FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi Guys, just new here, looking to pick up an FTO soon.

A lot of the FTO's for sale have some roof rust.
Could anybody tell me what that costs to fix ?

Most of them don't have roof rust, just buy one without it.. not sure why you'd want to buy one with rust on it if you don't have an FTO yet unless your budget is $3-4k and you can only afford one with problems, in which case I suggest just buying one with high Kms and other problems you can fix rather than buying one with roof rust.

well put it this way ive seen one guy get his done for i think $800 but i took it to one place and they basicly said
unless you can get another roof we wont do the job and they wanted 1.5k to put the roof on ( mate who works as a pannal beater even said that was a bit high )
so as you can see it may cost 800 might cost 2k all depends on the place you go to and how good of a job they will do
also how bad the rust is

Ive got no particular roof rust situation in mind, just when Ive rung up a few FTO's in the $6K to $8k range, a few sellers have said they have some rust bubbles in the roof.

I was just wondering what to factor into the cost, and if they are repairable (so rust doesnt come back) without replacing the whole roof. (which I'm guessing are hard to find and cost over $3000 installed ? )

If I was you ild look here for one for sale as every one here keeps there ftos pretty well maintained and there's some great ftos already tastely mod'd

Hi Geoffma Rust on the roof is Ok Apart from looking Like a third ball on a greyhound dog It's the internal problems of gear box and motor that you can not see that is costly to repair .

There's the saying spend money to make money
Well in car terms your better off spending more money and getting a good fto rather then a cheap one you will save money in the long run I've spent a lot fixing mine tappets gaskets seals fuel filter oil filter body parts interor parts ect ect
Spend the extra money now for one that's been looked after and you won't regret it I know I regret buying cheap
( I could have bought 2 good ones by now )

geoffma wrote:Ive got no particular roof rust situation in mind, just when Ive rung up a few FTO's in the $6K to $8k range, a few sellers have said they have some rust bubbles in the roof.

I was just wondering what to factor into the cost, and if they are repairable (so rust doesnt come back) without replacing the whole roof. (which I'm guessing are hard to find and cost over $3000 installed ? )

Its more common on darker coloured cars ,and ones with a sunroof.Its because

of the glue they use in the headlining which reacts to the metal over time and

causes it to rust.After 1997 they fixed the problem by using a different glue

i think.I have seen a few 97 onwards models go for that price range.Just be

patient and try to avoid one with rust

Ok so where abouts do you live ( what state )
And what's your budget guessing 6 to 8k if that's the cars you have been looking at
You looking for stock or one some one has done some mods to

I'm in Sydney. $6 to $9k would be my budget.

Some mods are fine, although too much lowering would be no good for my driveway.

geoffma wrote:I'm in Sydney. $6 to $9k would be my budget.

Some mods are fine, although too much lowering would be no good for my driveway.

Move house

rock_it wrote:

geoffma wrote:I'm in Sydney. $6 to $9k would be my budget.

Some mods are fine, although too much lowering would be no good for my driveway.

Move house

OK, im finding that rust is in about 50% of the pre 97 models (based on the cars/wrecks ive bought). To get it fixed, youll have to remove the headlining on the inside of the car and take out the glue. Youll have to cut back the roof and weld up any rust holes and rust neutralise and fill and prime. If they do a cheap job and just fill the holes with bog (this happened to me a few years ago on a blue FTO I owned), itll be back within 6 months. If the holes are large (20c coin size), you may be better off cutting out the damaged section and replacing. The cost will vary depending on the size of the rust holes and whether you have a sunroof or not (sunroof models with rust have extra glue lines and the sunroof subframe needs to be removed from the roof skin requiring spot welds to be drilled out). So, expect to pay between $800 and about $1500 for a fair price. As others have mentioned though, will be cheaper if you buy a car without the rust in the first place.

Hope this helps....

Where abouts is the rust? Will it rust through the metal? Also long as it does not rust through it can do whatever it wants!

Nup, it will rust through. Eventually end up with holes in the roof and this is undesirable.

dstocks wrote:Nup, it will rust through. Eventually end up with holes in the roof and this is undesirable.

Sweet convertible. I'll have a cbf look then.

I had huge rust on mine. Getting a new roof imprted was $720+what ever installation is. I got mine done by a panelbeater mate at mates rates. We completly removed all glue from front and back of roof and cut out the rust compleatly then pivoted in a new plate from inside and let bogg do its magic. All up it cost me $1200 with a new paintjob on the car

I wouldn't recommend cutting a roof off and welding it back up because if you plan to keep the car it will just rust at the joins instead.
Thats what I was told by my panel beater anyway. Just get it cutout, re-welded and resprayed. Should be anywhere from 800-1500.

Kustom_FTO wrote:I wouldn't recommend cutting a roof off and welding it back up because if you plan to keep the car it will just rust at the joins instead.
Thats what I was told by my panel beater anyway. Just get it cutout, re-welded and resprayed. Should be anywhere from 800-1500.

lol way to type exactly what dwayne did

sublime19 wrote:

Kustom_FTO wrote:I wouldn't recommend cutting a roof off and welding it back up because if you plan to keep the car it will just rust at the joins instead.
Thats what I was told by my panel beater anyway. Just get it cutout, re-welded and resprayed. Should be anywhere from 800-1500.

lol way to type exactly what dwayne did

Sorry just read the problem and replied, didn't read everyones comments.