Discussion
Many hours pass...
A-pillar repair panels now cut in, inner & outer sill aligned, door on and off about 10 times in a day...
I’ve cut the sill off on the other side to reveal a mess, some reconstruction of the seat support flanges will be needed before the floor can go in.
This side needs a bit more work as the A pillar rust goes above the repair panel and into the area around the hinge mount.
I don’t like to criticise previous repairs, as I sometimes have to compromise my own work, and in previous times the value of the car didn’t warrant the effort, but this A pillar lower is a shocker!
...and what a pain in the arse this area is! What looked like a ‘simple’ surface in cardboard above the repair panel and into the hinge mount was anything but in steel. Got there eventually, but disproportionate to the size of the thing!
The repair panel is too wide so had to be tweaked. Weird as the other side fits!
Now to get the torsion bar areas on both sides finished and to do that I need to dry fit the rear floor for alignment. So Flintstones mode!
I’ve cut the main area out of the way so I can really see what I’m doing and carefully remove each flange to minimise damage to the tunnel and rear heelboard.
The outer seat mount is also attached to the floor and I decided the best way to clean it up and do some local repairs was to remove it completely. I put a couple of self tappers through it for reference then drilled the spotwelds out.
A few minor repairs and it’s ready to go back in:
It’s now temporarily back in its place, I’ll blast and paint it before final assembly (in a few months!)
The seat mount on the other side is in a bad way but at £240 for a replacement I have motivation to fix it...
A-pillar repair panels now cut in, inner & outer sill aligned, door on and off about 10 times in a day...
I’ve cut the sill off on the other side to reveal a mess, some reconstruction of the seat support flanges will be needed before the floor can go in.
This side needs a bit more work as the A pillar rust goes above the repair panel and into the area around the hinge mount.
I don’t like to criticise previous repairs, as I sometimes have to compromise my own work, and in previous times the value of the car didn’t warrant the effort, but this A pillar lower is a shocker!
...and what a pain in the arse this area is! What looked like a ‘simple’ surface in cardboard above the repair panel and into the hinge mount was anything but in steel. Got there eventually, but disproportionate to the size of the thing!
The repair panel is too wide so had to be tweaked. Weird as the other side fits!
Now to get the torsion bar areas on both sides finished and to do that I need to dry fit the rear floor for alignment. So Flintstones mode!
I’ve cut the main area out of the way so I can really see what I’m doing and carefully remove each flange to minimise damage to the tunnel and rear heelboard.
The outer seat mount is also attached to the floor and I decided the best way to clean it up and do some local repairs was to remove it completely. I put a couple of self tappers through it for reference then drilled the spotwelds out.
A few minor repairs and it’s ready to go back in:
It’s now temporarily back in its place, I’ll blast and paint it before final assembly (in a few months!)
The seat mount on the other side is in a bad way but at £240 for a replacement I have motivation to fix it...
Next stage is to get it rolled on its side to save my back and avoid anti gravity welding
I collected ‘lightweight’ (!) frame yesterday from a fellow Porsche DIY man, and started making the mountings a bit shorter as it won’t go in the garage otherwise. If I ever need to flip a 7.5 ton truck I think it might be up for the job
New front mount made tonight, keeping it really close to the slam panel. The rear is going to be similar, just clear enough to fit the lid and no more.
I’ve never tried to lift the shell before, wow it’s light! With stands under the torsion tube I can lift it with one hand at the front and with a bit of straight backed effort lift the back with it mounted to the frame at the front.
This makes me a little happier about hanging it off the bumper mounts and it not bending too much. I’ve added a big spreader plate behind the front bumper mounts to take the strain a bit.
Well, it rolled, no one died, it didn’t fall off
One hand on a metre long bar, gets tight at vertical but this is as far as it needs to go. Really easy.
I collected ‘lightweight’ (!) frame yesterday from a fellow Porsche DIY man, and started making the mountings a bit shorter as it won’t go in the garage otherwise. If I ever need to flip a 7.5 ton truck I think it might be up for the job
New front mount made tonight, keeping it really close to the slam panel. The rear is going to be similar, just clear enough to fit the lid and no more.
I’ve never tried to lift the shell before, wow it’s light! With stands under the torsion tube I can lift it with one hand at the front and with a bit of straight backed effort lift the back with it mounted to the frame at the front.
This makes me a little happier about hanging it off the bumper mounts and it not bending too much. I’ve added a big spreader plate behind the front bumper mounts to take the strain a bit.
Well, it rolled, no one died, it didn’t fall off
One hand on a metre long bar, gets tight at vertical but this is as far as it needs to go. Really easy.
I’ve got too many burn scars and pigeon crap weld to show for previous anti gravity welding hence this time there was only one option to roll it over.
I now have to stand on a box, but it’s amazing the change in visibility for working stuff out.
I’ve made this repair to one of the many flanges that connect to the floor. I’m not entirely certain what shape it’s supposed to be as there was nothing left of the bottom 20mm, but it’s now this shape
The repeated dry builds are gradually closing in but still a long way to go yet.
I now have to stand on a box, but it’s amazing the change in visibility for working stuff out.
I’ve made this repair to one of the many flanges that connect to the floor. I’m not entirely certain what shape it’s supposed to be as there was nothing left of the bottom 20mm, but it’s now this shape
The repeated dry builds are gradually closing in but still a long way to go yet.
Bit more flange action today...
Nearly done this quarter, just need to repeat it all again three times!
I’ve replaced the rearmost flange completely and about 200mm around the S shaped corner about 30mm up into the side wall. Then the inner side of the tunnel right at the back which still needs the welds grinding back.
Nearly done this quarter, just need to repeat it all again three times!
I’ve replaced the rearmost flange completely and about 200mm around the S shaped corner about 30mm up into the side wall. Then the inner side of the tunnel right at the back which still needs the welds grinding back.
Bogsye said:
Superb work. The body spit looks good. I did my Morris Minor resto years ago on one. The MOT guy complimented the welding on the underside. I didn’t admit I had it on its side to do the welding. Definitely a great approach to welding.
Brian
I did a '54 Morris Minor on my parents drive, never again. Floors, front longits the lot. Probably bent as a banana, but being a Morris no one noticed Brian
A little more reconstruction than deconstruction in that I've finally fitted and welded in the repair under the torsion tube yesterday. Good to finally cover up that ugly area again!
Ground back and another dry build and subtle panel shaping to get the sill and kidney bowl to sit nicely together and to the body.
This weekend, nearly one year into the rebuild, it gets to see daylight again. Needed to lift it up a bit as it won’t rotate the other way with the sill and quarter fitted. The engine crane is a great way to do this in a really controlled way.
It’s now back in the garage the other way around and I've found the torsion bar area on the RHS to be in a really bad way. So much so that I'm not going to attempt the repair and leave that one to the professionals on a jig. I'll still get on with all the floor flange repairs and get it ready, just not weld it in.
I’ve now accepted I’m not going to make CLM 2020, maybe it will make an Alps trip 2021 for my 50th. That would be cool
Ground back and another dry build and subtle panel shaping to get the sill and kidney bowl to sit nicely together and to the body.
This weekend, nearly one year into the rebuild, it gets to see daylight again. Needed to lift it up a bit as it won’t rotate the other way with the sill and quarter fitted. The engine crane is a great way to do this in a really controlled way.
It’s now back in the garage the other way around and I've found the torsion bar area on the RHS to be in a really bad way. So much so that I'm not going to attempt the repair and leave that one to the professionals on a jig. I'll still get on with all the floor flange repairs and get it ready, just not weld it in.
I’ve now accepted I’m not going to make CLM 2020, maybe it will make an Alps trip 2021 for my 50th. That would be cool
Edited by gary71 on Wednesday 27th November 09:06
Great progress! Since you've started with all the welding and body work this thread is all above my head as i've never done it myself and never really want to 
although having a '73 BMW i guess at some point ill have no choice!
I still remember the consecutive pictures at your photo spot in wales and i vowed to get a picture there in my 2002 once it was road worthy and reliable. Im getting closer to this point so hope to go down this year!
Keep at it!
although having a '73 BMW i guess at some point ill have no choice!I still remember the consecutive pictures at your photo spot in wales and i vowed to get a picture there in my 2002 once it was road worthy and reliable. Im getting closer to this point so hope to go down this year!
Keep at it!
It will be good to get back to that spot one day, maybe the first drive out!
Hope your BMW made it through the years better than my car. Mine lived outside and has done countless miles in sun, rain and snow. I guess what you see now is the result. I enjoyed every mile and don’t mind a project so a win/win
Hope your BMW made it through the years better than my car. Mine lived outside and has done countless miles in sun, rain and snow. I guess what you see now is the result. I enjoyed every mile and don’t mind a project so a win/win
gary71 said:
A little more reconstruction than deconstruction in that I've finally fitted and welded in the repair under the torsion tube yesterday. Good to finally cover up that ugly area again!
You call it ugly but, as someone who has owned air-cooled pork it's beautiful to see it all stitched back together properly. I'm sure it's been a source of frustration but even just seeing the pics and knowing it's all good, it really is a wonderful thing in one of these cars.gary71 said:
It will be good to get back to that spot one day, maybe the first drive out!
Hope your BMW made it through the years better than my car. Mine lived outside and has done countless miles in sun, rain and snow. I guess what you see now is the result. I enjoyed every mile and don’t mind a project so a win/win
I've managed to remember the location, nice 450 mile round trip, good excuse to stop over in wales and have a blat around!Hope your BMW made it through the years better than my car. Mine lived outside and has done countless miles in sun, rain and snow. I guess what you see now is the result. I enjoyed every mile and don’t mind a project so a win/win
It's been restored twice in its history from what i can tell and the last time was full bare shell all new bmw panels around 2007 and minimal miles/ not really finished since then. I picked it up 2.5 years ago and im just at the engine running in/ teething problem stage now, going off averages i've got 10ish years and itll need all the sort of treatment you are giving the 911
Back in the garage and cut the other side of the floor out. I found the other side of the car under the torsion bar is a disaster, so that will have to wait until in safe hands on a jig.
So to cheer myself up I tried something I can do myself and repaired the seat mount on this side which was also really bad. There is a tide mark inside the sill and everything south of it needs to come out.
I took the mount out complete with some of the floor then extracted it by removing a few spot welds.
The whole lower section needed to be replaced so a bit of flat sheet gained some zigzag folds:
I bashed the top over and tickled it with a grinder, then sliced the top of the old one off and welded it together. Final step was to grind it flat and put it in the blast cabinet to tidy it all up.
Took about 4 hours all in including extracting it from the car so I’m happy with that.
Next step is the floor flanges and some of the inner walls which are worse this side.
All good fun!
So to cheer myself up I tried something I can do myself and repaired the seat mount on this side which was also really bad. There is a tide mark inside the sill and everything south of it needs to come out.
I took the mount out complete with some of the floor then extracted it by removing a few spot welds.
The whole lower section needed to be replaced so a bit of flat sheet gained some zigzag folds:
I bashed the top over and tickled it with a grinder, then sliced the top of the old one off and welded it together. Final step was to grind it flat and put it in the blast cabinet to tidy it all up.
Took about 4 hours all in including extracting it from the car so I’m happy with that.
Next step is the floor flanges and some of the inner walls which are worse this side.
All good fun!
Edited by gary71 on Saturday 8th June 18:08
Cheers for the positive comments.
It’s been slow progress since then. Even less today due to a near disaster.
I was doing some gentle angle grinder based wire brushing and there was a big bang from the front and the shell rotated.
With some horror (as the shell was on its side) I spotted the welding on the rollover frame had failed and the circular section that connects it to the body had slipped revealing the shell being supported by about 2mm of partially sheared tack...
With more adrenaline than I’ve known for a while and not breathing near the shell I managed to get the engine crane in position and ropes on just as it snapped.
It was being held on by the paint:
You can see where the final weld snapped at the 1 o’clock position. The only other evidence is the bit about 10 o’clock.
I’ve set the welder to kill and repaired it, also going back over most of the other critical welds. Not sure it’s 100% penetrated, but it must be more connected than before!
I’ve just about stopped shaking, but I’ve achieved nothing more today!
It’s been slow progress since then. Even less today due to a near disaster.
I was doing some gentle angle grinder based wire brushing and there was a big bang from the front and the shell rotated.
With some horror (as the shell was on its side) I spotted the welding on the rollover frame had failed and the circular section that connects it to the body had slipped revealing the shell being supported by about 2mm of partially sheared tack...
With more adrenaline than I’ve known for a while and not breathing near the shell I managed to get the engine crane in position and ropes on just as it snapped.
It was being held on by the paint:
You can see where the final weld snapped at the 1 o’clock position. The only other evidence is the bit about 10 o’clock.
I’ve set the welder to kill and repaired it, also going back over most of the other critical welds. Not sure it’s 100% penetrated, but it must be more connected than before!
I’ve just about stopped shaking, but I’ve achieved nothing more today!
Close indeed. It could have destroyed the shell as it was still firmly attached at the other end so would have twisted the back end and slammed the shiny new front wing and quarter panel into the floor.
I was knelt inside the shell when it moved so it would have trapped my legs on the roof if it had dropped.
It wrote off my day working on the car as I couldn’t concentrate anymore.
I’ll start again next week!
I was knelt inside the shell when it moved so it would have trapped my legs on the roof if it had dropped.
It wrote off my day working on the car as I couldn’t concentrate anymore.
I’ll start again next week!
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