Another body off!

Another body off!

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B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Monday 14th July 2014
quotequote all
Thanks Richard,

My father has now recruited one of his neighbours and a friend who "needed a new project" so that should speed progress a bit as the three of them are retired so can crack on while I concentrate on paying for it !!

We decided last night that as I've had to buy 3m of tube we may as well replace both front and rear most outrigger support tubes completely as the NS front one has some significant corrosion pitting and the planned changes to the rear suspension will mean its quicker to replace them than grind all the unwanted brackets and stuff off.

The order for steel is going in today so once we have built a trolley for the mig and it's new somewhat larger gas bottle we will be making a start on repairs before progressing to the suspension mods....

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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After not much going on first task was a bit of welding practice as not migged anything with shield gas for years, so first I cobbled up a welder cart making the mig plus gas a bit easier to move around, not pretty but not bad for an old bread crate trolley, some angle and a lump of conduit I found in a skip...



After attaching the chassis to the jig, a 1.5m piece of 50mm angle was then used to give a reference for the edge of the old outrigger and noticing that the existing one was bent like a banana.... once that was firmly in place time to cut yikes



Another from the rear, note you can see the guides to support the new outrigger at the same height as the one now on the floor.



Must find some earplugs my ears are still ringing...

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Sunday 27th July 2014
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Getting somewhere, more construction less destruction !



This corner is looking a bit better



The only original part is the diagonal, I can understand why most people join the front out rigger mid way, its a really complex shape as 4 tubes join at this point and they are all at different angles. It must have taken over an hour to get this to fit however I'm glad I went this far back as there was evidence of corrosion inside this joint.







Edited by B@man on Sunday 27th July 13:35

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Tuesday 5th August 2014
quotequote all
And so onto the nearside which looked OK (see later)

Reference angle moved to the other side of the jig, and the old parts cut off



When cutting the front tube off it was found to be full of blast media, further inspection once the outriggers where removed found this small hole in the corner of the tube.... replacing both sides was a good plan after all.



Edited by B@man on Tuesday 5th August 12:22

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Thursday 7th August 2014
quotequote all
Nearside now mostly tacked and ready for seam welding.



Offside now has something for the body to sit on, I hope the hole in the corner will allow debris to pass through rather than collect it forming a rust trap.



Those eagle eyed may notice something is missing....

mrzigazaga

18,534 posts

164 months

Thursday 7th August 2014
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B@man said:
Those eagle eyed may notice something is missing....
Errr...The rest of the car...Is it the N/S front cross members to centre chassis?....Ziga

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
biggrin

Whohooooooo !!!



Rest of the body mounting plates tacked in, flipped over the chassis and seam welded the whole lot, also welded up the bastardised gearbox mount and welded a spare bit of plate onto the front cross member as a jacking point.

Oh and I had a look under the body and found a hole in it and a lot of cracking around rear pair of O/S body mounting holes, I'd guess it's damage from it's 2003 "incident" that could't be seen due to the chassis, hmm GRP fumes lovely !

Coilover conversion next...


Edited by B@man on Saturday 9th August 19:53

Wedg1e

26,760 posts

264 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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B@man said:


Those eagle eyed may notice something is missing....
Mounting brackets for the A-frame tie-rod...? whistle

Or the mounting plate for the fuel pump?

Looking good, are you sure about the coilover conversion though, most people who've had it done seem to report problems. Of course with the access you have there, you can reinforce the hell out of it.
Any plans to add gussets as on Henry's car?

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Sunday 10th August 2014
quotequote all
Morning Ian,

As I'd considered Track v Roads coilover conversion but put off by the price we thought having this much access to the chassis would give us the opportunity to do a proper job on the mountings rather than a compromised modification based on what you can get at with the body on.

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Friday 29th August 2014
quotequote all
OK onto the coilover conversion.... Please note that none of this is tested so if you decide to go down the same route it's at your own risk ! This is also the second side we did, first side took all day to figure out but making a copy on the other side was much quicker. The box section is welded over the top of the chassis to act as a jig.

First off the suspension tower in at's cortinaesque glory


5 minutes with the angry grinder later


Out with the CAD "Cardboard aided Design" templates where made up to fit around the top suspension tube and also extend down the suspension tower to spread the loading.


Cardboard template transferred to steel using our bracket machine (AKA Dad) and a bit of fettling to get a good fit.


Same with the rear bracket fitted.


The jig was then removed


It's only tack welded at the moment as I need to flip the chassis to get better access, once it's all seam welded the top will be reinforced back to the chassis before it's all tidied up.

GV

2,366 posts

223 months

Friday 29th August 2014
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Went the same route as you with similar design upper mounts. To give you peace of mind it all works although i used thicker grade steel for extra reassurance. Great job though well done...

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Friday 29th August 2014
quotequote all
Thanks and good news...

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Saturday 20th September 2014
quotequote all
Having spent a considerable length of time trying to figure out how on earth we could put a hole through the pressed lower spring pans to take the lower coilover bolt and coming up with not much as the thing won't even sit on the bench square never mind give a repeatable surface to measure anything from. I eventually realised that as long as the coilover mount is parallel to the inner wishbone bush centre it's fine so a Jig was needed....

So after a rummage in the scarp pile and some mig / grinder action we have a jig !



Bit of aly to measure the centres



Height from the base of the jig..



Drill 20mm holes..



I've got some 20mm OD bar on order which will be bored 1/2" to take the shock bolt..



Edited by B@man on Saturday 20th September 19:16

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Friday 26th September 2014
quotequote all
Must be getting somewhere, we have some paint, epoxy 121 from rust buster.



Electric PAS pump mount fitted





Bar stock arrived, more CAD to tie the bar into the suspension arm.




B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Monday 29th September 2014
quotequote all
Saturday got the upper coilover mounts seam welded and the top plates welded on.
Then spend rest of the day painting. I'm using rustbuster epoxy mastic 121 which seems to cover well but dries a little rippled, however I'm more bothered about ensuring the chassis is well protected, possibly a bit more thinner and two coats may be a better option.. should have started at the back where it's not seen.


B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Friday 3rd October 2014
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Not a huge amount of progress this week..

Got the lower coil over mount together...


B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Wednesday 8th October 2014
quotequote all
Finished one of the lower wishbones

Top side :


And the strengthening web underneath.




Probably a bit over engineered....


GV

2,366 posts

223 months

Thursday 9th October 2014
quotequote all
Nothing wrong with what you have done on the lower wishbone - like I said the concept works. However, my only concern from looking at the upper mounts from your pics is that the brackets look a bit thin bearing in mind the impact the will need to take. I used 6mm steel plate cut and shaped so they could be welded onto the chassis rail and the rear of the cutaway turret. I have driven over some severe dips at speed at they have remained rock solid - IMO I would put a wider gauge bracket for peace of mind whilst you have great access to do so...

The rest of the chassis looks very nice - given the space I would also a do a body off alas a terraced house offers only parking outside on the drive!

B@man

Original Poster:

1,486 posts

203 months

Thursday 9th October 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the feedback, I have added some extra bracing to the shock mounts to keep the steel in tension and not allow any sideways bending so they shouldn't be going anywhere, but time and potholes will tell...

I actually live in a two bedroom ground floor flat with a single outdoor parking space. It's lucky my dad is an ex petrolhead and built a big garage which comes with heating, lighting, running water, tea & coffee plus father who likes making brackets and painting things, I just turn up once a week and weld it all together !

Can I ask what length shocks you are using, assuming your mounts are similar ?

adam quantrill

11,535 posts

241 months

Thursday 9th October 2014
quotequote all
All good work... on coilovers is it necessary for the spring to be mounted on the shock at both ends? I am thinking if the top end is "as-is" with the spring onto the existing mount and at the bottom have modified wishbones like yours, then installation becomes much simpler, and it's returnable to original, to boot.

Just had a look at the coilover kit I have in the garage, and it would appear that I could indeed take this approach, with shorter than stock springs and a wider adjuster platform on the bottom of the shock. The only difference from a compliance point of view is that the shock top mount bush would form part of the damping "circuit", as it does now.

So I think I'll go this route - mod the bottom as per the lovely pics in this thread, and at the top use the stock mount with original diameter springs.

P.S. Any chance I can borrow your wishbone jig to aid drilling and assembly? Assuming yours goes together OK when you assemble it on the car of course!

Edited by adam quantrill on Thursday 9th October 20:55