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[chrisr]

Now that my Omega is coming up to 21 I think that she needs a bit of restoring, do we have/know of anyone who can do a bit of rust removal (drivers door sill, ns A pillar, plus a few other little bits) a few small dent removals and a complete re spray for a sensible price? I would prefer someone sympathetic to the Omega cause but any recommendations would be welcome. I’m in the Surrey/South London area but would be willing to go further afield for the right person. Cheers.

[Nick W]

Those are not the areas you need to worry about! Sills are available, and the other repairs are straightforward if you're planning on painting the car.


Before you go any further remove the wheels and inspect with a poky tool:


The back ends of the sills and where they merge into the inner and outer arches.


Under the ends of the back bumper


The shock mounts inside the boot and the other side inside the wheel arch


The front subframe mounts


The all four faces of the front chassis rails from the front to where they tuck under floor and up into the inner wings. Pay particular attention to where the steering box and idler bolt on.




The front and rear pictures are of two different, but tidy looking cars:

[johnnydog]

Personally, I wouldn't consider throwing the money required to do these repairs and a decent paint job on a 2.2 Omega. Once you have to seriously start chasing rust....   I appreciate all models are becoming thinner on the ground, but I would be tempted to bide your time for a suitable replacement to come up. V6 models are far more desirable in my opinion, and although you may have a sentimental attachment to your 2.2, the sentiments will soon move to any replacement. There is however a much greater chance of finding a decent 2.2 than a V6.
There are some than may state you must factor in the cost of a whole front suspension rebuild for £1000  , but this is just a 'across the board' statement. You'll know when the right car crops up - a genuine, well maintained original car is a far better prospect than a 'so called' repaired / restored car, and will retain its value better.
But it depends again on how long you are prepared to wait for the right car, how much you are attached to your current car relative to how much money you want to throw at it.
The majority of these observations come from years of owning classic Triumphs, and pondering the exact same questions for years that you have asked - and I have not regretted my decisions in waiting for / finding genuine original cars.

[omega2018]

.. V6 models are far more desirable in my opinion, and although you may have a sentimental attachment to your 2.2, the sentiments will soon move to any replacement. There is however a much greater chance of finding a decent 2.2 than a V6.

Definitely agree with that, V6s are hard to find.  Keep an eye on the 'For sale' section here. 

I'm sure everyone has their own rust treatment methods, here is the one that has worked best for me over the years of owning steel cars (and boats):

1) Remove as much rust as you can - wire brushing, dremel wire wheel and/or fit a twisted wire brush to an angle grinder.
2) This stage is often missed - wash the rust thoroughly with sugar soap and hot water.  This is crucial to remove the salts in the rust which would re-start the rusting process.  Rinse well.
3) I let it dry but the instructions say this can be done wet - now apply a water based rust converter.  NOT one that includes an acrylic surface coat (eg Vactan  or Hammerite Kurust) nor the rust removers ('naval jelly' types) but rather something like Fertan. Apply several coats if the rust is deep.
4) After 24 hours wash off, let dry thoroughly (with heat if necessary) and apply a zinc/white spirit based anti-rust primer eg Fortress anti rust paint from B&Q.

Caught my wheel arches with this method when they just started going and they have lasted 10 years.

[cam.in.head]

the thing with owning ANY older car is that in most cases rust will eventually rear its head. if you are used to working on cars older than the eighties you will have experienced some major corrosion.and compared to those the omega is relatively easier to repair. yes sills and chassis rust but nowhere near what used to happen !
everyones way of dealing with it differs. i have no issues repairing any areas that need it and use my cars all year round ,inspect in spring and repair as and if required. to me its my hobby/ my passion so am actually dissapointed if i dont find any work to do !.
but .any rust found to most people is a serious issue that costs money to put right correctly so prevention is always better. not that you can 100% prevent it completely.
i too have tried many different products to remove rust over the years including treatments,so called dissolvers etc,deox -c(very good) but also recently got a little mini sandblast gun which works wonders and is now my 'go to' method.
one thing you have to remember with any older vehicle is " look after the underside as much if not more as the visible bodywork"

[Andy B]

....

Definitely agree with that, V6s are hard to find.   ....

Have I said that there's one near me? 



https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.6059401,-2.3080656,3a,36.6y,77.29h,81.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAxDxLG_pT8ofzH_qlyqN4g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-GB

[dave the builder]

Have I said that there's one near me? 

Looks like it needs too much GARDENING work to make it viable 

[Andy B]

....
Looks like it needs too much GARDENING work to make it viable 

It's been there a few years that I know of. I mentioned it recently here .... it was parked up due to a failed DIS pack and because they couldn't identify which of the 3 was needed it was parked up & left there. 

[dave the builder]

....
Looks like it needs too much GARDENING work to make it viable 

It's been there a few years that I know of. I mentioned it recently here .... it was parked up due to a failed DIS pack and because they couldn't identify which of the 3 was needed it was parked up & left there. 

Reading the part number off the failed coil pack would probably be a good place to start 

[Andy B]

....
Looks like it needs too much GARDENING work to make it viable 

It's been there a few years that I know of. I mentioned it recently here .... it was parked up due to a failed DIS pack and because they couldn't identify which of the 3 was needed it was parked up & left there. 

Reading the part number off the failed coil pack would probably be a good place to start 

I agree .... but that's what the son told me when I eventually saw someone out & about when I was near-by walking the dog. 

[chrisr]

I realise sentiment is a large factor in my case - I’ve had the car since it was 18 months old and still enjoy driving it and love it’s looks even though I’ve been a Chauffeur with many new expensive company cars in the same time. I am hoping to catch my car before it gets as bad as the ones in the photos, I know I’d be spending more money on it than it’s worth but I’d rather do that than spend it on something newer and in my eyes not as good. I just wondered if there was someone on the forum who either did this sort of restoration or knew of someone trustworthy who could do it. The sensible thing would be to drive it until it’s no longer viable to get it through the mot and then scrap it, but I’ve never been accused of being sensible!

[Nick W]

I realise sentiment is a large factor in my case - I’ve had the car since it was 18 months old and still enjoy driving it and love it’s looks even though I’ve been a Chauffeur with many new expensive company cars in the same time. I am hoping to catch my car before it gets as bad as the ones in the photos, I know I’d be spending more money on it than it’s worth but I’d rather do that than spend it on something newer and in my eyes not as good. I just wondered if there was someone on the forum who either did this sort of restoration or knew of someone trustworthy who could do it. The sensible thing would be to drive it until it’s no longer viable to get it through the mot and then scrap it, but I’ve never been accused of being sensible!

those photos are of typical cars: I've never seen an Omega that didn't exhibit crusty patches on the front chassis rails, which are complicated multi-part structures. The one I showed got enough repairs for another two or three MOTs; proper repairs would have meant removing the subframe, radiator, A/C plumbing and steering which means it isn't viable. Even those were only worthwhile because the car is in daily use as a work car. And it looked OK before I started poking at it because it was as good an example of a genuine, well maintained original Omega as you're likely to find - it probably does as many miles as the others still on here combined.

[cam.in.head]

as above ........
but all cars age/ deteriorate differently depending on how theyve been looked after,cleaned,protected,serviced properly) etc. and to some extent where they lived. outside/inside/ inland/coast.
.yours may well be actually realy bad now ,just hidden by paint,scabs or actual covers/pannelling.
or it could well be much better than average compared to ............
idealy everything is repairable in theory it just depends on wether you are doing it youself,how much you care about it or wether you trust somebody else to do a good job for you.
personally i do all my own work mainly because i actually enjoy it still and wouldnt trust anyone else anyway !
if your car only has issues with the doors,sills or wheelarches then thats not a problem but if you have serious problems deeper into the car then thats where YOU have to make the decision.

[chrisr]

And this is why I was hoping to find someone who could advise me whether the car is worth spending some money on or if I just accept it’s not and drive it until getting it through an mot is no longer viable.

[chrisr]

I realise I’ve also been fortunate in that my Omega is Euro 4 (much to neighbours surprise!) so is not liable for Genghis Khan’s ULEZ payment coming to my area soon. I’m sure he’ll move the goalposts on that one before long and make it Euro 5.