Hey everyone,

Has anyone had some experience fixing this issue? I've found a small 2cm square(ish) hole in the front right chassis rail. Right where it bends up the firewall.

Without the gear I am unable to do this myself, so I'm asking for suggestions of workshops/smash repairers that you've used before and can commend their work.

Is it possible to get a pic of the area to show the extent? I haven't see it on dattos, but one of my other loves are mopars, and aussie ones had the steeringbox on the chassis rail not on the front k frame, and over the years they either crack or rust (or both) and the steering box tears away completely if left long enough. As such there's a bunch of tech info and options with regard to diy repair, and most valiant places are very skilled at this sort of repair work. I know that sounds odd, but it might not hurt to ask a place like that to take a look at it.

Often the outward 'damage' is the tip of the iceberg and internally the rail can be rusted a lot further in each direction - starting from the inside and working it's way to the outside (visible) surface. And sometimes it's not cheap to fix either, as they have to cut out the entire damaged/deteriorated section, replace that and potentially run a 'sleeve' over the outside and weld that on to regain full strength and safety.

Sure thing mate. I'll some pics this afternoon.

I did contact one place that came recommended through another forum. Western Smash Repairs in Sunshine LINK

The guy I met, Tony said this is a common repair for him. He did explain what you mentioned, what you see on the outside might not be the extent of what's really there. He assured me that they'll be thorough so the problem never comes back. I thought his initial quote was reasonable and I've decided to let them work on it (in a couple of weeks time)

There ya go.

CLICKY CLICKY

Christ, is that all!?
Man that's nothing, I can do that with the mig at home!

Yeah, I know it's nothing. But enough to fail a roadworthy unfortunately.

go to an exhaust place like highpoint mufflers those guys are champs, leave the car there and he will patch it up with his mig and steel plate, Statos & George are awesome guys very qualified in steel works / iron smith then just spray body deadener or paint the tar on let it dry paint and last another 40 years.