September has arrived and with the mercury nudging the mid twenties, I set out with a tin of Zinga (Zinc based, weld through marine primer) in time for some much needed sill surgery. Eyeing the bubble paintwork and rust blemish oozing through the previously treated sections, I feared the worst. However, forty minutes continual sanding stripped the affected areas to bare and ultimately, sound metal. Zinga is designed for marine environments and chemically leaches into the parent metal for superior protection. True to the blurb, it was touch dry after five minutes, although leave an hour between reapplication and eight before the colour coats. Seeking a complete rust redemption, six were applied through the day and left several hours to fully cure.
Structurally, Zinga doesn’t require further treatment but I’ll get some Neptune blue mixed and applied to the affected areas to coincide with a liberal under body and chassis Waxoyling before October beckons a bony finger. The engine light’s unexpected engagement along a deserted lane induced an intensifying sense of worry, resulting in the time honoured “stop and turn off the ignition and re-start” wishful thinking procedure but to no avail. Fearing the onset of something costly, I dropped it to Palmer's who plugged it into the laptop and diagnosed a very slight misfire, corrected for a calming £17.50 + VAT.
Now to the small but infuriating leak into the driver’s footwell…Extensive internet research and reference to the Haynes manual lead me to suspect it emanates from poor sealing at the bulkhead (located immediately behind the expansion tank) thus allowing the water to channel inside. My other bet suggests it’s a faulty seal at the steering column grommet. The most obvious home remedy is a concentrated bead of good old fashioned bathroom mastic but this dubiously monikered “Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure” might offer the Eureka moment we’ve hungered for. Designed for use in classic cars, boats, motor homes etc its co-polymer construction is reckoned to seek out and seal tiny cracks, holes and imperfections at source…Time will tell. Seems as if this unspoken fault is hereditary, the latest generation built alongside Fiat’s funky little 500 in Poland are displaying disturbingly similar symptoms.
