396 replies to this topic

[stuart bowes]

Drivers side wheel arch, wire brushed back and found the area under the shock bracket was actually fine this side, no point making extra work, kurusted and etch primed around that whole area

 

 

then turned attention to the steering rack bracket which looked a bit ropey underneath, needed to get it off to have a look.  cleaned top side while in place because it won't move around 

 

 

drilled out all the spot welds

 

 

Wirebrushed and found metal underneath was actually completely fine.  Etch primed and painted black just to give it a coat

 

 

Cleaned up bracket, drilled some new holes for easy plug welding to good undrilled metal.  Etch primed all round and painted black underneath just to give it a coat

 

 

Used old holes for alignment (checked with U bolts as well after two tacks, all good) and plug welded on with newly drilled holes, then for good measure did 3 stitch welds to each long side and complete seam welds to each end

 

 

then it was obviously just a case of welding in all the holes, and the back side (inside car) looked like this

 

 

which obviously wasn't far in enough, so I welded from that side as well, effectively plug welding in all those original positions too

 

 

Linished back and primered inside

 

 

Linished back outside and because I didn't want to give it any places for water to collect especially in this obvious lower frontal position I gave it a good smearing of filler all round

 

 

 

then smoothed that all down and Etch primed one last time

 

 

One things for sure, that is NOT coming off in a hurry (which I figured is more important than being pretty)  it would take some massive catastrophic impact at which point wayward steering will be the very least of my problems

 

on the inside you can see it's kind of rippled from all the layers of paint while still slightly wet etc, I'm not overly concerned, I will give it a bit of a rub down in the prep stage but it's never going to be visible anyway

 

the main thing is when I go round doing seam sealer I will get a brush and paint that all along the inner edges especially the lower one which obviously is where water would end up settling

 

then just to round out the day I removed the front slinger bracket this side, wire brushed and primered all down that section and then started the removal of the back bracket. but it got a bit late and I didn't want to annoy my neighbours too much, finish that off another day

 

 

 

 

that square hole is a repair to the very first piece I did right at the start, and while it was solid, I didn't really like the way the join had sort of puckered out at that point, also there was a sort of lump where I remembered blowing out a piece and having to weld a big hole back in, it was a bit crap.. so out it comes and I'll put a nice new piece in there lovely and flush now I've had a lot more practise, no biggy

 

on the plus side (silver linings and all that) it did give me a reason to cut a section through that long join there and see from the side to assess thickness at the joint after all that grinding back, no problems either side of the new hole so all good I reckon

 

the area in front of that / to the side of the foot well section is a bit uneven, that was where the old floor pan was jacked on and then I've welded the new piece in to match it, silly mistake really I guess, some hammer and dollying required there to try and flatten that out a bit but I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it, it's all good metal

Edited by stuart bowes, 14 January 2024 - 07:08 PM.

[stuart bowes]

As an additional note not exactly related to this build as such..  I've found that I'm spending most of my time at work, and in all my down time between that and family time, absentmindedly thinking of what I'm going to do next on the car, or looking at info on other peoples builds, or looking up random info about welding or new tools, etc

 

so anyway starting this year I've decided to go City and Guilds and become a qualified welder / fabricator which I know is a deeply involved thing and not just a quick simple 'I've stuck some metal together so I'm now a pro' thing .. but over time I will hopefully get a LOT better and you never know might actually end up doing this (or site work or whatever) as a job

 

the main thing that started that really is watching all those Binky videos and thinking man I wish I could weld like that, being able to TIG weld aluminium, and doing really tidy stainless steel work, etc 

 

It would be great to have that confidence when making something for someone that it's definitely done right and won't fall apart, make some spare cash on the side

 

I have a very good working knowledge of solidworks and drafting good working designs with weldments and sheet metal as well so all of that together can only be a good thing surely.  I've been doing it with timber for years so why not actually put it to use with metal, make people fancy gates for their driveways or something, I've done quite a few of those designs professionally before and it's not difficult, it just wasn't me actually making them

Edited by stuart bowes, 02 January 2024 - 12:08 AM.

[sonscar]

Good luck with your choice,life is short so embrace and enjoy what you can.Steve..

[stuart bowes]

couple more minor updates. too cold in the evenings and a lot of family stuff going at weekends recently / work on the daily + the missus' car etc etc

 

enough excuses..  finished cleaning up and rust-cured that lower front panel

 

 

etch primered 

 

 

Punched out all the floor plugs and cut the filler pieces, to be welded in next time I get a free couple of daylight hours.  plus the rectangular section I cut out in a previous post

 

 

guillotine came in well handy there, bit more fettling to get the circles down to the right size, just clamping them together and doing them as a bundle sod all that individual nonsense

Edited by stuart bowes, 19 January 2024 - 09:11 AM.

[stuart bowes]

welded in the rectangular piece, not pretty and still blew out a little around the edges as you can see where the lumps are, but it grinds back smooth so whatever 

 

 

 

and then did the 'top' half of the floor holes (7 on this side, 4 on the other still to do)

 

 

not ground down yet because it got late, I just cleaned up with wire brush and etch primed both sides for now

 

also the 2 little holes from where the rear ashtray used to be riveted in, nearly forgot about them but they're welded in now

 

not gonna bother removing and replacing the pipe holder bits, they seem solid and easy enough to clean around, I've only bent them once so far and being gentle with them I'm sure they'll be fine

Edited by stuart bowes, 28 January 2024 - 06:10 PM.

[stuart bowes]

finishing up the underside of the floorpan

 

 

the seam sealant, filth and waxy underseal stuff comes off easy enough, but there is some kind of dip coating (?) which takes a bit more effort to get through, focussed mostly on the areas where there was any sign of surface corrosion, cleared that all off and then just painted the whole lot with kurust for good measure

 

 

 

finished welding in rest of the floor bung holes as well

 

 

then cleaned up the tunnel and found this little split in the metal under the cross member, not sure what happened there, maybe someone cutting at something in the past but it was just painted over.. 

 

 

so I welded that in and linished back

 

 

and then finished off kurusting and priming the rest without coming across anything untoward

 

 

 

 

 

 

next up finishing off the boot floor + heel board and welding under the rear offside lights

Edited by stuart bowes, 12 February 2024 - 10:26 PM.

[stuart bowes]

finished cleaning off rest of heelboard and adjoining area of the boot floor, nothing untoward just back to bare metal. kurust for good measure (although nothing bad) and primed

 

 

 

 

then on to this part of the rear end (same as the other side a couple of pages back)

 

 

cut out grot and made a replacement

 

 

checked in place, width and curve spot on, but somehow too short?  oh well

 

 

tack in then weld 

 

 

 

smooth off and primer for now

 

 

that gap at the bottom was just too big for my liking to fill with weld, would be a bit of a bodge, so as you can see I cut the hole wider to give myself half a chance of welding something in, made a new simple folded piece, welded in

 

 

 

 

not quite flush yet but you can clearly see plenty of welding still to tidy up in this area mainly those big strengthening plates which need a really good going over, that's the next job

 

then when I'm welding on the valance that little square will get a better tidy up and no doubt there will be a dash of filler required anyway

Edited by stuart bowes, 17 February 2024 - 08:30 PM.

[stuart bowes]

had a quick stab at tidying up the welds starting with grinding back the worst bit

 

 

then put a better weld on it (much easier not being upside down!)

 

 

 

yeah so that will be fine, just have to do the same all the way round both plates, won't bore everyone with the pics 

 

I'm ignoring the bit with the bottom edge of the arch for now, I'm not  totally sure but I think a chunk of that needs to be cut flat anyway and/or becomes part of the valance closing panel, tbc

 

while I had the tools out I also cleaned out the final mucky bit of the rear end, the offside rear arch

 

 

 

only surface rust, all wire brushed and kurusted, primed.  one or two cosmetic issues to deal with but only needs to be good enough that it doesn't show through stone chip and seam sealer so we're not talking mirror finish or anything

Edited by stuart bowes, 18 February 2024 - 06:22 PM.

[stuart bowes]

just a quick check of the curve before spending hours grinding and tidying only to find it's wrong in some way..

 

took a 'rubbing' of the other side which turned out best of the two

 

 

cut out and compared to the other side, decided it is within acceptable tolerance 

 

 

reasoning being, if it is a little off, at least being the same on both sides and then adjusting the valance to match it will look OK

 

however where I welded that last little section in I wasn't as careful as I should have been and I've ended up with a slight bulge, corrected by cutting a relief slot and adding a few selective taps with the hitting stick

 

 

 

welding up again and giving it a general quick grind off

 

 

 

which is sufficient for now to try a trial fitting of the valance next weekend hopefully and seeing where we've got to

 

after that really there is no more excuse I will have to just spend an eternity grining and linishing and a few redo's on the welding here and there but it's worth it to do a decent job instead of leaving it a mess

[stuart bowes]

time for a bit of a catch up

 

the trial fitting (clamping) of the rear valance went fine, bit of trimming to do on the closing panels but it'll work

 

 

 

(ignore that boot floor I still hadn't tidied it up at that point)

 

 

with some gentle pushing it did meet up in the centre, so nothing to be concerned about there.  I guess what I'll do is clamp accurately at the sides, then push in and weld at the middle, and work out in each direction from there 

 

if when I get to the ends there's an adjustment required I'll just have to work that out

 

and it'll be tricky, but there's room to weld in the closing panels afterwards, no major dramas there either

[stuart bowes]

before I start that though I had to make sure all the welding from above was complete, the only thing left to worry about being this petrol tank bracket

 

bought new bits

 

 

did some grinding of the worst bits in that area, kurusted and primed for now

 

 

 

fitted the tank, confirmed the bracket location, notched the rim of the tank slightly where it hits that boot tie bracket up near the top

 

 

 

re-profiled the bracket slightly for better clearance and just generally a nicer fit

 

 

clamped in place and gave the welding locations a good wire brushing

 

 

then, masked off the welding place and gave it a bit of paint as some coverage for the areas that will be harder to reach later on (in white as before for least effect on whatever colour it ends up)

 

 

 

painted the back side of the bracket as well

 

 

welded in, tidied up, wire brushed around the area where reachable, etch primered (looks white but is just a lighter shade of etch for some reason, makes no odds I guess)

 

 

while I was there I loosely fitted the boot door for the first time since replacing that whole bottom edge..  lines up perfectly central in the opening, gaps same each side.  phew

Edited by stuart bowes, 15 March 2024 - 05:56 PM.

[stuart bowes]

and then while I had the power file out I cleaned up the insides on the floor pan where I welded in all those holes, primed for now pending much wire brushing to do especially around the front edges to check for any signs of rot at the seams (which actually look ok to be honest, fingers crossed)

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 15 March 2024 - 05:49 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Started fitting valance:

Clamped ends to correct place and marked up how much of the flange I need to keep, then cut off the rest





Painted the inside (welding is going to burn some of it off obviously but just doing what I can)



Same for the part of the boot floor I won't be able to get at later, around the wheel well



Clamped up the ends again and start tacking into place



Started in the middle and worked outwards in each direction. passenger side aligned well with a little bit of persuasion from behind

The drivers side needed a little more work..



As you can see I had to cut a little slot to allow a bit of extra movement. downside there of course being the further you push it outwards the bigger the gap gets

just as I got to the end of that the wire ran out and I finished it off with the 0.8. you can see where I started on the slot and blew out the edges.. oops leave that for later when the 0.6 turns up

not completely happy about the gap, but not a lot I can do really, I'm not willing to try and weld in a slim piece with a compound curve, and I'm definitely not going to try and cut the back end apart and bend the floor down a bit, so it's just welding in a big gap and shaping the welds I guess. the curvature lines up right anyway so it'll be fine

Then the new wire arrived and I started welding fully, middle first







Welded up the relief slot



Now it's just the ends to sort out, I'll be doing some final adjustments as I go for the best possible alignment and the minimum possible filler required

Edited by stuart bowes, 26 March 2024 - 09:20 AM.

[stuart bowes]

went out there this evening, raining and cold so longed off the welding kit, just did a few checks on the curves with the curve finder, actually pretty happy with it no major adjustments required:

 

each curve taken from one side, locked in place and checked against the other

 

(ignoring the little lumps where the tacks are which got in the way a little bit)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and now I know that's basically done and with the bank holiday weekend looming we've now also ordered the new front panel which is the last bodywork repair required !  actually starting to see light at the end of the tunnel

 

apart from the passenger side door which might need reskinning and either way definitely needs the metro handle welding to match the driver side .. but I'm counting doors as separate at this point

Edited by stuart bowes, 26 March 2024 - 07:34 PM.

[stuart bowes]

finished welding in the gaps. it did get a bit lumpy but it's all solid

 

 

 

and then ground it back

 

 

which looks like this when primered 

 

 

that ledge there is actually the valance being slightly too far in which is probably the better outcome because it can easily be filled out

 

the other side was a bit more ripply but again easily fillable

 

 

and just to check that is the case I lobbed a bit of filler on it, obviously this is by no means the finished article but just wanted to get an idea of the final shape

 

 

 

so yeah that'll be ok.  leaving it there for now the proper finishing off will be done later when doing the body prep