764 replies to this topic

[mighty mini jack]

Really do love those.

Nice work dude, you should sell them!

[dolly]

I hate these bits in between the updates.

[Tupers]

I hate these bits in between the updates.

Me to I have to work on the bloody thing.


As with the tank box I drilled a ton of holes around the perimeter to plug weld through onto the body.


Dad seam welded the sides on for me while I was off be lazy.


The seams at each end of the box where smoothed over with the flap wheel.


I put a couple coats of red oxide as it'd be a real pain to do once it's welded in.


I decided to chuck it back on to check welding it hadn't changed it's shape, thankfully all was well.


Before I weld the battery box in I wanted to add a brace for both so I cut a length of 27MM square section to suit.


Here it is plug and seam welded to the lip that comes off the tank box and to what's left of the floor.


The floor at the rear wasn't perfectly level all the way across so we adjusted it a little the the Oxy and a big hammer.


Once every thing had cooled down I took the welds on the the square section dow so the lip on the battery box could sit over it.


Tomorrow I have a bit more tweaking to do to the floor to make it meet the box and then it'll be ready to weld in.

[dolly]

Tupers, I didn't mean to sound as though I thought you were being lazy. When I don't have anything else to do I have to work on my bloody thing, so your updates are a good excuse for me to sit down and relax, they also give me idea's, inspiration, hope, etc.

Edited by dolly, 07 October 2010 - 11:09 AM.

[Tupers]

Tupers, I didn't mean to sound as though I thought you were being lazy. When I don't have anything else to do I have to work on my bloody thing, so your updates are a good excuse for me to sit down and relax, they also give me idea's, inspiration, hope, etc.

Don't worry I didn't take it like that at all.


I spent today fitting the battery box in and managed to get some lovely welds on it.


Dad and I teamed up to hammer and dolly the floor up to meet the box and I must say it turned out pretty well. Once the welds have been ground down and every thing's been primed and paint you should barley be able to tell it's not standard.

[Bean]

Aaah - I adore this project!

I've just started to learn to weld & your project's been a real insipration in that - Thank you

[Tupers]

Aaah - I adore this project!

I've just started to learn to weld & your project's been a real insipration in that - Thank you

Thank you Bean, are you doing a night course or welding at how? I made a tree about 12" tall from off cuts of steel when I was leaning to weld and although it's not exactly like welding on a car it was an ideal way of practicing. It's been a bit of learning curve of me but I feel I'm getting pretty good now and I'll soon be learning how to TIG as well.


Today I decided to remove the bonnet prop mount as I wasn't really happy with how it came out.


Made a lovely big hole.


And cut a plate to fill it up.



One thing that had been annoying me about the centre console was how it bowed in at it's base so I cut a piece of box section to correct it.





The fact that one the nuts from the rod change bobbins stuck through the side of the console has also been annoying me.


I had thought about making a half dome to cover the nut but decided it would be easier to move the bobbin in on it's mount by 15MM.
Standard on the left, modified on the right.


I did of course drill another hole in the tunnel for the bobbin to mount through and once of console was back in the nut was well out of the way.


I also made up a little 90* plate to fill the gap.



So tomorrow once we've got some more MIG gas I'll weld up those three bits, finish of the welding on the battery box and then I'll have to find something else to do.

[Tupers]

I didn't do much on the estate today as I spent ages shortening a clothes rail but I did manage to weld on the bits I made yesterday.

[Tupers]

Not done much on this over the past few days because I'm lazy but here's a couple updates.


I made a two little squares to go in the front of the battery box and Dad welded them in while I was doing some electrical work.


I wanted to see how much leg room there'd be in the back so I stuck the front seats back in. I think there should be plenty considering the seat base will only be 50MM in front of the heel board.


I've been eyeing up this set of wheel we've got I the shop for a while and stuck on under the estate this evening to see how they look.


I know it hasn't got a tyre on and the car's not on the ground or painted but I think they'll look cool once polished up.

[dolly]

great stuff. its looking good now, can't wait till its done.
dolly

[olds_kool_lews]

looking really good mate! wish i had a garage or workshop to do my estate in!! some very nice fabrication work going on too, cant wait to see this one finished!

[Bean]

Thank you Bean, are you doing a night course or welding at how? I made a tree about 12" tall from off cuts of steel when I was leaning to weld and although it's not exactly like welding on a car it was an ideal way of practicing. It's been a bit of learning curve of me but I feel I'm getting pretty good now and I'll soon be learning how to TIG as well.

Hehe - Nothing quite as professional as that, no, I'm afraid! We have a Gassed MIG and I got myself a big Gas bottle, so my boyfriend started me off practising on some bits of metal - I moved on to the car on the 3rd time welding though - I figured I would rather practise on that - If it goes wrong, you can just chop it back out again, eh?

I think that's one of the benefits of learning, is that you can put metal back into the car and watch it progress - you can stand back and look at it and say 'I did that!' - And with your project, it's going to be one hell of a proud moment for you when you've finished.

Can't wait to carry watching this thread & hopefully eventually see it at a show sometime - It's incredible!

Congratulations on what you've done so far!

[Tupers]

Crickey replies on this forum are like busses.

This morning I decided I wanted the rear seats sorted by the end of the week. After spending most of the morning figuring out how to do it Dad came over and convinced me that my idea sucked and modifying a set of metro rear seat frames to fit.

I pulled seat frames apart and took the lovely leather covers off.


And then I bolted them back together so I could test fit them in the car.


As you can see here the frames are a bit to wide and the original bases don't sit level.


Here you can see the flat bar hoop on the right and the arched piece of tube on the left. These would need to be modified to make the fame sit level.


To sort out the left I tacked a piece of box section onto the frame to stop if flexing and cut off the ached tube on the left.




I didn't have any straight tube hanging about so I chopped the U section off the tube (that happened to be the same as Mini window frame) and bent it straight after heating it up with the oxy.




Then after coping the ends I welded the freshly straightened tube in and voila a flat seat base.



So tomorrow I'll do the same on the other side and then figure out how I'm going to turn two frames into one.

[kingcreaky]

legendary work chap, i take my hat off to you.

keep it up

[Tupers]

legendary work chap, i take my hat off to you.

keep it up

Cheers dude, this morning I did the same modified the O/S seats frame in the same way as I did with the N/S frame and moved onto getting the frame to sit against the arch.

The problem I had was that the frames are designed to sit infront of the arch and I needed it to sit in the centre of the arch.


I decided much modding was needed so I braced the frame again cut a chunk out.




Then I heated the pipe at the front of the frame up and bent it out inline with the rest of the front of the frame.


With this much done I re fitted the frame to the car and made the decision to out this piece of tube out and reverse it to hug the inner arch more.




And here it is nice and close the the arch.




So tomorrow I'll get some 20MM round tube to complete this side if the frame and then do the same on the other side. I might even get as far as chopping the frames and making a start on connecting them together.

Edited by Tupers, 19 October 2010 - 05:22 PM.