I'd just like to remind you all...

[GTS290N]

Could any of this excessive corrosion have been caused by incorrect fitting of the lower steering column bush?

I nearly choked on my beer!

[lazeruspete]

Could any of this excessive corrosion have been caused by incorrect fitting of the lower steering column bush?

not directly i imagine, why?

[Galileo]

You have a point Karlos, looks like the entire steering column has fallen out through it, should have fitted a polybush one.

[soe8m]

Normally there's a big bulge on the lower column bush what does prevent water coming in from the outside. Maybe that went wrong at some time.

Jeroen (sorry )

[Galileo]

Could any of this excessive corrosion have been caused by incorrect fitting of the lower steering column bush?

not directly i imagine, why?

Well you know how If you have to explain the joke it's never funny, but let me say that there has recently been a top-up of the forums humour oil and a fettling of the lower comedy kingpin and that pesky bush has become the running joke. With hashtags for social medja of #bushexit #fitandforget #wandinabucket the voting is currently straight down the middle between the in and the out camp with passion on both sides. Migration has become a hot sub-topic with the in camp claiming that the bush will migrate causing all kinds of sloppy ills, whereas the out camp state that migration will not happen if done properly...

[Galileo]

Normally there's a big bulge on the lower column bush what does prevent water coming in from the outside. Maybe that went wrong at some time.

Jeroen (sorry )

Damn you Jeroen, so that's why the LHD models don't rust as much!

[trackerjack]

You are all wrong because it was used as a taxi in Atlantis before being sold to buy a Merc.

[soe8m]

Normally there's a big bulge on the lower column bush what does prevent water coming in from the outside. Maybe that went wrong at some time.

Jeroen (sorry )

Damn you Jeroen, so that's why the LHD models don't rust as much!

I'm not going to mention any specific parts anymore but you could be right. This one is in my front garden and you can see these are not Dutch reg plates.

Jeroen

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[Galileo]

Awww, poor thing, but you know I think you maybe on to something here, we may have discovered why some cars rust more quickly than others!

Hey, you know what I like best about that first photo? The rubber mat hanging down from where the floor has fallen through, and yet it's still valiantly trying to protect the carpet from muddy feet, good job rubber mate, we salute you!

[Jon Tilson]

Top front panel looks good Jeroen.
Can you cut it off for me....

Jonners

[Mahesh]

Makes a matching pair for Xvivalve's car, should send it for them to be together

Like the matt brushed brown free optional paint

[xvivalve]

I suspect that was once carmine; it is how they developed russet, that is the shade reached when carmine finally stabilises!!!

[Mahesh]

James take note, act now !

[Robert 352]

Gentlemen, I realise that this thread is somewhat light hearted and is designed to provoke a smile or two. And generate some comment as it has done. I too would like to add some comment in a slightly more serious vein.

There seems to be a problem here, one of denial perhaps, certainly one of failing to recognise what is the real cause of the rusting evident in the photos shown in the postings on the first page. There is mention of Italian steels and an inference that British steels might also be the culprit.

When I lived and worked in Sheffield in the late 1960’s I was surprised to see them spreading salt on the roads when it snowed. I was utterly astounded to be informed later that something like 8 tons per mile of road were spread on the main roads in South Yorkshire each winter.

What salt that was not picked up by the traffic passing over it was presumably washed off the roads and found its way in the storm water drains, soils and streams alongside the roads. Added to the salts on the roads are the by-products of the air pollution evident in your part of the world which in the past has generated acid rain and you have the perfect recipe for vehicles to rust.

In this part of the world the use of chemicals like salt to remove or suppress snow and ice is absolutely forbidden. Not that we can claim to be innocent of spoiling our environment down here either. The farming practices which we have adopted here have seen a significant rise in the (over?)use of cheap nitrogen based fertilizers and this and other factors have all contributed to the levels of nitrates which have risen alarmingly in the soils and the surface ground waters. It does not however contribute to the rusting of objects like cars.

I can demonstrate that a Triumph made of good/average/ordinary British steel will survive quite happily out in the open air for the best part of 40 years with little evidence of rust. This photo shows a car which I collected recently and which was about to be scrapped.

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It has sat outside in a field for perhaps 20 plus years. The previous owner had intended to repaint the car and had stripped the original paintwork back to bare metal in places. There is superficial rust where the bare metal has been exposed but none of the pitting and disintegration shown in the photos in the previous postings.

But blaming the steels from which these cars were made? I think you are wrong. It is the way we abuse the environment in which we all live which has caused these vehicles to rust in the manner they have.

I will take some more photos of this car in due course for the body is sound and restorable. Yes there is some rust but only where the water was trapped. Perhaps it will lead to a thread on the restoration of one of the very early New Zealand assembled Toledo’s.

Robert