My '72 911T

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Discussion

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Saturday 3rd November 2018
quotequote all
I’ve started on a panel for the right hand side, but after three aborted attempts I’m having a rethink!

Meanwhile my young apprentice made the inner screen corner for the other side so we focused on getting that done today.

Really pleased with the piece he made, I cut it into the car and welded it, but he did all the folding, shrinking, stretching and bending.






Paynewright

659 posts

78 months

Saturday 3rd November 2018
quotequote all
Top work!!

There is a company based at Bicester Heritage that runs apprentiships for traditional automotive metal fabrication skills.

Good career choice possibly - quite niche with good income potential!

Ian

Edited by Paynewright on Saturday 3rd November 23:19

e30m3Mark

16,205 posts

174 months

Sunday 4th November 2018
quotequote all
Paynewright said:
Top work!!

There is a company based at Bicester Heritage that runs apprentiships for traditional automotive metal fabrication skills.

Good career choice possibly - quite niche with good income potential!

Ian

Edited by Paynewright on Saturday 3rd November 23:19
+1 I imagine talented metal workers are going to be hard to find in the future.

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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This screen area is taking forever, but I can at least now see the moment approaching when I can weld the bulkhead and shelf in.

After about four aborted attempts at a repair section I finally welded something into the RHS.

This was not a fun piece and took at least as long to clean up as weld in!



Then the other side in 1/4 of the time!
It looked OK but it was just hiding under a load of (original looking) lead having rusted from the other side.






e30m3Mark

16,205 posts

174 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
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Will you be using lead loading in your resto' or go with modern alternatives?

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Saturday 10th November 2018
quotequote all
Lead is the plan for this area and a few others where it was done originally to seal complex joints, as it won’t crack with movement, but obviously normal filler will finish things off.

Another skill to learn, but one of the guys at work has offered to give me the basic training.

e30m3Mark

16,205 posts

174 months

Sunday 11th November 2018
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Excellent. I watched an old guy locally (do some lead work) and he made it look effortless. I'm sure it's nowhere near as easy but certainly worth the effort I reckon.

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Friday 30th November 2018
quotequote all
Slow progress, not had the time to commit recently. Anyone would think we had a new car to launch or something...
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/ne...

But I’ve finally welded this panel in place. So much prep, more prep, try again, dry build and sub assembly of hinge mounts, sound deadening tabs etc





All epoxy/weld through primed as required, inside the screen rail as well.

Hired a spot welder today, does the job





Mini weldathon later:



Apart from a couple of misfires through the plugs that didn’t penetrate it went ok.

New bottle of gas and no time pressures today make all the difference to the weld quality.

Now to grinding...

Then the floor...

e30m3Mark

16,205 posts

174 months

Saturday 1st December 2018
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Great work as ever. Going to be such a special car once finished.

Justin S

3,642 posts

262 months

Saturday 1st December 2018
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Same as . Really love this thread. Hoping to see lots of progress over xmas when there isnt anything else car wise to do.

Justin S

3,642 posts

262 months

Tuesday 18th December 2018
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Just seen this come up on youtube. may help with references !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IObgBaMF2H4

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
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That’s a remarkably sound shell! If only...

Nothing that exciting happening on mine, I’m just grinding paint and underseal off. Seeing shiny dipped shells is depressing! smile

familyguy1

778 posts

133 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
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have you also seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkFb4uQikHc&li...

hopefully gives you ideas and does not depress you further !

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
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Yes seen that one, he had another easy ride on the rust! 😁

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Thursday 20th December 2018
quotequote all
So many hours with a angle grinder my hands are tingling...

Kidney bowls have seen better days, looks like they have been patched at some point.



Inner wing is pretty good (other than the massive hole at the bottom!) Small repair needed above the filler hole, but nothing as bad as some cars I’ve seen.

The A pillar has a welded in patch that’s under original underseal and green paint. Not sure what’s going on there, maybe a previous dealer rust repair in the days when it was still valuable!

Floors are as bad as expected. All coming out!


gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Saturday 22nd December 2018
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Done a few little jobs over the last couple of days, grabbing time when the Xmas guilt levels are stable!

First job was to repair the inner wing, not exactly invisible mending.



Then I cut the bottom off the wing support panel as I didn’t want to remove the whole thing but need to fix the bottom of the A post. New flanges needed both sides. So this is ready to go back on at some distant point in the future!



I noticed then inner wing around the battery box looked pushed in. I guess it’s had a minor bump that hit the back of the box.

Two taps with my larger persuader and it was straight again.


gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Sunday 23rd December 2018
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Last job before Xmas was to replace the other side of the wing support. All looks ok and even fits the new sill.

A surprising amount of this car is galvanised, you can see the patchy finish on the wing support where some of it has gone.

It’s lucky as it’s made from steel no thicker than a biscuit tin!


e46m3Mark

16,205 posts

174 months

Monday 24th December 2018
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Great fab/repair work as ever.

Happy Christmas! smile

BSSBMW

543 posts

114 months

Thursday 27th December 2018
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Fantastic thread! Just read it from start to finish.

gary71

Original Poster:

1,967 posts

180 months

Saturday 29th December 2018
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Back on it after the Xmas break for another grinderthon. Some good news, some not so good. At least the not so good was in areas I already knew of, it’s just more than expected.

I briefly considered changing the whole front slam panel to avoid lots of small fabrication jobs in the corners then checked the panel price,realised it didn’t fix everything anyway and got over it!







Some good news:



The tank support and inner longits are really good around all the seams, not perfect but certainly not needing any significant repair.

I started on the RH corner repair today. Still need to make the little add on triangle that has the fore most wing bolt in it. Total rust trap, but hey keeping it original!