192 replies to this topic

[carthorse]

Some frustrating moments with the bulkhead then, but you're making great progress. Is the new load tray in place too, or are you put everything onto the new cab floor first?

The loadbed and main cab floor have been welded together, and the rear cab bulkhead replaced. I thought I’d concentrate on the front and the all important door fit before tackling the backend. Then if the position B post around the rear edge of the door needs tweaking it can be done before the rear end gets finalised. (Best laid plans etc .......)

[g111mds]

Some frustrating moments with the bulkhead then, but you're making great progress. Is the new load tray in place too, or are you put everything onto the new cab floor first?

The loadbed and main cab floor have been welded together, and the rear cab bulkhead replaced. I thought Id concentrate on the front and the all important door fit before tackling the backend. Then if the position B post around the rear edge of the door needs tweaking it can be done before the rear end gets finalised. (Best laid plans etc .......)

That sounds like a good plan to me. Knew from earlier in the thread youd been working on the floor / load bay combo, but wasnt sure if youd completed it. Certainly makes sense, and is the one real approach I can see for mine too.

Good to see the m-machine door post and a-panel in one pieces as theyre on my shopping list too.

Keep up the good work.

[carthorse]

All the M-Machine stuff I’ve had so far has been tip-top, the heritage stuff less so considering the price of it. In fact the M-Machine door post/a panel is going to end up being the datum which most of my front end and certainly my door apartures get finalised from.
It’s a very good panel, and with you converting back to the external hinges will be a great starting point for you to rebuild that area round.

[carthorse]

*double post doh*

Edited by carthorse, 17 January 2018 - 10:06 PM.

[minimissions]

I cannot fault M-Machine either, they will be getting alot of business once i start ordering panels for the van lol They are very helpful on the phone to.

[DR3AM-W3AVUH]

 

Look Percy's got a front end again! Try and hold your excitement however, this was just one of many, many, many, many test fits.

 

Having got the front bulkhead positioned using the bracing i'd welded in that picked up of the old ones steering rack mounts and lower dash rail I had a plug welding marathon and welded  the bulkhead assembly to the floor. (This was my first mistake)

Then with it clamped to the remains of the upper dash rail (yes thats rotten as well) I spent several happy hours trying to wrestle the Heritage inner wings I'd bought into place.

 

The offside fit wasn't too bad, but the nearside one...... blood tears and much heavy hammering was required to ease it carefully into place. At this point I realised it would probably be an excellent idea to get the front panel and wings before going any further and committing to welding in the inner wings as I already had a sneaking suspicion things were probably not going to line up easily. And as the car fund was empty due to me accidentally buying an expensive fish tank on eBay whilst under the influence of alcohol I shut the garage door for a few weeks.

 

Once I'd scraped together enough of the folding stuff after Christmas the front panel and wings were purchased and I started to wonder if i'd ever figure out how its all going to fit together again. The first thing I did was refit the front subframe with some solid mounts so I could mount the front panel and see if everything lined up. Well it didn't, and most annoyingly after much washing of teeth and head scratching I think a lot of the issues are down to the alignment of the bulkhead. I now think the original must have been slightly out of whack due to either accident damage or poor previous repairs, and now muggins here has faithfully replicated the mis-alignment .........

 

I'll not weary you all with the details of the hours of fun which followed, but finally I think i've got the two inner wings positioned as well as they are going to get. The fit on the drivers side isn't too bad, but the less said about the other side the better. 

 

Heres the M-machine outer A panel and door post cut to size and clamped in place with the front wing attached. 

And yes I have tried the door in place to make sure it still fits 

This brought me to a common problem that others have had with the Heritage inner wings. The shape were it meets the a panel is miles out. So muttering under my breath about having to cut up a 'premium' product which cost a lot of money I set about doing my ham-fisted best to let in some new metal by slicing off the side of the panel and moving it outwards.......

Sensibly I neglected to take any in progress shots that show my welding, but ground back it almost looks acceptable and its going to be completely hidden anyway so who really cares 

Thats as far as I've got so far, in the next instalment I'll be trying to fit this abortion of a inner A panel from Magnum which at first offer up doesn't seem to fit at all 

 

I have the same exact problem. Trying to figure out WHICH panel is not correctly aligned. I have been away from the pick up for nearly 3 months now because I am so frustrated. Everything I do seems to not work. I too had to cut up the heritage inner wings (which didnt seem right to me) but the fit was completely wrong.

It is hardest to do with no reference (another PUP).
In the meantime I have bought another project Van so that will keep me busy.

Glad to yours coming along. Cheers

[Spoonz]

Any updates?

[Ben_O]

Just caught up with this.

 

Amazing work mate.

[carthorse]

Wow. Well over a year since the last  update .......  but don't worry Percy is still with us and hasn't been carted off to the scrap heap or sold on via eBay to somebody with more talent and time. 

 

Thats the good news, the bad news is we are not really very much further on but after several false starts and hissy fits that required long breaks form the garage some progress has been made. Its not all my fault honest. A lot of its down to some fairly significant lifestyle changes that were forced on me by a change of job, I'm now working away from home down in Birmingham and rather than commute for hours on the M6 or throw money away renting a flat I've bought this little beauty to live on when I'm on shift 

Refitting and fettling this 58ft hunk of moveable steel has taken up a lot of my spare time and cash over the last year, and when I've been back at home I've had little appetite for disappearing into the garage.

Thats one excuse anyway. The other was simply that after discovering the very expensive bulkhead I'd fitted didn't seem to be in the right place I had lost heart with the hole thing a little bit. Well actually quite a lot really. I just couldn't see a way forward. Whatever I did I just couldn't get the front end to line up. I've lost count of the times I'd temp fitted the panels and scuttle and each time something wouldn't line up. Fit the scuttle so it lines up with the tops of the inner wings and bulkhead nicely? then the front wings and front panel are miles out. Clamp on the left wing first so it sits on the inner wing properly? it won't line up with the front panel or the A panel ..... etc etc etc. 

Eventually I realised I had three options - 

1/ Unpick / Drill out all the welds on the bulkhead and inner wings and start again and attempt to align things better

 

2/ Man up, stop feeling sorry for myself and make the panels fit as best I can 

 

3/ Weigh the whole sorry mess in for scrap and take up woodwork.

 

After deciding on option two I consoled myself with the thought that these cars were never that precision made from the factory and a difference of a cm or so in the bulkhead position probably wouldn't be the end of the world. So I positioned the scuttle panel as best I could while maintaining the windscreen aperture measurements I'd taken 18 months before and had luckily found again on a bit of paper on the floor of the garage and instead of wondering why it wouldn't line up with the top of the bulkhead on the drivers side I just extended the bulkhead a bit to match it. 

Flushed with the first progress for a year I welded the scuttle on over the top and in the same spirit of adventure and optimism refitted the front subframe, bolted the front panel on and made the front end fit with a lot of swearing, clamps and plug welds. 

This took several long sessions in the garage, quite a lot of contemplative beer drinking and the dawning realisation that every panel takes some adjusting before it will fit.

So this week I've managed to fit the A post closing panels, 

And I've mocked up the lower dash rail and parcel shelf ready for welding. 

Annoyingly the lower dash rail is about 5mm short on each side (or more likely its another consequence of the bulkhead & inner wings not being quite right) but instead of wringing my hand and wondering what i'm going to do I'll cut up some copper sheet, get it in behind and try and weld up the gap. 

 

So progress is being made. My welding is slowly improving, I've learnt that getting everything perfectly aligned is simply not achievable (for me anyway) and I'm going to need a lot of seam sealer to cover up some of these joins. 

I don't think Percy is ever going to win awards at car shows, but I'm more confident He'll be back on the road before they stop selling petrol now 

[wingnut]

Welcome back!

[KTS]

Glad to hear that you've found your way back in to this project !!

[g111mds]

Great to see some progress on this :)

[Junior Mini]

If it helps, the lower dash rail is a little short on both sides! There are brackets that should slip behind on the a post closer panel and then have a slug of weld across from the dash to the a post.

[Junior Mini]

I took these pictures to show what i  mean.

 

 

 

[carthorse]

If it helps, the lower dash rail is a little short on both sides! There are brackets that should slip behind on the a post closer panel and then have a slug of weld across from the dash to the a post.

Yes your right, I never noticed before, but checking back on the pile of rusty bits I’ve kept for reference the brackets shown in your pics are present. Should be easy enough to replicate on the new panels now my fear of minor fabrication is subsiding!