Kate's MG, Part 4

At the end of Part 3, I said the next task was the brakes. It was, but I didn't go nearly as deep as I thought I might. I was able to free up the stuck pad without removing the caliper, and called it good for now. I have been obsessing about the elephant in the room - the rusted sills on the MG. There were pictures from the outside in Part 1, but without further inspection, I can't know if the car is even safe to drive. There is visible rust from the front wheel well to the rear wheel well on both sides, and in the area called the "dog leg" right in front of the rear tire, there's a good-sized hole on each side. Here's the driver's side:

And the passenger's side:

Looks horrible, doesn't it? I spoke with Kate's husband this morning, and warned him that I was going to have it evaluated by a professional body expert, and there was some possibility that the car would be declared unsafe to drive. But I can't do that until I can drive the car to the body shop (Lancaster Mitsubishi, which has a great reputation).

But, I wanted to know NOW! My research told me that the rusted parts on the outside are actually a non-structural skin. I could see that the holes in the doglegs went through several layers, but I didn't know how far the damage extended.

I have this gadget. Here's an Amazon link, although somehow I paid less than half the price on this ad: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGTOG34

It's called a Borescope, and the end of the flexible arm is a camera. This one has the neat feature that it is also a wi-fi hub, and I can connect my phone to it, and then display and record what the camera sees on my phone. I can even move the video to my computer, and then upload it to YouTube.

That's exactly what I did, so that you can see what I found. It's pretty good news, given the rusted state of the outside. Except for the doglegs, the sills show only light surface rust on the inside. I still don't know if the rusted part is a show-stopper, but it gives me hope that the car will be driveable for some time to come.

These videos are terrible, since this is a cheap consumer-grade product. They are also waaaay too much like watching a colonoscopy. In both cases, I start with the scope as far in as it will go, up near the front fender, and then pull it out until I'm out the rust hole. They only last a minute and a half total, so give them a look. How often do you get to look under the skin?

The Driver's side: https://youtu.be/8NzIzBwneoU

The Passenger's side: https://youtu.be/sOrmIDv17X0

Continue on to Part 5...