Plasma cutters - easy to go to far

[B'stard Child]

Wednesday



Saturday



100 kgs saved

[B'stard Child]

chormy said:

Need need need one Lol! just think ho much I can lighten the MGB

Yeah - unfortunately the weight has to go back - just a different shell going over it so need to adjust what I have to the required dimensions of the new shell

Just in case anyone thinks I'm just cutting up the car to dispose of it.

[B'stard Child]

Whatty said:

B'stard Child said:

Yeah - unfortunately the weight has to go back - just a different shell going over it so need to adjust what I have to the required dimensions of the new shell

Just in case anyone thinks I'm just cutting up the car to dispose of it.

NASCAR theme for the next body?

I'm having a 'Days Of Thunder' moment with that last picture.
Good job you're taller than Little Tippy Tommie Cruise.

I had a Nascar theme with the last one - you know I'm a Jeff Gordon fan right (I have Nascar PJ's) that last bit might be too much detail

[B'stard Child]

The replacement "body"

[B'stard Child]

Spottedlaurel said:

Good to see some progress with it BC! I was thinking about this project only the other day, I'm sure you'll make good use of that lovely Commodore.

It's been too long in planning (I know) - I do hope it comes together as well in reality as it has in my head!!

[B'stard Child]

A week with the flu sucks especially when you want to make progress

However at last I felt well enough to get back at it

so front end was the target





That's cleaned that up nicely - I have no idea where the inner wings are going to meet so minimum metal removed

[B'stard Child]

robg2 said:

Absolutely barking!

Possibly......

Not sure today's progress is worthy of an update but as I took pictures I'll share

First job remove the mounts for the "removable" rear brace (If I didn't I'd either have to cut a lot of metal out of the parcel shelf to get the shell over or the shell would sit on them and not go all the way - easier to remove now)





Then clean all the old paint, waxoil, makers rust proofing from the inside of the sills both sides and weld up some trim holes for the door step covers which are long gone

Holes be gone



Break out the red oxide



An of course repeat on the other side



I think this is the other side - hard to tell!!



Old passenger seat mounts removed



And the bulkhead edge trimmed and a little more paint to protect



Painting made a change from cutting and grinding - I can remove a strip off the edge with a strip disc just before welding but at least it stops it going f'rusty.

Next jobs (from the plan)

- clean up the welds on the cage
- give it a clean/de-rust and paint it as it's difficult to paint in a lot of places when a shell is on top of it.
- Clean the floor pans and grind back a couple of repair patches
- Finish the rear inner arches and stitch weld the shock turrets

[B'stard Child]

Whatty said:

Evening M. Illegum Enfant...

Will you have this all finished to show me on Wednesday?

Cheers, Whatty

Unfortunately it will not be finished in time for wednesday

But you are welcome to take the piss on the lack of progress on wed night

[B'stard Child]

Well today the other half of the jigsaw arrived home

Liberated from it's storage place (it's been there a long while)

Loaded (quite easy with a power winch but the tyres were struggling to hold much air - picture below shows the side where air was staying in the rubber - other side had splits in the tyre walls that you could put your fingers in)



Gewy providing the tug and trailer (Technically the tug was provided by his lovely wife Gillian as it's her Pathfinder that got borrowed)



So a little distance to cover and the Commodore was home

Gravity provided the input to get it off the trailer but pushing a car with two flat tyres up a drive with a slope was gonna be a bit tough......

So the first thing that needed to be done was - a wheel swap obviously



Cheeky picture with the Monza looking at it's sexy new bodywork



Then bonnet removal as it needs four hands followed by a final push into the garage



Monza wrapped for temporary driveway storage



Then I got stuck into to mucking it out........

[B'stard Child]

Well I don't have a a plan B anymore - sorry for the camera phone picture



No I haven't cut the roof off - just an issue with lighting!

[B'stard Child]

Well a bit more progress tonight (well this week) but I said no pictures till the engine was out so have some pictures

Front screen is out (un broken and with the screen rubber intact) - the rubber has seen better days but they are silly money and normally on a Monza I chose to sacrifice either glass or rubber and never try to save both - double win with the commodore

The rear side windows are also out - more on this later!

It takes up less floor space this way up



If that's on the floor then



So I finished removing the trim from around the rear windows and it came away without damage - not sure if I will use it or not but it gives me options and I'm sure someone else who is more "concors" will find it useful if I don't use it myself

Anyway the three lower screws holding the trim on both sides had to be ground away (On a Monza they are normally completely dissolved) so that was a good sign

This is what was underneath the trim

Driver side



Passenger side



And then I had a close look at the windscreen aperture



Effectively in Monza terminology I have just won the lottery and been asked out for a drink by Nicole Scherzinger and Mrs BC has said sure it's fine go have fun!!!!

[B'stard Child]

Getting there slowly

Day 1 - Tunnel be gone



Then one side of the floor pan because I now had a handy hole where the tunnel used to be to stand in (Health and safety first - I didn't fancy sitting on a floor I wanted to remove)





Salvaged for someone



Then a bit more came out (a bit got left in for tommorrow)





Then an easy bit to finish



Day 2 - Now peeps I left a little bit of floor in yesterday - so that was despatched in lightening speed (who am I kidding it was an utter cow to remove as my cunning plan based on yesterdays fun and games failed at the first hurdle) so as it was the worst floor section I got brutal with it.....

Floor be gone



As I said not the best repair panel but it can be repaired and it got added to a pile that somehow I need to get to Dusseldorf



Oh and if anyone thinks the Commodore could have been saved have a look at this chassis rail





Other side was worse and the rot extends right up into the engine bay rails - yes it probably could but then this thread would read a lot different.

Bit more work at the back end (still more to do)



Tidied up the sills and got rid of the inner sill skin

Then scraped of the matting on the inside of the roof cos it kept getting in my hair and I can now stand up and walk around inside the car so it's easy.

So front



And back



Need to dig out my spot welding drills out next as that back panel has got to come out.

Doesn't seem like much done really...........

[B'stard Child]

robg2 said:

Very impressed with this venture Ian. Keep it going!

Just you, chormey, whatty and me then

OK just for you both the most recent update

So I had a day off the Commodore yesterday - sometimes you have to take a break

back at it - bracing be gone



Followed shortly by an arch



then another



then some other metal (mainly chassis rails)



Yeah better picture needed



Pretty much all of the major cutting is done now just need to clean up the edges pending fitting and fettling
I needed to leave part of the original bulkhead in place because I want to use the Commodore heater box and demist pipework (track cars with no heaters aren’t much fun on a wet track day)

From inside



From outside



Inner wing rails have been removed at the bulkhead joint by drilling out the spot welds (never like that job)

Finished up the back end too





So getting nearer to the end point.....

Right now (well not exactly right now) I'm mainly welding up trim holes and removing glue residue from the roof and that's resisting any chemical I throw at it!!!

[B'stard Child]

iluvmercs said:

B'stard Child said:

OK just for you both the most recent update

There will be one or two lurkers following and enjoying the updates, too

Darren

Yeah I was being a bit cheeky really....

It's tucked away here rather than in the main readers cars section because I'd like to keep it local... That way if it fails my humiliation is also only local...

[B'stard Child]

iluvmercs said:

A local trait, our hopes are never high enough for much expectation and the resultant humiliation

NFN

iluvmercs said:

Keep on cuttin'!

I'm dun cutting..... (for now)

I have discovered (somewhat late to be any help for the astronauts that lost their lives) a replacement for the glue that couldn't keep the tiles stuck to a space shuttle, unfortunately you'll need to go back to Opel in 1972 for find the recipe - this stuff is super sticky and stuck fast - even where there is rust underneath it...........

[B'stard Child]

A club member suggested thinners and as I don't paint anything yet I think I'll get some and see how that handles it!!!

Thinners is for winners......

Had to resort to painting it on, repeatedly and then after it had softened up, using a sharp wallpaper scrapped to lift the majority.

Then apply more thinners and follow up with scotchbrite again soaked in thiners

Hit the surface rust with a zip wheel followed by my last strip disc and I had a surface I could paint. So I did, two coats of primer and it looks so much better.

Painting now because I'm not going to be able to do it when the roll cage is in the way.

High as a kite now.........
Oh and I need to re-paint my garage floor as it appears that thinners is very good at bubbling floor paint...... Needed doing anyway once this project is done.
Poor lighting - crappy phone camera - not my best composition but I know you guys like pictures

[B'stard Child]

I have made some progress (apologies for rubbish mobile pictures)

So it's sort of on



A bit high Sitting on the roll cage where it links the main cage to the turrets



Sitting on the sills - sills on top of sills (not quite what I had in mind)



So I have some arch gap issues



Oh and the body needs to go three inches forwards

But it's progress right

Best bit for me is just before the winter both bits are in the garage and I have a winter to get it sorted

[B'stard Child]

OK a suggestion from another forum I use regarding my up and down requirements (I really can't rely on my three first fitment helpers everytime it needs to go up or down) scissor jacks - great idea I thought - so I bought 4 new ones

Intention was to use two at the back and one or maybe 2 at the front depending on how well it worked out

So I mig'd in a 140mm 40x40 box section in across the back (I needed to consider that the body still needs to move forward 3 inches)



So then I thought I'll jack the back end and see what I need to do with the front



Hmmmm wasn't expecting that - the whole shell was lifting evenly front and rear with just the two rear scissors in use

Oh well carry on and see if it gets a bit tippy as I go higher - then I can almost certainly get away with just adding a bit of support/lifting capability at the front............



Or not...... I guess I've found the centre of effort!!!

So I got one side of the floor pan folded up to allow the body to slide over and dropped it down



Needs to go down another 4 inches but it can't right now

- The parcel shelf is fouling the rear section of the cage

- The scuttle is fouling the front section of the cage

- The "boot floor" is fouling on the "boot floor"

So until I have both sides over the step I'm not cutting yet - space is a bit tight in the other side of the garage so I may well push it out and turn it round so I have better access

[B'stard Child]

So where was I....................

Needs to go down another 4 inches but it can't right now

- The parcel shelf is fouling the rear section of the cage

- The scuttle is fouling the front section of the cage

- The "boot floor" is fouling on the "boot floor"

So until I have both sides over the step I'm not cutting yet - space is a bit tight in the other side of the garage so I may well push it out and turn it round so I have better access

Well I jacked up the back and dragged it across the garage to make some room and got stuck in before I hit my power tool curfew

Other side sill is now over - not all the way down but it's over and that's much better - arch gap has closed



So Boot floor

Solution



Slightly drastic but I looked at my issues for a while and got the tank down and had a measure up - I have a bad memory of a wet track day where I spent a lot of time getting very wet and cold while I fixed an issue with a fuel pump and filter - the commodore boot floor if I left it would be 4 inches lower than the Monza floor level and I had an alloy fuel tank made to hang under the boot floor - a floor 4 inches lower and that's not gonna fit so better plan is build a new boot floor incorporating the tank, pump and filtration - oh and a swirl pot and lift pump wouldn't be a bad thing either.

Oh and once I got the other side down and the shell level I chopped a couple of chunks out of the parcel shelf and that got the arch gap down

So back end down - front end still sitting on the cage where it links to the turrets - I knew what was needed here



Now that's looking better - still a fair few inches to come down yet but it's going in the right direction

[B'stard Child]

perdu said:

As one of your unreported lurkers I have tell you it's looking very promising there

Lurkers is fine - I don't expect a lot of comments here but it's mainly people I know or have met on PH runs or meets and I thought I'd share it here - If I wanted lots of comments (and some I wouldn't like I'm sure I'd have stuck it in members cars and probably only posted a couple of times before I gave it up as a bad idea

perdu said:

I had a similar task set for myself a long time ago on the green Midget you've seen at the Marham track days

Rotted fibreglass back end stuck over rust gave me little choice but to hack it all off and apply the exterior of a second hand scrapper Sprite rather like the great job you are doing here

but no-where near as drastic

Here's mine awaiting the stitch up back in the late eighties, still stuck up nicely now

You are kidding me - that's pretty drastic!!! I'm impressed

perdu said:

Coming along very nicely I'm still going to be lurking, I'm enjoying it immensely

Bill

Well hopefully I can crack along nicely now and you can continue to enjoy the progress - nothing to report for tonight as it was the monthly Norfolk Mountain Rescue Club meeting - more progress tommorrow