137 replies to this topic

[Mito]

I've spent the last couple of days cutting the floor out and I'm now just grinding back the remaining bits of floor.

The first oversill to come of doesn't look too bad.
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The cross member and inner sill have seen better days and I'm not sure using sound deadening to cover the hole in the bottom of the rear bin is the correct way to repair the hole.

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Here's the main section of the floor I cut out.

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The front part of the cross member is no longer attached to the floor!

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This part just folded over without any cutting!

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I've just got this bit too grind back before I can start derusting and lining up the new floor.

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And I'm very glad I didn't decide to just repair the bits it failed on after the horrendous not failure last year.

[Mito]

It's been a while since my last update...

 

Things have progressed quite a bit since then and I can now see the end in sight, at least for the welding.

 

The floor has been prepped ready for welding...

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Lining the floor up...

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All looks good to me. I don't think I could get it to line up any better than that, so after a while decided to bite the bullet and get on with welding it to the rear seat and a couple of tacks on the door steps to hold it all in place.

 

The toe board was looking a bit rusty, so it had to go.

 

Adding some more bracing to keep the front end in line.

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Then cut the old toe board out and used the front subframe to keep things lined up.

 

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Lining up the new toe board...

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Enough lining it up, on with welding it in...

 

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This should hold it.

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Then cut out out and replaced the corners of the panel it attaches too. I also had a go at a little panel beating as the new toe board is for a later model and didn't line up correctly with the original panel.

 

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And then the other corner...

 

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All done...

 

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The cat payed a visit...

 

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I've also been working on both sides of the rear end.. pics to follow shortly.

[Mito]

On with the drivers side rear quarter. At this point, I had already welded in the closing plate, sill strengthener, rear arch, and the rear bin. I got a bit carried away and forgot to take photos until it was pretty much done.

 

Lining up the rear quarter was a bit of a pia but with a bit of persuasion managed to get it lined up reasonably well.

 

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Unfortunately, it wasn't ready for the 2019 London to Brighton run, so I had to take the morbidly obese mini instead. 

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The shame!

 

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However, it came fitted with a tow bar and can tow just enough to be useful for moving it's older siblings around if need be.

 

On with the car. With the rear quarter panel now fitting pretty well, I decided to give my new spray equipment a try out. I bought an Apollo 1500 HVLP set up.

 

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Once the paint (jotamastic primer) had the right viscosity it worked pretty well and was my first go at spraying with anything other than tins. There also wasn't any real over-spray, though this could be because I only sprayed a very small area.

 

On with the welding...

 

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[Mito]

Over Christmas and new year I've made a start on welding up the nearside rear corner.

 

The closing plate, rear bin, and sill strengthener have all been welded in.

 

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Weld penetration in the rear arch.

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Started welding in the repair panel.

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The second of the two door steps has also been welded up, ready for grinding back.

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Edited by Mito, 02 January 2020 - 07:19 PM.

[Bdshim]

Nice job coming together ?

[Mito]

Nice job coming together ?

 

The end is in sight now for the welding! 

 

Today's progress...

 

I continued welding the offside rear arch to the rear quarter and the welding of the repair panel. I'm taking it slow though to avoid warping the panel.

 

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Now it's a bit more solid, I decided to start cutting off the back panel whilst I waited for it to cool down

 

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I'm really liking my new air nibbler.

 

I've just got the seams to grind back now so that I can line up the new panel and mark the position of the new panel for final cutting. I'm hoping that at this rate the back end will be mostly finished by the end of Sunday. I've got a few bits of rust on the drip rail which may require attention that I need to look at before I can declare the back-end complete from a welding perspective.

[Mito]

I made a bit more progress on the back-end today.

 

I started by finishing off cutting off the back panel.

 

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Which then allowed better access for welding of the two brackets between the wheel arch and boot floor.

 

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I then made a couple of repair pieces for both corners of the rear seat back.

 

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I'll get these welded in tomorrow.

 

Then I welded the rear seat belt anchor to the boot floor.

 

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Oh, and there's now a hole in my airline where a bit of weld caught it 

 

[Mito]

Continuing on with the welding in the boot...

 

Decided to put some deox gel on the rear parcel shelf seam and also the rear quarter seam.

 

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Put another couple of seam welds on the rear seat belt bracket.

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Finished the welding of the rear arch brackets - little bead on the inside flange.

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Welded in the repair pieces at the corners of the rear seat and welded up the rear seat belt brackets in the corners.

 

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Looks to be getting good weld penetration.

 

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Edited by Mito, 05 January 2020 - 05:37 PM.

[Mito]

I made a bite more progress today lining up the rear panel and tacked it on in a few places.

 

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I think it has lined up pretty well without too much adjustment.

 

I haven't lined up the seam at the bottom just yet and I think it will pull into place with a bit of effort. It's a bit awkward trying to pull it out and clamp it at the same time though.

 

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[Stealth72]

This is a huge undertaking! How much of the original shell will be left once you are done?

[Mito]

I think it will be the front bulk head and roof that will remain from the original shell.

[Mito]

I continued with the welding on the back end

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Lined up some of the front end panels

 

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Stripped down the front subframe

 

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I think it's salvageable so will send it in for blasting and powder coating

 

I've ordered a new bracket for the clutch master cylinder ready for replacing this...

 

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I'm not sure if these need replacing yet either. I wonder what lurks beneath...

 

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[Mito]

I've been mostly working on lining up the rear valance and preparing it for welding over the last few days. I primed the rear of the valance and the closing plates with some jotamastic primer before I welded it on.

 

Here it is welded to the rear end.

 

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I've blown through on one of the plug welds so I'll have to sort this out.

 

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I think the rest of the welds have gone pretty well. The weld penetration from the underside of the boot lip.

 

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The side bit of the closing plate still needs welding to the valance and the boot floor but I cant get at it at the moment due to the subframe being in the way, so I'll need to get this bit later.

 

I then started de-rusting the front bulkhead. 

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There's a bit of pitting in both corners of the cross member. This doesn't appear too bad though, so hopefully it will be okay after some deox gel has been applied.

 

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I bought replacement panels for these but I don't think they are bad as I thought they were when the paint was still on, so I think I'll keep these as is and just de-rust them.

 

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I'm going to cut off the rear engine steady bracket as it looks like there is some nastiness going  on behind it.

 

The bonnet brackets look okay but there is some surface rust. Not sure what to do here as I dont really want to cut them off but also want to get at the surface rust.

 

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Edited by Mito, 15 February 2020 - 05:09 PM.

[Mito]

I decided to take off the bonnet hinge brackets following the advice from members on this forum and I probably knew I should deep down.

 

I've also put on both inner wings, the scuttle, and have just lined up the front end today ready for welding on. I think i've had the front end on and off about 5 times now just trying to get it lined up and it's now as right as i'm going to get it. The panel gaps all loom about right but there is a slight issue with the drivers side wing which is being pushed out when I put the a-panel in. I think the a panel seam just wants a bit of work to move it back a little bit so that it doesn't push the wing out. 

 

Here are some of the pics.

 

 

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[Jamez26]

Hi mate, Great progress, really enjoyed looking through your thread.  Any more updates ?

 

Could I ask you a couple questions, see where your boot floor meets the rear arch and the rear arch corner, there is a small gap ?  I also have this on my current project, I'm wondering how you go about finishing this off?    And also the same for where the outer corner of your arch closers meet the valance, theres a small gap at the top, did you close these off ?

 

Cheers, James