396 replies to this topic

[colinf1]

Not too bad looking there, a good clean up with wire wheel and paint it will look good.

I'd try and clean up the threads on the captive nut for seat belt mounting now before putting outer sill on, that way you save trapping any swarf in the inner sill cavity!

Keep up the good work!

[stuart bowes]

probably not a bad idea, wish I'd thought of it before I stiched up the other side.. never mind 

 

to be honest though actually those bolts did come out very clean, almost brand new looking, maybe someone had the foresight to grease them when they fitted them or something

[stuart bowes]

back from a weeks holiday, got back on the NS inner sills

 

made the holes a little larger to start with, to make sure I was back to solid steel

 

welded in new sections

 

 

then finished linishing / grinding and kurust / primered 

 

 

inside linished back as far as I dared without thinning metal.  My OCD is not 100% happy about it but then again a) it's solid and that's what matters and b) it'll be covered with sound deadening and carpet anyway

 

you can only worry so much I suppose.  I might smooth it out with a smear of filler just to please my sense of tidiness but it's not in any way to conceal any fault or weakness

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 21 August 2022 - 05:48 PM.

[stuart bowes]

NS step repair:

 

as it was when I moved in (forget to take pic before cutting)

 

 

cut around the problem (hole made large enough to get power file in, actually didn't really need to be that large in terms of rust)

 

 

make a filling piece and bend over a bit of thin rod to get the right radius

 

 

check fit (spot on)

 

 

fettle, drill some plugging holes and clamp in

 

 

plug 'n' tack

 

 

weld in (also done underneath to add strength because i'm grinding down to flat and still not 100% confident about getting the right penetration yet if i'm honest)

 

 

linish to finish

 

 

a thin scrape of filler for a pefectly smooth finish, and primer

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 21 August 2022 - 05:18 PM.

[colinf1]

Nice tidy repair, at least you know it's all good metal there.

I'm kinda the same when it comes to linishing back the welds, in areas where its not going to be seen I'd rather leaver a bit there so you got a good strong join, the go a bit more on parts that are seen and slight coat of filler to smooth it off..

Keep up the good work!

[stuart bowes]

thanks :)  I'm trying to strike a decent balance between doing the job as well as possible (including cutting out and starting again if I'm not happy about it) and actually getting the thing finished at some point

 

when it gets to a certain point I have to stop myself and remember it's never going to be concourse, if it's good enough just leave it alone,  hopefully by the time I get to the more cosmetic external stuff my skills will have improved enough to do a decent job and it will look alright in the end

 

still at the end of the day it is just metal you can always cut it off and do it again I suppose, so long as there's no paint on it yet

Edited by stuart bowes, 21 August 2022 - 09:55 PM.

[sonscar]

I am heartened to see repairs instead of complete replacement.Granted sometimes replacement is the most sensible option.Keep going and soon you will run out of jobs to do.Steve.

[stuart bowes]

this is the A panel we were thinking of just leaving because it looked ok.  glad we changed our mind on that 

 

on removal and cleaning up we had to cut out a bit of rot from the flitch panel:

 

 

So i made a template and fabricated a replacement section out of 1mm sheet

 

 

 

Cut out offending section, offered up and fettled:

 

 

Some more amateur welding (although, didn't blow any holes this time which was definitely a win) also welded as much as possible from the other side which will be hidden obviously

 

 

Flattened off sufficiently for a non-visible piece

 

 

A tiny smear of filler just over the edges to smooth out and primered

 

 

must remember next time let the primer dry first so it doesn't look all shiny and patchy in the pic, not that it really matters, it's all coming off again later when I clean up and treat / paint the inner arches

Edited by stuart bowes, 29 August 2022 - 04:24 PM.

[stuart bowes]

next job was cutting out the rear quarter and repairing / fabricating replacement for closing panel:

 

 

 

 

 

(note bolts wound out during welding, because weld splatter almost certainly will get on the threads, then when you take the bolt out it damages the nut thread.)

 

 

Then, I decided against my previous step repair for two reasons, one because it left a slight but noticeable lump which I wasn't happy with and two, although I could probably have hammered my way out of it, the clean-up job on the old step was time consuming and would still leave old metal.   So I just ordered a repair piece and fitted that instead:

 

 

 

 

 

Once done, as with the other side, I masked off welding areas (weld through primer on those bits) and undersealed / waxoiled the inner parts:

 

 

(Risk of fire was minimised by carefully slow welding and the worst I got was a couple of wisps of smoke)

 

Then I could fit the outer sill which I prepared earlier in the same way as the other side:

 

 

 

Finally I got a head start on the next job which was cutting off the A panel:

 

 

Clearly that needs tidying up / rust curing etc, and at the same time I will wire brush out that part of the inner wing and clean up the scuttle closing panel, at the moment it looks fine with no holes, so I shall probably leave it alone pending looking underneath the 30 year old coating of underseal and grime

Edited by stuart bowes, 20 September 2022 - 09:03 AM.

[stuart bowes]

One slightly odd thing I have noticed though, about the closing panels:

 

these are both correctly fitted now to line up with A) the ridge of the rear wheel arch B) the outer sill and C) the rear quarter panel, so it is correct 

 

but...

 

and

 

as you can see the alignment is different from one side to the other

 

which I can only assume means from the factory, they've somehow misaligned something towards the off side by 4mm,  how much that really matters I don't know but everything fits as noted above..

 

It could mean potenially the rear subframe is 4mm off to one side, but the boot floor holes all line up and it's been like it for 30 years seemingly without veering off the road suddenly

 

I'm wondering what will come up on future wheel alignment, to correct it I might end up having to use different wheel spacers or something?  or maybe it'll be straight and the whole thing is a bit of a puzzle but ultimately doesn't actually matter in the long run

Edited by stuart bowes, 20 September 2022 - 10:58 AM.

[stuart bowes]

Cleaned up and rust-cured the A panel lip, Etch primed and painted with underseal / waxoyl like I did the other side (on the inner side of the lip as well)

 

 

Fettled and fitted A panel, grinding to be sorted another time (lined up flush by feeling the back side of the panel, not the outside flange which may have caused misalignment.  also closely checked the curve of the wheel arch)

 

 

that mess in the middle is where guy at the factory decided to put the label on the outside, which seems a bit daft if you ask me but hey.  Obviously you get it off either way, but any potential scrape marks would be better on the inside surely

 

And just to use up the last of the current gas bottle, I welded a piece in to fill the aerial hole as well because that's never getting used again

 

 

 

Final more accurate filling and smoothing to be done at the bodywork phase much later on, obviously

Edited by stuart bowes, 22 September 2022 - 08:54 AM.

[stuart bowes]

Phase 2 - arse end up

 

• Fold over the edge on that A panel


• Finish removing rear quarter on this side


• Cut out and replace grotty parts of boot floor carefully in phases so as not to lose bolt positions (probably going to need to relocate those axle stands to under the subframe thinking about it..)


• Remove subframe and refurb it as a little separate side project when it's cold and wet out


• Straighten up the back panel near side of boot, where the dent is


• De-seam bumper edge


• Fit new rear quarters both sides and finish the welding on the sills


• start cleaning up and repairing underside where necessary (looks ok for the most part to be honest)

That'll do for for a to-do list for now!

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 May 2023 - 06:33 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Got it up on the big boy stands

 

 

1st target for the grinder:

 

 

Cut a hole around the bracket and removed bracket (took ages of careful grinding and air saw-ing)

 

 

Prepped and rust cured, then prepped the new bracket and tacked in place.  Am using 4mm of washers underneath as a rough idea of spacing for boot floor and reinforcing plates.  the idea being that now the holes are in the right place I can take off the subframe and cut / replace boot floor as necessary.  I'll repair that small section of arch later on (and yes I will use new bolts)

 

 

Unfortunately when it came to the other side, some wheel arch needed removing due to excessive grot.  so that needs fabricating now, probably with the rear quarter at least clamped into place, before I can go any further on that.  I cut out the bear minimum to reduce the amount of fabricating of curved parts, the lip, and the fold over onto the side wall.  so one small square in the centre was all that was needed but below that, it was just totally gone, not much I could do except cut it off

 

 

Fortunately that being the side behind the tank, it doesn't have to be visually perfect curve-wise, just structurally sound and fitting with the other panels of course

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 September 2022 - 06:23 PM.

[colinf1]

Quite tricky to get the curves right in this area as you have the main arch, which is also curved on the narrow side, then the fold of the lip that gets deeper in the middle section. Can be done with hammer and dolly, then welding slowly and forming the right shape as you go along.

I'm just thankful that seam sealer, stone chip and the fuel tank will hide most of mine too.

[stuart bowes]

Not to mention the curve into the outside lip gets less pronounced from top to bottom.. fortunately I think the bit I've cut out is pretty much spot on for me to just use the joggler on the edge and that will be pretty much it. The arch 'top' section I'll probably just do flat I'm not worried about that, so there's only the curve around the perimeter of the wheel to worry about, that'll be fine for me I think. Then the inner face is just a triangle with a gentle curve to it, that's fairly straight forward.

Gonna have a stab at it tomorrow, worst case I'll just cut it off again lol

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 September 2022 - 08:13 PM.