129 replies to this topic

[asahartz]

A bit more work today.


First I put in the heelboard end. Having ordered the wrong part, this is actually a modified van section. It works well! Ordering the right part for the other side...







Then I started on the rear lip. Here's the new lip, joggled, with the old lip marked for cutting:







After some fettling and alignment, I spot-welded the new lip on. Not much room to wield the heavy spot-welder, so it was quite exhausting to hold the thing in the right position at different heights.







With most of the rear end done, it was time to cut away the remaining front sill & step in prep for the new step & floor.

Trouble is, the inner wing and sill has been patched - on both sides! Another rust sandwich, and far too many layers.







Pulled away part of the inner patch...







And the outer patch... so many layers, it's difficult to tell which bits are the original metal.







Finally got down to this... not a lot! It's going to need cutting away completely - at least that makes it easier to get the floor panel in.

[asahartz]

Project is looking good - just about to put the wheels back on my CE so it can go to the body shop. Saw another post from you somewhere else about the rear windows. With ref to that rather nice beige estate that was for sale last year which had a one piece rear window, the chap said all he did was " I bought some new re-enforced felt lined window channel online and fixed it to the car where the old twin channel window seal was. The windows are cut from 4mm polycarbonate sheet to fit and then fitted into the felt channel." hope this helps!

We're going for laminated glass, probably tinted too. Quotes are quite reasonable, and I'm planning a modern flush bonded look. Will be interesting to do; especially as I now have another estate project in the pipeline and will proabably do the same on mine.

How much are you looking at for the glass?

About £44 a side. 6mm laminated.

[asahartz]

looking good chris i will keep my eye on this one i want to get another project soon would like a pickup but not one quite this rusty

Hi Josh, pickups are hard to get in "non-rusty!" They either cost loads or need a lot doing. My son Adam bought one just after Christmas - we fetched it from Turnditch near Belper in the snow! At £1270 we thought it was a bargain - build thread on 16v Mini forum...

[asahartz]

A bit more progress today - between interruptions! Stitch now has a floor on one side at least. Fettling and fiddling to make parts fit has slowed things down as usual; the step section, people might notice, tapers towards the rear. The pattern panel makers haven't noticed this though, so it took a little modification to make it fit.










There was then loads of messing about to make the floor panel fit. Getting it in was one thing; getting the step section to line up was something else!







Finally a small patch in the heelboard. Now just the inner wing and sill to do before we flip it over...

[asahartz]

It's ready to flip!


Holly joined me in the garage again today and helped with wire brushing and grinding. We made up the two patches to complete the toeboard and inner wing and welded them in.







Then welded the sill in place - it was hard work to hold the spot-welder up there on a step ladder!







Spot-welded the boot corner extension in place. More swinging the spot machine up at shoulder height! No wonder I'm knackered...







Cleaned up under the front wing, which is easier with the car on its side. Welded up the holes where the chrome trim was rivetted on - the chrome's not going back on so we won't want holes in the wing!







Painted under the wing in red oxide. And we'll be starting on the other side tomorrow!







I cleaned & tidied the garage ready for tipping the car - need every bit of space I can get to turn it, so I've had to move everything to the other end where Evy is parked. I've got 11 feet between Evy and the door post... tight fit!

Edited by asahartz, 10 April 2012 - 09:07 PM.

[asahartz]

So today the girls and I flipped the car over. We rolled it onto a little trolley then pushed it into the space in the middle of the garage in the doorway to spin it round. Pushed it back in, and tipped it back onto the tyres.






There followed a day of cutting and grinding... I've cut out everything that needs to be cut out and now there's more holes than floor!

Having cut out the main floor, here's the companion bin bottom.







And with the "repair" patch cut away from the bottom!







Front inner wing had up to six layers of patches in places!







Peeled back the sections...







Cut it all away, and most of the step section. That rusty old crossmember will be cut away later; for now it's left in place as a reference point.







Boot rear corner is full of holes, and crossmember end is rotten.







And although this patch itself is sound, it's another rust sandwich, patched on both sides, so again both sides have to come off.







By the time I'd finished there was just a big hole there!







So ready to weld in lots of panels and patches tomorrow.

Edited by asahartz, 11 April 2012 - 11:46 PM.

[asahartz]

Good progress again today - done as much in two days as in the last week!

Started by putting in the boot floor corner.



The crossmember end was added next, that can be seen on the 4th pic below.

Then there was the front boot corner repair. There was an extension section needed to the original patch design when I found a "lace" section next to it!



Then it was on to fitting the wheelarch. Fitting - well it really didn't! See the gaps along the seam line?



By using many clamps and a "persuader" (BFH!) I got it to fit - more or less - and took the spot-welder to it.



Tomorrow we can start on the bin base repair and putting the floor in.

Edited by asahartz, 12 April 2012 - 08:41 PM.

[obiwan riley]

cool

[Tupers]

Looks like it's going well. I wish M-Machine did those crossmember repairs when I started mine, would have saved me a bit of work.

[grahama]

Hi,

have been watching your work and I am very impressed. There was a lot of the brown stuff there to play with at the start and it's looking great now, neat, strong and very professional looking. Keep the pics comming.

Graham

[asahartz]

Latest update:
Last Sunday I ran out of gas mid-way through welding the heelboard repair then was ill for the next two days

So it was this weekend before I could get more gas and get back to work.

Trial-fitted the subframe to make sure the heelboard repair was in the right place before welding it - I was a couple of mm out so the trial fitting was well worth the effort!



Repaired the middle section of the heelboard where the battery normally goes. I haven't put the battery brackets back in as I plan to relocate the battery under the bonnet with the engine conversion. This is the point when I ran out of gas...



Then the step section repair. This is butt-welded but from underneath to minimise the grinding needed.



I joined it mid-way to reduce the taper problem, as the rear section was sound.



Now as it's an early car it has the tunnel hump. Adam needs a rear tunnel for his pickup so we are going to get a complete tunnel from a scrap shell and I'll fit the front part to this. So I'll be cutting away the hump.



Cut away hump:



Floor now fitted!



Finally for now the toeboard repair patch. Needed to leave some time for spraying on Evy!



More later...

[asahartz]

A little more done this weekend, even with some time spent spraying parts of Evy.

First of all the inner wing repair:



Then on to the sill. We bought these from Newark Autojumble years ago when we first got the car; but they're wide sills, so I marked it up to trim:



They're good quality panels, supplied galvanised, but sadly the supplier is no longer in business it seems. Shame.



Anyway, I took the air shears to it, and ended up with a standard sill! Also removed the jacking point stiffener and spot-welded a plate over it instead.



Sill fitted. Spot-welded along step edge, and migged along the bottom.



Cleaning up under the front wing, I noticed that something wasn't quite right with the damper mounting. I know what happens to these, so I unbolted it to find the inevitable.



Fortunately it's also an easy repair while the car is in bits - tricky with both wing & wheel in place, but not with the subby out and car rolled over!



I also welded a section of heavy gauge steel into the bracket itself. That's good to go again now.

Welded up the trim holes in the front wing again.



Next job was to chop out the old crossmember. There was only a bit over the tunnel and under the handbrake bracket still welded, so a bit of cutting and finishing off with a chisel, and out it came. I had left this in as a reference, to make sure the inner sills and step sections were in the right place.



Old rusty crossmember and new crossmember both stood on a flat floor. They're the same length. So why, when I try to put it in, is it 1/4 inch too long to go in to the same space the old one came out of? I think I will have to report to a persuader but I need to get it in and out, as I have a late-model front tunnel section to fit too. So that's going to be fun!

[asahartz]

A little progress this weekend, since Saturday was spent fixing rabbit hutches (don't ask!) and part of Sunday on Evy's paintwork.

In between I managed to fabricate the rear valance closer panel - templated from Adam's pickup, one of his good bits, using a A60 inner sill as metal. Welded it on and ground back some plug welds. That's all for this weekend!

[asahartz]

Got a bit more done this weekend despite a bad back (I wore a back support and a weightlifting belt!).

First I painted behind the rear valance, then spotwelded it in place. I need that lifting belt for the spotwelder!





After a little adjustment and persuasion with a mallet, the new crossmember was fitted.



I cut away a section of the tunnel around the gear lever hole, as I have a section of late-model tunnel to fit. It will allow more space for the Micra linkage.



The new tunnel section welded in place. There's still a little finishing to do underneath.



In between all that I managed to put two coats of paint on Evy too! That paint gets everywhere... I was wearing trousers and an overall, but when I went to get in the shower afterwards, I took off my green-stained socks and noticed that above where my socks had been, my calves had a distinct green tint!

[asahartz]

Done some more this weekend, despite the cold which meant I had to keep stopping to blow my nose!

Yesterday and this morning was spent mainly with tidying up the inside of the floor, tapping down edges, tacking corners, finishing off the inner sills where they meet the A-post.

This afternoon I cut a big hole in the side of the car! With shiny new quarter panels to go on, the old ones have to come off.



Then it was on to the window frames. To complete the flush frameless look that we're after, I decided to do away with the frame overlap. I'm glad I did, as there was a lot of rust in the spot-welded seams. I started by cutting away the overlap - I have to say that 1mm cutting discs are brilliant, and wish I'd discovered them sooner! Then I seam-welded the join, then ground it back flat.

Rear:


Front:


Tomorrow I'll do the lower edge, then I can get the new panel on.