395 replies to this topic

[stuart bowes]

moved onto the front end.. cut away the bulk of the panel leaving seams alone for the minute..

 

 

I could start working away at tidying up the seams but whats the point when clearly there's a load of repairs to do and that will kill two birds with one stone

 

starting with these two areas

 

 

cut out crusty bits, cleaned up and kurusted the remaining good stuff

 

 

and etch primed 

 

[stuart bowes]

bit of fabrication work tonight in preparation for a day on the car tomorrow 

 

wanted to have replacement parts ready for the nearside wing (pics above)

 

1st part:

 

 

put a fold in a piece of paper to locate where the outer lip is, that's a fixed point to work from, then take a 'rubbing' of the outer edges, draw out the shape and cut out 

 

 

 

forgot to actually take a pic of the cut out but you get the idea

 

obviously it's easy enough to get the curve along that plane, but the inner seam is the hard part.  so, cut a straight strip and used the shrinker and shaped by hand until it fit the new front end in the right place:

 

 

then it was just a case of keeping that in the right shape and tacking it to the the larger piece 

 

 

a test fit, a little bit more fettling, and a proper weld up

 

 

 

there is a bit of a gap there but actually I think it's the edge of the new panel that needs a bit of tapping or clamping into shape, I'll worry about that later 

 

 

I did weld in those two little holes after this pic, smoothed off again and ready to fit

 

the other piece was a lot simpler, cut to shape and put a bend in it

 

 

a bit of playing with the shrinker to get the curve to match the new front end panel, but I'll play with that a little more before fitting tomorrow 

 

 

once these pieces are welded in, if some tweaking is required later I might have to cut the seam in the back side to allow a bit of movement then weld it back up again, no major drama, but as far as I can see they'll be a pretty good fit (fingers crossed)

Edited by stuart bowes, 30 March 2024 - 10:29 PM.

[stuart bowes]

fitted the two new pieces

 

 

 

 

both fitted well

 

and then replaced the seam here because the old one was just rotted out 

 

 

next up this bit needed replacing 

 

 

again no point wasting time messing about removing the piece from the old front end, just cut the whole lot out 

 

 

cut and folded a new piece, welded in

 

 

 

 

 

and I'll tidy that up tomorrow, thought I'd give the neighbours a bit of a break from the grinding noises

 

the edge blew out and the welding got a bit messy there but it'll tidy up OK 

Edited by stuart bowes, 31 March 2024 - 06:10 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Also I thought I'd have a look at this suspiciously brown area on the bulkhead,

 

 

(forgot to take a current pic before wire brushing)

 

nothing to be overly concerned about underneath

 

 

but I did take the opportunity to weld the engine brace bracket and made that nice and tidy

 

checked the inside and confirmed sufficient penetration

 

 

not sure why it didn't go so well in the middle?  but I got both ends, it'll do nicely

 

then because I didn't want to leave it bare I kurusted and etch primed

 

 

 

hopefully get another full day on it tomorrow 

Edited by stuart bowes, 31 March 2024 - 06:18 PM.

[stuart bowes]

didn't get so much done today just a bit of tidying up..

 

cleaned up that inner wing patch, and while I was at it I decided to wire brush, kurust and prime the whole area, including the gutter along the bonnet shut, all cleaned up nicely nothing to report

 

 

 

and sorted out the bottom bit of the other side as well

 

 

then because there was some brown marks around the edge of the window frame I thought I'd check that out, and ended up cleaning up the whole scuttle, nothing to worry about there either

 

found the VIN number and it matches the ident plate, not that it was a concern but was good to check I suppose

 

 

 

just a little bit more done, couple less things to worry about 

 

contemplated welding in the two LHD wiper holes, but I suppose it's one of those 'features of the design' isn't it.. you lose too many and it starts looking a bit weird maybe ?

Edited by stuart bowes, 02 April 2024 - 08:22 AM.

[stuart bowes]

off side inner wing, cut out the grot and grind off the spot welded section above

 

 

 

also removed piece under headlight same as near side, both bits to be replaced:

 

 

 

 

 

now, the theory here was that the little 'wing' shaped extra bits would give me something to weld out on to and stop me blowing out the edge again

 

but, as it turned out I got the measurements slightly off and they had to be cut off to make it fit anyway, so that was a waste of time .. but the theory is sound (I've done it elsewhere and it works)

 

anyway so I welded the larger piece in, just more carefully this time, and will grind that back next time

 

 

 

slowly slowly catchy monkey

Edited by stuart bowes, 03 April 2024 - 08:19 PM.

[stuart bowes]

just a tiny update, cleaned up that weld both sides and also removed the bonnet stay bracket

 

partly so I can clean / check under it but also because I'm still pretty set on using gas struts and I want the cleanest possible look for the engine bay

 

I am keeping the water bottle location though so that bracket will have to stay

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 05 April 2024 - 06:07 PM.

[stuart bowes]

replaced pitted section below offside headlight, same as nearside

 

 

linished off smooth and primed for now

 

cleaned up the seam and checked for any rot around by the wheel arch, no issues on that side thankfully

 

 

came back later and wirebrushed everything to bare metal to look for any more grot, nothing to be concerned about 

 

 

tidied up the lumps of weld at the top of the inner wing / crossmember brackets which looked like someone was eager to get this one done and meet his mates down the pub

 

 

 

 

kurusted the main areas as a preventative (no real issues) then went over that crossmember again with some jenolite following recent concerns raised

 

 

(that brown corner behind the tin looks worrysome I know but actually it's mostly just dust and muck, I brushed at it after that and most of it just came away)

 

and then primed that side inner wing

 

 

more tidying of main bulkhead to be finished before fitting front panel

Edited by stuart bowes, 06 April 2024 - 07:05 PM.

[stuart bowes]

pending finishing of bulkhead and fitting of subframe to check fixing positions I thought I'd have a quick look at the new front end anyway and see where we've got to

 

 

 

 

 

 

some minor pushing and pulling required but no actual metalwork adjustments required as far as I can tell .  again assuming the subframe fixings line up, but even still to be honest I could always adjust those probably more easily than adjusting everything else

 

as it turned out we ended up making a slight error and ordering the older style front end, which may need some packers (or more likely a measured and fabricated single spacer for each side) I wasn't too bothered as am solid mounting the subframe anyway so even with the teardrops they would have been solid type anyway..  not worth the time and effort dealing with logistics to return and get the 'right' one which as far as I can tell has no other differences (?) at least that's what the man at minispares assured me

Edited by stuart bowes, 06 April 2024 - 07:16 PM.

[colinf1]

I'm sure it'll be fine

Hope that doesn't come back to bite you...

Might be best to fit it just to be sure it all lines up...

[stuart bowes]

Yeah I probably will :)

[stuart bowes]

 

subframe fitted, front end back on, holes line up spot on, no spacers required, literally buts up to the front edge perfectly

 

a lot of faffing about just to find that out, but worth checking..  also took the opportunity to scribe plug weld locations where necessary, so not a total waste of time, I'll take it back off later and that's a nice easy indoor prep job for one evening

Edited by stuart bowes, 08 April 2024 - 05:25 PM.

[stuart bowes]

cleaned up upper and lower bulkhead, gave them both a coating of kurust as a preventative measure, no repairs required

 

 

primed after that but forgot to take a picture

 

so that's the engine bay sorted and ready for paint, can get the front end welded on 

Edited by stuart bowes, 09 April 2024 - 08:15 PM.

[stuart bowes]

engine bay primered, and subframe back on again for lining up fixing holes during first few welds

 

 

outer sides of inner wings given a dash of paint to protect as I have done elsewhere.. obviously as usual the welds will burn away some but not a lot I can do about that, I just feel like it's slightly better than leaving it primer only. (and again will clean that off where accessible afterwards before the proper paint job)

 

 

I also found this decent long clamp at a good price on amazon, can confirm they are pretty sturdily made considering the cost (and obviously the free delivery helps)

 

and as you can see the reach is sufficient for this particular job

 

 

https://www.amazon.c...ct_details&th=1

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 April 2024 - 07:14 PM.

[stuart bowes]

my method for fitting the front end, kinda working this out as I go along really but there only seemed to be one logical route..

 

bolted to subframe with about 1.5mm of spacers because I didn't want it so tight the subframe would be a pain to fit later.  and I'm sure when bolting it up tight the gap will just close up

 

 

then used clamps to locate the points just either side of bonnet opening  (all three of those things circled)

 

 

the rest looks a bit of a wibbly wobbly mess at the moment but I'll work my way around that later, it'll all pull into shape, got to deal with the fixed points first

 

 

so anyway once I was happy I made sure it was clamped nice and tight, and stuck one bolt through the lower 'ears' connecting to inner wing

 

 

 

I've now got the subframe out the way (again.. eugh) and can just crack on with welding to the inner wing, tidy up, then work my way around the outer wings