390 replies to this topic

[Verderad]

The realisation that I'm going to need to weld soon resulted in me spending lots of time hunched over work bench that's to low, in a garage that's an absolute mess so I had a tidy up and get distracted with a pile of old floor joists,

ended up with this

 

Then a good tidy up before using the bench to make a trolley for the welder and gas bottle.

 

Not a lot done on Lady P but more room to work in, and tools that had been missing for weeks

[Verderad]

Bank holiday weekend, 3 days to press on.....

Brother visiting to help out and attempt to team me to weld, in my mind the floor was going in, the boot floor would get patched in. 

Then I realised that, there was loads of prep to happen before the floor could go in.

Step 1 Prep the Step, find holes,

 

lucky I have bought A Post door frame repair panel that cover the holes, wish I had paid for heritage panel as the profile of the Magnum panel is awful. 

couple of hours of bending, cutting, hammering later and the repair panel fits onto the hinge stiffener, strip paint, repaint

 

One of my worries with this rebuild is getting the  A Post / hinge panel back into the correct position as I will need to use this to position the new inner wings.

So I carefully removed the spots from the A Post and stiffener.  Behind was not what i was expecting

The hinge stiffener is made up of multiple parts not a single pressing??

Cut that out as well, only needed 4 welds drilling out from the Flitch, poor previous repair.

 

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry on hinge panels, I folder up a repair section for the end of the cross member

First part to be welded back in

Thanks David the welder

Then in with the A post Repair, the channel with between door and windscreen is rusty, had a clean up where I could get to it, will get better access when scuttle is removed to put the inner wing on.

In goes the repair section

took a bit of fettling, tacking, bending to get the lower section to match the step, bit more cleaning up of the welds and some filler, that can wait until the doors been back on to check the fit.

 

Painted inside the sills on floors, etch, primer and top coat

did the inside of the cross member

 

Started work on the patch for the boot wheel well, made a former out of MDF (working with wood is easy!!) and shaped the panel over that.

 

I might have a look at funds after the floors are in and get a boot floor replacement.  

 

 

 

[Verderad]

Realised that having decided to replace the floors, heel board, toe board etc that repairing the boot floor would just play on my mind and annoy me years later when I get a rust patch so ordered this

 

Was hoping that it would turn up on Wednesday when I was working from home, straight into the garage without out the wife seeing it.  Oh no left it with the neighbours 3 doors down, called me to say that I better not have bought her a bike (packed in a bike box) and that she had to drag it up the road. 

 

Not sure what happened last weekend, spent enough time in the garage to get stuff done but nothing got welded on.  Weekend mainly consisted of fit floor, fit heel board, check heel board is in the right position.  Scribe floor, remove floor, grind off a bit more.  Fit check gaps, worry that ive taken off to much, repeat, repeat.  

Finally happy with the fit of floor, the position of floor, clamps on, ready to tack it in, remember that I need to paint the floor that will be covered by the floor. 

Remove floor, apply paint, remember to drill holes for plug welds to crossmember. 

Refit floor, notice that I have not punched holes in sills!!

Ended up with this 

 

On and off a couple more times to get this

 

Well it wont weld its self in, so bit the bullet and tacked it in.  I watch videos, read blogs, read through loads on the forum, do I have a gap in the panels, do I get them as close as possible?  My welding with a gap tends to blow holes after 10mm, welding with a very small gap is better.  So I went with a small gap.   The gap quickly pulls up the more tacks put into place, will have a 0.9mm gap next time.

 

The green line is not a gap, its marker pen so that I can see the scribed line. 

All welded in, moved forward and left a space between each welds to prevent heat build up, worked from about 4 positions. 

Paused part way through and had a go at some plug welds, all good. Going back to the butt weld and not so go, just could not get the weld to go back in nice, weld to high, turn down the wire feed, did I change the power??? Grrr.   Some of the welds don't have enough penetration but eventually got it back

The other side, not quite enough penetration in places, will have to dress that back and have another go at the weekend

 

Although not bad in most places (Please let me know if its not)

 

The plug welds onto the cross member look like I have enough penetration

 

You can see where the heat has scorched the paint I applied for inside the crossmember, better then no protection. 

 

Ground the welds back tonight, used the edge of thin cutting disc to bring the weld down without thinning the material around it and then a quick run over with flapper disc to tidy it up.  

 

Feels like progress, wife and kids are out next Saturday, plan to grind the inner sill repair off the other side, cut out the floor and get the new floor in.

Big Ambition...…..

But I can hope

[minimissions]

Looking good mate, that's a massive bit of fresh steel in there, it makes all the difference.. Keep the pics coming.

[Verderad]

As usual left it a few (4) weeks before posting another update. 

Its been frustrating,  I have spent more time correcting errors than putting things right.....

 

Can I remember the sequence of events?

 

The second side is always easier, learnt from the mistakes, which in removing the old floor and inner sill repair patches held true.  I had that removed and ground back pretty quickly.

Then on to the inspection of the door step and A Post. I was expecting it to be rotten like the other side, whilst its not great only the A post closing panel is shot, and the lower part of the step needs a patch.

 

I started to make up a patch to cover up the over zealous use of the grinder, CAD template, cut out the patch, shape to fit.  The end of the spit tube on the rollover makes a great anvil for shaping.

I ended up with this.

 

Whilst looking at the size of the patch and the small hole that it was to cover, I decided to same myself the effort, flattened a copper pipe, backed the hole and welded it up.

 

When removing the replacement inner sills, the welding onto the cross member had really distorted it and removing all of the inner sill looked like a messy time consuming job, so I cut it off.

I then wire brushed the inside of the cross member and the door step, and treated it with rust remover purchased from Aldi or Lidl.  Whilst that was doing it work I through that I would reshape the replacement floor to fit the later heel board.  This went really well, sorry no pics.

 

Then back on with the heel board and rear sub frame, I had woken up thinking about the position of the heel board and how I should of had that in place when welding the floor in. I had the heel board attached to the rear sub frame and I had been lifting it on and off, bolting it into position many many times.  

It didn't fit correctly.....   I could not get the subframe to line up with the holes in the boot floor, looked about 8mm out, much pushing and shoving, hammering, larger crow bar later, I decided that the floor was too far back??   The end of the tunnel which I had not removed and was still attached to the other side of the floor when adding the new half was pushing the heel board back, there was not really any gap between the heel board and subframe.   

 

Stood Staring at it for more than a reasonable amount of time, possibly gently rocking.

Time for lunch and a cup of tea whilst I contemplate cutting the floor back off

 

When I bought the car both floors were really bowed in the rear, I had assumed to many people in and out of the rear over 40 years had taken its effects, when drilling out the spots on the cross member the last one was accompanied with a loud twang as the floor released  is self, like the floor had been compressed.  I also have a whopping great dent in the end of the tunnel / toe board. Spent many nights wondering if I should put the car on a jig to check its alignment.

[Verderad]

Called in my mate Tim to provide a second opinion, the decision made was to cut the end of the floor off, attach to the heel board, attached to rear sub frame bolt to the car and weld back on.

Spent the rest of the day cutting and grinding. Ended the day in the same place as it started. 

 

Sunday is family day so went into Cardiff shopping with the kids, wow 6 hrs I wont be getting back.   managed a couple of hours in the garage tidying up and putting tools away. Then I positioned the other half a floor, fixed it back to the heel board, Tech Screws save time.

 

clamped it along the door step.  The step was laid over the top of the toe board and tunnel as its too wide, I then scribed a line from inside to mark where the floor needs to be  cut.   That was it for the weekend, not where I wanted to be.

 

The following weekend I only managed couple of hours in the Garage before my mate turned up to head into town for the Elvis festival in Porthcawl. Beautiful day in the sun, drinking pints dressed as Elvis. 

 

I managed to trim the floor panel to size and that was it, time for many pints and Elvis

[Verderad]

Fresh weekend, lets go. 

Before the floor can go in the end of the cross member needs to be replaced.  So I sanded back and wore brushed the rust remover applied a couple of weeks ago from the inside of the cross member and door step.  Then gave it a good coat of zinc primer.

 

Whilst this was drying I made up a cad template, trial fit into the car with the floor in place and then transferred this onto some fresh steel.

Spent a bit of time bending this up, made the corners to good, radius was smaller than the original so then spent time dressing the corner radius over a large screwdriver to open it out.

 

I then set about welding it in to place

 

Well pleased with that, weld not to tidy on the inside but that wont be seen.

 

Quick bit of primer and then back on with the floor for final fettling, the issue is it wont fit between the heel board and the toe board!!! Little black cloud descends on the garage, its late so call it a day.

[Verderad]

Sunday Afternoon in the garage.  The question in my mind, has the toe board been moved back 10mm?

It has a large dent that been dressed out, it also looks like it has a crease from the where flitch, toe board, bulkhead meets back to the tunnel.

The bottom of the flitch also has a couple of patches that Ive removed but still some weld residue but not enough to prevent the floor moving forward enough.

 

I took a large hammer to the lower end of the flitch and adjusted the end of the floor, went in better and all the holes for the Celco Pins lined up nicely.

However the floor panel is more than 1/4" to short at one end  Grrr  

I then looked inside the car to see that the end of the cross member was no where near the inner sill.

 

felt like packing it all in, its not like I haven't been measuring more times than is healthy, checking and rechecking but somehow the elastic tape measure keeps coming out.

Now you cant make a short bit of wood long, but you can add to metal, so rather than reduce the amount of welding needed Ive added to it substantially.

 

First job, cut the end off the cross member

 

Second job, weld the edge of the floor back on and grind it back

fettle the floor into position and temp fix in place.

 

I then added some material about 12mm onto the end of the crossmember, carefully tacking it in place, just enough to hold it

Repositioned into the car, marked it and trimmed back.

I then removed the floor, mocked up the inner sill to reposition the end of the cross member and tacked it in place, put the floor back in to check its position, all good.

 

Then on with welding the end of the cross member back in.  Got a bit of distortion due to the amount to weld in close proximity but its back on.

I then adjust the angle and added the flanges back on, need to learn patience as I blew a couple of holes, I just don't seem to be able to weld without a copper backing plate. Cant put the mig on a lower setting as it does not have one.

 

Final act of the weekend was to reposition the floor and clamp it into place ready for tacking it in place.

 

Its taken in months what i thought would take weeks and still so much grinding, welding for panel replacement left....

 

This weekend I want the floors in, Heel board attached to the floor and the new boot floor in, that would leave

Rear Valance

Rear valance closure panels

Tank bracket

rear arch closers

near side hinge stiffner

Toe board

both inner wings

both wings

front panel

scuttle

and roof panel I cant live with the sun roof

 

Well its a hobby

[stumpy75]

Ime not far away if you want a hand at anytime mate

[Verderad]

I'm not far away if you want a hand at anytime mate

 

Thanks for the offer Stumpy, just might take you up on that.  There are defiantly days when 2 pairs of hands are needed and more that just need 2 heads to aid decisions. 

[Verderad]

Welder has sprung a leak!!! Noticed on Sat that I was using a lot of gas.
I checked all the connections, sprayed some soapy water on the fittings no bubbles.
I’ve been turning the gas off between welds but the dial has been dropping rapidly.

I changed the liner a couple of weeks ago, not sure I clipped the pipe back I properly, will get it open at the weekend I hope that I find a hole where it’s been touching something that it should not. Ordered a new tube hopefully if will be here before the weekend. Then pop down to my gas supplier and hand over another £40 for a refill?

[Verderad]

Best laid plans...   Friday night realised that I had not painted the inside of the crossmember or the the underside if the step, so having clamped the floor in plan, trimmed the edge to leave a consistent gap, I removed the screws holding floor to heel board, unbolted the rear subframe, pulled it clear, unclamped the floor, removed the floor, didnt I just do all this last week, and the week before??

 

Whilst the floor was out, quickly cleaned off the ends of the floor that will be welded into heel baord, zinc primed.

Whilst that was drying I undercoated the Step and the cross member.

 

Popped back into the garage before bed to undercoat the floor ends. 

 

Always 1 step forward  3 > 4 back....

[Verderad]

First job get the top coat onto the the fresh paint.

Whilst that was drying I drilled the plug weld holes into the heel board, went a bit over the top but cant hurt, will take longer to clean up. 

Cleaned back the paint round the edge of the holes and then applied some weld through.

 

Decided that welds on the other side of the floor were ok, but short of penentration in a could of places, so whilst waiting to drop the kids off I watched a couple of vids on you tude and read through Bens latest post.  Will be going for a gap the width of cutting disk and running in a line of spot welds see how that works out. 

 

Dropped the kids off and picked up a new bottle of gas.  4 hours of just me, the garage and Lady P. 

 

Right this is it, the floors going in.

Put the floor back in, holes for skin pins line up straight away, YES...

Drop the rear sub frame with heel board attached back on, little tap with large hammer, all the subframe holes line up, YES...

both it all up nice an tight.

Check the gap between floor and tunnel, what the hell how can the gap be bigger than when I took it off??? Did it shrink???  The gaps not massive, its probably 5mm but its not the 1mm gap.

probably not the done thing but I put a ratchet strap between the holes in the footwells and pulled it up. Probably find that i cant line the A panel and door up later...

 

put all the crews back into the heel board to pull the floor up, ready to start welding.

 

Used a series of overlapping spots, working from 4 positions along the floor, stopped half way through to grind back the welds and check penetration.  Not bad but takes a long time.

 

finished the welding and back onto the grinding, some of the spots got a little high.   Put a light behind the panel and turned off the garage lights, looked like a bloody pin cushion, grrr

Quickly went over the holes with a new spot, forgot to turn up the power so not really enough penetration so more grinding, Ive probably ground off 90% of the weld Ive put on.

 

Anyway, its in

Just a couple of pin holes to grind back

 

and a patch to finsh off, needs a copper backing holding against it but my arms just arnt long enough, will see if the wife will help out tomorrow..

 

 

I also started prep work for removal of the boot floor, scrapped off the underseal, the paint in the arches was pretty good not a lot of rot at all

wirebrushed the paint off and drilled through the spots with a pilot, will finish them off when I have the heel board welded on

added in extra brace between the rear arches.

 

Wife and kids are out tomorrow morning so going to take the heel board off again!! and finish of welding the rear of the floor to the tunnel, then the big one, get the heel board welded on.

 

Its progress, might be slow but its progress, and the only welding needed for heelboard and boot are ply welds, YES... 

[Verderad]

how long can it take to attach the turn up on the end of the floor to the end of the tunnel?  I did need a little bit of material adding in due to over zealous use of grinder but it took over 2 hours for what amounted to be 4 inches of weld, multiply that by 2 as I had 2 goes at it.  The benefit is welding is improving with practice.

One with the heel board, a momentous occasion, the finishing touch to the floor and gateway to getting the boot floor out. 

 

In my mind I was going to quickly put in some tec screws to pull it all in and smash in some plugs, reality was some what different.  The tech screws would not pull it all up by the tunnel so the curve in the heel board didn't meet the tunnel.  Had to drill through and get bolts in position, I was on my own so took ages to get in the car, put the nut on the bolt, clamp on mole grip, tighten up bolts, then had to cut and shape a coupe of places to get the correct fit.

Ended up with this, well happy

 

 

Then onto the boot floor

Nice easy to find spot welds, took my time gradually opening out the holes

 

then off with the rear sub frame floor protection patch, these were really pitted and I could not find all the spot despite making it look like Swiss cheese, so I used large cowbar.

removed the spots onto the Arch / bulkhead stiffener and chiselled off the boot floor from the arches, not much persuasion needed.

The spot welds floor to bulkhead were pretty poor not a lot of area to them which made removing them nice and easy.

 

With little effort this happened

 

Such a large panel out quickly really feels like progress.

 

Lots of rot exposed, I was not really expecting to find rot between bulkhead and floor but there it was

 

Wire brushed it to reveal lots of pitting and a couple of holes

 

out with the grinder and in with a patch

 

more wire brush and flap disc then some treatment with rust converter

 

whilst that's working I quickly placed the boot floor into position

 That does look good, progress, yes, progress

Edited by Verderad, 22 October 2018 - 07:55 PM.

[cookie4343]

Excellent work mate, your making it look easy while retaining attention to detail in the process.