To weld or not to weld...

 To weld or not to weld...
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Good morning all!

First post and just wanted to say what a fab community this looks like... Credit where credit is due, the SJ and Jimny must be one of the best!

As a bit of background... Bought our 2007 Jimny on about 102k in March this year as a second car for the wife and I to hopefully do some exploring and for me to learn a bit about cars and become more mechanically minded - I work 4 on, 4 off so have a lot of spare time pottering about.

We paid £2150, service history was good, has had welding done in the past. We have already done a fair bit of green laning and that appears to have exacerbated some of the dreaded rot in a fair few places. On getting it I put it through an MOT in April for some peace of mind - it passed with a few advisories. I am not too sure it should have passed!!

The photos below do show it in a worse state than what it was in when tested. 

Above is behind driver side headlight - probably the worst bit.  

Above is passenger side headlight. Not as bad but is going... 

Above is panhard mount... Finger went through this when cleaning up. 

Above is rear offside body mount. Clearly shot.There is also a small hole on the sill that needs doing.The above was quoted by a local well reputed welded for £750 to fix over 2 days. Does this seem a reasonable amount? My second question is whether you think this is all fixable by a complete novice. I'd like to learn more about mechanics and would give welding a shot - but is this a bit extreme for a total beginner? I don't want to spend hundreds on gear for it to then be a too big job - and would likely get a gasless MIG. As a lot of the places are hidden it doesn't need to be the prettiest - I have a garage and drive but wouldn't have capability to remove the body from chassis etc.Is the quote reasonable or should I have a pop and fixing myself...?And lastly, just today found another body mount which is less than good: 

Rough cost to put this right?And lastly (for real this time), looks like a slight leak here but potentially an old one? Anything to be concerned about? 

Thank you all in advance... Please bear with me as I am learning bit by bit having never tinkered with cars as a kid or teen - I was chuffed enough when I serviced it myself and fixed vac pipes after some had rusted away and replaced with silicon lol
cheers
oliver

The car is MOTd until April (incredibly) - but people don't think the car is worth anywhere near the amount of work required, then would look at selling obviously... As much as we wouldn't want to!

Oh that is a real shame.

I haven't had to do any welding on either of my Jimnys and I can't really weld myself, so I would have to take the car somewhere. There are however, plenty of people on hear who have tackled worse.

£750 probably sounds reasonable and if you wanted to have a go yourself, it's probably doable, only it might take a bit of time.

Personally if it was my vehicle and I had invested time and money in it, then welded it, I would be keeping it, especially if I enjoy the vehicle. Jimny's are relatively straight forward to work on, not like so many vehicles these days and there is a lot of help and advice on BigJimny.

So if you are looking for a project or a learning exercise you might just have the ideal vehicle.

Robin

Green laning won't have exacerbated the rot, though it might have shook loose dirt covering up the existing rust, though looking at that, it should have been spotted at MOT time TBH.

That said, I agree with Robin, if that's the extent of the issues, it's worth fixing and £750 doesn't seem unreasonable. However, before you commit I would suggest you take out the back seats, carpets, etc, maybe unbolt the bumpers and generally have a good look around it for any other rust in the usual spots.

Or do a night class in welding and buy a MIG - they're easy to use and good fun

Good luck.

Oh, and if you do decide to have a go yourself, I wouldn't go gasless - the welds are never as nice - just rent a gas bottle. It's certainly doable on the driveway without removing the body from the chassis, assuming that's the extent of the rust.

If you can't weld, don't.
it's not something that you pick up after watching a few YouTube videos. If you get it properly fixed then it should be fixed, if you try it yourself with no experience or understanding of welding then odds are that you will only make the problem worse.
At least nothing looks structural, but still welding thin sheet as a 1st attempt is a sure fire way to make a problem worse, especially when it involves making complex shapes.

Mine was in a similar state. I paid a local mechanic £1000 to weld it up. I supplied a new front end cut off a rust free shell and he patched up the rest. I do plenty of welding in my day to day life but i draw the line at welding rusty cars. It's not easy or fun!

To be fair, Busta and Bob, I certainly wouldn't recommend "just having a go" welding, but after a bit of proper training it's entirely do-able. I learnt at night school and worked on Minis back in the day. But in any case, as mentioned, I would definitely be looking to understand the state of the rest of the vehicle before paying someone to stitch it back together.

Just be careful. There are welders and there are welders. A bit of a patch clagged on with pigeon poo to pass an mot is not the same as the rot removed and refinishing invisibly. Price is not a good assessment for quality.