The Repair Shop's Dominic Chinea has shared a frustrating update on his Land Rover restoration, revealing that rust damage is worse than first thought and has forced him to dismantle the front of the vehicle.
Chinea, 40, a metalwork expert who has appeared on the BBC show since 2017, lives in Cornwall with his wife Maria and their dog Wendy. He has been working on restoring his Land Rover TD5 and preparing it for its MOT.
Rust discovered near the engine
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Chinea said he was trying to sort out a rust problem he found in the front part of the car near the engine. After locating the rust around the floor panels, he thought he was on track to make significant progress.
However, in a video posted on October 12, he explained that things were taking a turn for the worse. He said: "As you can see the rot is a lot higher than I first expected. And I can’t get access to the back of that part of the panel because there’s an inner arch on that front of it that’s right in the way."
Dismantling the front end
Chinea said he tried to reach the affected area from the front inside the footwell but could not get to everywhere he needed to. He concluded that he would have to take out the inner wing, a job he had never done before.
He explained: "I very quickly realised that inner wing is not coming out without removing the entire front wing which means the front panel has to come out. I’m basically dismantling the entire front of the car just to repair this footwell. What a nightmare. I’ve never taken one of these off before, so it took a while."
Exhausted but optimistic
At the end of the day, Chinea was frank about how he felt. He said: "I’m absolutely exhausted and to be honest, really quite depressed. The rust is worse than I was expecting. It creeps up that footwell further than I thought and I just, I needed to get to the back of it, but there was that damn arch lining that I thought I could take out, apparently I couldn’t."
He added: "I have ended up stripping the entire front end of the car. I’m holding out to do the chassis and bulkhead together; it will be a much bigger project."
Chinea returns to UK screens tonight (October 14) when The Repair Shop: Beyond the Barn is broadcast on BBC One at 8pm.
