Floor plan water pipes

Hi I have a 89 GF and I have noticed a water leak coming from the welded box section containing the water pipes underneath the car and I was wondering have any of you guys had experience of this and how much of bitch of a job is it going to be?

www.x1-9ownersclub.org.uk/forum/5-faults...ng-pipe-failure.html

Hi Cameron,

I had the exact same problem with my Gran Finale a few years ago.
When I first got it the front of both pipes outside the box section had been crudely repaired with a bit of hose smothered in sealant and held together with jubilee clips. They didnt leak a lot but I thought there was a good chance that inside the box the rest of the pipes were probably in poor shape too.
At the time I received loads of advice from club members - some had used plastic whilst others had sleeved the existing pipes with copper ones.
I decided to go a stage further and get some new pipes made in stainless steel by a local firm who made custom exhausts.
They did a proper job of it by carefully cutting off the box section then using the old pipes as a template for the shiny new ones. Once refitted the box was welded back into place and everything was plumbed in again.
As predicted the original pipes were in a poor state and I was glad to have got rid of them.
No it wasnt cheap but I intend to keep my car for a long time so I was happy to have had it done.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do with your car, there is loads of advice on the web on this topic.

Cheers Chris.

Thanks Chris I think I might have to go along that route instead of a patch and repair because I have decided to keep the car long term and also I could never sell the car to someone with this problem. When I bought the car a year ago I was a bit surprised there was no antifreeze in it, so I think this as been corroding for a while so the pipes must be pretty poor inside that boxing. This is a problem that my wallet is not looking forward too.

you can get away with cutting the metal pipes at the engine side of the box and slide them out and then slide in replacements.

When I did this I similarly took mine to someone to make stainless replicas - and then all I did after refitting is to have a small section of silicone hose to join the 2 sections - where you originally cut.

If cost is an issue, I think I read that you can get plastic pipe of the correct diameter from a plumber supplies shop and just replace the straight sections and keep your existing extenal metal pipes.

I personally think it was worth the extra to go for stainless steel, the finish is good and there is a certain amount of confidence the less joins and the fact it won't wear out or rust.