395 replies to this topic

[elliot341]

I meant to say what you did with sorting the battery box was fantastic by the way. Great job on that. Enjoying following this.

[stuart bowes]

cheers :) it's definitely a kind of home-brew brute force and ignorance method lol  but maybe it will be useful for some people to see it can be done with fairly basic tools and it doesn't have to be a massively complicated job

 

I'm starting to get a lot more confident working with metal, true you can only bend it in the same place a couple of times before being worried it will snap off but at the same time it's easy enough just to cut it off and weld a new bit on.. nothing's ever really ruined as such

Edited by stuart bowes, 09 November 2022 - 02:11 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Weather has started to deteriorate and getting dark earlier, so have taken a break from actual repair work very briefly, to build a pavilion sort of gazebo kind of thing - metal framed, solid plastic roof and curtained sides, to shelter the mini from the elements as much as possible

 

also should work as a kind of low budget spray booth when it gets to that time as well, at least enough to keep the wind off (and floating dust to some degree)

 

wish I could have an indoor garage set up but there's just too many tools and benches and so on in there (mostly a woodworking garage really which is what I'm a lot more experienced with)

 

it's not this one but it looks kind of like it, heavier curtains and thicker legs, very sturdy

 

 

anyway now that's done and I have wired up a light out there, I can start getting on with the real work again

Edited by stuart bowes, 14 November 2022 - 06:48 PM.

[Kevinmini]

Great Project - I have done the same with my Battery Box! 

 

Check out my Youtube Channel as it may help.............. Subscribe if you like terrible jokes and lots of rust 

 

https://youtu.be/ijg0eR0yLpE

 

 

Thanks Kevin

[stuart bowes]

finished up the welding on the subframe-wheel arch bracket on the other side

 

 

Checked it again with the yard stick more due to obsessiveness than any real risk of it moving at this point

 

 

welded all round the battery tray despite previous comments, I decided as it's a big hole (i.e weakness) in the boot floor I'd like to make it as rigid as humanly possible. 

 

That's the welding to the top side of the boot floor done, all bits primered for now pending many hours of future grinding and smoothing over with filler

 

 

Next job, finish welding up the reinforcement plates underneath, gas ran out and grinder died so waiting on deliveries now before that can happen

Edited by stuart bowes, 19 November 2022 - 07:39 PM.

[colinf1]

Plenty of weld on there!

There is usually small L shaped pieces that go on the corners of the battery box on the underside, they add some strength to the corners to prevent tearing.

Keep up the good work!

[stuart bowes]

yeah I wasn't messing about lol, it does look quite top heavy on the weld I know, keep meaning to turn the power up a little and perhaps slow down the wire?  but it's penetrating fine totally visible on the other side, I guess it just means more grinding 

 

re: battery box/hole, there are still corner pieces underneath, and the remnants of the old boxes flange which I assume was spot welded in (although quite how i don't know, must have some pretty long old arms on that spot welder..)  So i seam welded that old flange down all round, and welded the new flange onto that. so 3 layers of metal around the edges, and 4 at the corners!  should be enough

Edited by stuart bowes, 20 November 2022 - 12:51 AM.

[sonscar]

Arguably spot welds in the flange area are stiffer than seams around the edge of the flange.Possibly incorrect as I read it in a book(pre internet),Steve..

[stuart bowes]

interesting.. that may well be true (I'd rather trust a book than some random info on the internet ..)

 

still in this case it's still a moot point as the flange is very narrow, and the box doesn't match up exactly with the hole, so in places the flange only overlaps the edge by 3 or 4mm at best, I'd be trying to weld to air

 

and then I convinced myself it was worth the time consuming work using the reason/excuse above

Edited by stuart bowes, 21 November 2022 - 09:47 AM.

[stuart bowes]

Trying to get myself motivated again but still a bit too cold to be outside for long by choice (have done a few necessary repairs on the volvo in the mean time)

 

decided to start looking at the bonnet - a few rusty areas requiring attention - took out the bracing

 

 

 

 

actually not too bad really, only one major issue on the bonnet itself (front near side)

 

 

the off side looked the same from the inside but doesn't poke through and the outside bare metal only had a tiny pin hole.. so that will just be weld the hole up and kurust the rest I guess.  it's not structural and it's very easily replaced in the future (albeit not cheap)

 

can't see any new bracing parts available separately without buying a whole new bonnet (?)  so will do something with those, at least it's not cosmetically important for them to be 'authentic' (that sort of thing doesn't interest me anyway).  Might just cut off the rusty ends (grill end) and refit them slightly shortened.  Sure it will do the job perfectly fine

Edited by stuart bowes, 04 March 2023 - 08:01 PM.

[stuart bowes]

some further work to the bonnet:

 

cut out the problem area

 

 

Beat a piece to shape

 

 

clamp and weld

 

 

 

checked it on the car and it's nigh-on perfect match with the other side and gap looks good (possibly a little bit of luck on that front)

 

turn attention to corners where I drilled out the spot welds, went in a bit too far 

 

 

So I cut out those bits leaving the ends for alignment 

 

 

then cut off the rusty front ends

 

 

angle grinder wire-brushed as much as possible and rust treated the underneath

 

 

which leaves the front end like this (obviously more wire brushing and kurusting to do to the underside of the bonnet)

 

 

still deciding if I'm happy to plug weld that back in as-is or add something to the front, which adds strength but potentially a bit of a minefield to keep the shape right exactly and not entirely necessary I don't think.  TBC

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 March 2023 - 09:20 AM.

[stuart bowes]

Then took another look at what I did with the door and wasn't happy with it.  it ended up warped which I almost pulled back to the right shape, but not quite, and then put a LOT of filler on it.. sometimes you have to be willing to take a step back, look again and admit it's no good

 

 

clean up and mark out what to keep

 

 

Cut it

 

 

Clean it up

 

 

take 1 x new door skin (which I should have done from the start anyway)

 

 

use curve-finder to find shape for future reference

 

 

use that to check and modify the piece to fit well

 

 

template and cut new panel 

 

 

fettle to fit

 

 

check before welding

 

 

tack in

 

 

check again

 

 

so begins the slow process of welding it bit by bit, letting it cool.  welding from inside to make tidying up a bit easier on the outside.  it's pretty much perfectly flush but perhaps if anything very slightly recessed in one or two places, which is fine because I can always use a tiny bit of filler

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 March 2023 - 01:23 PM.

[stuart bowes]

final thought for the day

 

I also looked again at the lock release mechanism.  it did work, but it was a bit clunky and might rattle around when driving along, also it just looked a bit crud

 

so I decided to go with a cable operated method

 

2 x trailer handbrake cables about 1m long found on ebay:

 

 

which I'm sure will be more than strong enough and no risk of stretching, plus one end has a very easy method for adjustment

 

so now I just have to conceive of some basic bracketry for each end

 

and possibly an extra spring somewhere, if the lock mech and handle spring isn't enough to push the cable back again

 

possibly this might work by going around the back side of the window track, and being connected to the inner door release bar, making it about as simple as it could possibly be.  will play with a few different ideas at some point

 

with the old door skin removed, I can also very easily fit a bracket for a central locking actuator

Edited by stuart bowes, 23 March 2023 - 11:28 PM.

[stuart bowes]

door progress pics

 

welding from rear and checking from front side 

 

 

 

 

smooth off backside (enough for my liking at least)

 

 

smooth off front side

 

 

primer on the back and leaving like that for now

 

 

finding out low points and filling as appropriate (I did have to deal with a bit of warping but nothing like as bad as the previous attempt)

 

 

smoothing off and first attempt at a primer coat

 

 

 

leave to dry and get my dad to cast a fresh pair of eyes over it tomorrow, see what his 2nd opinion is.

 

I think it needs maybe one or two very minor points raised a little with a tiny bit more filler, another go over with the sander, some putty to smooth over the little cracks, and high build primer should finish it off at a later point

 

 

EDIT --- 30/5/24 --- I have adjusted this again and wirebrushed off all the filler because I wasn't happy with it, see later posts around page 25 onwards.  the curvature of the donor part from the metro door was casuing the problem and I found a way to correct it

Edited by stuart bowes, 30 May 2024 - 10:46 AM.

[stuart bowes]

working on the rest of the door

 

Removed old skin and wirebrushed edges. came up pretty clean considering (pics halfway through job)

 

 

 

Eagle eyed will notice ive had to chop out one piece of the edge, obviously due to excessive corrosion, templated first, cut out, welded in and flushed off a replacement piece

 

 

 

might need a little swipe of filler to finish cleanly later on but the lock mech will hide most of it

 

and then obviously kurusted what was left 

 

 

I'm probably going to do what I did with the A panel - paint the edge (and inner bottom part of the door) with underseal, and the same around the inside edge of the new door skin as well, then fold the two bits together, I reckon that will keep it safe for a good few years because of the waxoyl 

 

I know the window is grotty as f*k I'm not worried about that I have two 'new' (clean and undamaged) ones ready in the shed

Edited by stuart bowes, 01 April 2023 - 10:18 PM.