and harder to process.
Although electric welding is cheaper to use, it is better to weld metal with a semiautomatic device - it is easier to use, and the weld is smoother and more accurate.
When cutting out pieces of metal and installing patches, the part to be installed must fit exactly in size.
When replacing the bottom, the weld seam cannot be continuous, since it has high rigidity, and insufficient elasticity negatively affects the strength of the body.

And if you undertake to repair the body with your own hands, you should be patient, carefully, without haste, perform all the necessary operations, sparing no time and effort in processing the metal, cleaning it from rust. Poor preparation and poor anti-corrosion treatment leads to the rapid appearance of corrosion, which negatively affects the service life of body elements.

The condition of the vehicle is highly dependent on the bodywork. The suspension can be "bored" by replacing worn out and faulty parts. Attachments are also repaired or replaced at the engine, in severe cases a major overhaul or complete replacement is done. Bodywork determines the appearance of the car and, in many respects, its service life.New VAZ 2110 from the salon with an ideal bodyThe first copies of the tenth family had a characteristic feature - the paintwork on the windshield frame at the top peeled off, starting from under the seal. Then this disease was overcome by changing the technology, but the weak points remained.Already on five-seven-year-old cars, the appearance of corrosion on the thresholds is very likely, and ten-year cars without fail require control of the bottom, arches, side members.Accelerate the appearance of rust and perforating corrosion, damage in an accident followed by incomplete or unqualified repairs, severe operating conditions on bad roads in winter and in bad weather, storage in high humidity conditions.Regular anti-corrosion treatment performed in the service or with your own hands will help prolong the life of body parts, especially for the hidden cavities of sills and side members, this power "skeleton" of a car.The bottom corrodes on both sides. From below it is attacked by mud and water from the road. If the anti-gravel coating is violated, the first foci appear literally in a year, after 2–3 years, with intensive operation, corrosion becomes through.In the cabin, there is a carpet on the floor, under which there are layers of vibration-insulating and sound-absorbing materials. If water or snow gets into the bottom trough, for example, from shoes, the coating gets wet and dries poorly. Increased constant humidity leads to corrosion of the underbody from the inside of the passenger compartment and the need for repairs. To prevent this, use rubber mats with bumpers, make sure that no water gets into the passenger compartment during rain and washing.Corrosion due to moisture under the soundproofing materialA rotten bottom is revealed when viewed from below, under a layer of putty or anti-gravel, holes may be visually invisible, but light hammer blows or pricks with an awl will immediately show a defect. Corrosion is most common along the sills and at the feet of the driver and front passenger.In the cabin, the poor condition of the bottom will be indicated by the flexing of the floor under the feet under load, in extreme cases, a breakdown or inability to fix the driver's seat. And, of course, a common situation when, when the car is lifted on a jack, special thrust pads under the jack break down due to corrosion.

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Small stones destroy the anti-gravel coating within a year, after which corrosion begins to appear. Avoid these roads, carry out periodic preventive maintenance

It gets into the car through wet shoes and snow. From this, the bottom begins to rot from the inside. Be sure to lay rubber mats with sides in winter, carefully make sure that water does not get inside the cabin during rain or washing

To prolong the life of your own car's underbody, periodically do anti-corrosion treatments. Pay particular attention to the hidden cavities of the side members and sills.

Determining the presence of rust on the bottom is not difficult. Although if you bought a car hand-held, these problems can be carefully disguised.

Be sure to inspect the body from below. Traces of corrosion can be hidden behind a layer of anti-gravel coating or putty. Use a hammer or awl to strike lightly in these areas. If rust is present, you will see it.
Check the condition of the body along the sills, in the cabin at the feet of the driver and front passenger. It is these places that are quite weak in the case of the VAZ 2110.
If the bottom is rotten, you can see this by the flexing of the floor under your feet under load.
When the driver's seat breaks off or cannot be moved, a rotten body can also be the cause.
One of the most unpleasant situations is rotten thrust pads designed for lifting a car on a jack. But in this way you will immediately determine that there are problems and they need to be solved.

In order to repair the bottom with your own hands, for this you first need to prepare in a certain way. You will need a set of tools, a room, a lot of time, experience and a desire to do such things.It is especially important to prepare the following components from tools:

Welding machine. In the case of repairing the bottom of the car, it is better to use a semiautomatic device with wire and carbon dioxide. It is better, more efficient and more reliable than gas and electrodes;

Angle grinder. It will come in handy if necessary to remove rust from the floor, to fit elements and patches, to clean seams and surfaces;

Car stands. Various items can be used here. So look for what you have;

The rest of the kit is standard, and includes such components as anti-corrosion solution, joint compound, welding wire, sandpaper, primer, soundproofing sheets, paint, etc.

Now you need to drive the car into a garage or other equipment in the room, put it on stands.The machine should be positioned in such a way that it is convenient and safe to work underneath it.Disconnect the battery, then remove the doors. In this case, experts advise to provide for the presence of spacers for doorways in order to maintain the rigidity of the body and the required geometry.Since the underbody needs to be repaired not only under the car, but also from the inside, you will have to completely disassemble the interior. This is a difficult and time-consuming task. Be prepared for this psychologically. You will have to dismantle:

Armchairs;

Floor tunnel lining;

Carpets;

Air ducts;

Soundproofing layer.

Collect all the wiring carefully, combine it into bundles, if they are not assembled, so that later there will be no problems with the assembly. Collect all fasteners, distribute them in boxes or bags, sign. This is extremely important as you can run into serious problems later on.If you plan to completely replace the bottom or weld the panel to the floor, then the dashboard and beard will have to be removed in order to create open access to the engine shield.So, you have disassembled your VAZ 2110, so now you can really assess the condition of the bottom, as well as analyze the required amount of work. The most optimal situation is one that does not require replacement of elements.Rust spots are cleaned to obtain high-quality metal, after which they are reinforced with patches. But not everyone is able to face such a situation.