Discussion
After last weekends near disaster it was a bit more constructive today; another big hole, another patch. At least today I can see progress, front end underside is pretty much done
I’ve put three patches into the front compartment floor, the big one you can see here and a couple of little ones. It’s only a single skin so easy enough to fix where it’s gone thin/holed due to water sat inside.
I’ve put three patches into the front compartment floor, the big one you can see here and a couple of little ones. It’s only a single skin so easy enough to fix where it’s gone thin/holed due to water sat inside.
Cheers, it’s not the approach you’d take if doing a concours rebuild, but it’s fine for a driver and with a layer of stone chip either side you’ll never see it.
So after a easy day on the front I decided to stop ignoring the elephant in the room and get back to the rear corner and floor flanges.
First job was to patch a big hole in the heater tube that was above the jacking point tube.
Then I got bored and pulled the heater tube out under the torsion bar so I could see what was going on properly. It was almost rusted completely through so this wasn’t hard!
The further I dig under here the worse it gets. I think it was one good bump away from separating the tube from the inner wing. I’ll be needing that big machined repair section for this.
Time for a bit of flange:
The inner walls of the sill and heal board are coming together. The sill carries on past the heal board so this panel is longer than it looks. I’ve stopped for today now before having to do the 3D shaping of the inner sill, or maybe I just chickened out!
So after a easy day on the front I decided to stop ignoring the elephant in the room and get back to the rear corner and floor flanges.
First job was to patch a big hole in the heater tube that was above the jacking point tube.
Then I got bored and pulled the heater tube out under the torsion bar so I could see what was going on properly. It was almost rusted completely through so this wasn’t hard!
The further I dig under here the worse it gets. I think it was one good bump away from separating the tube from the inner wing. I’ll be needing that big machined repair section for this.
Time for a bit of flange:
The inner walls of the sill and heal board are coming together. The sill carries on past the heal board so this panel is longer than it looks. I’ve stopped for today now before having to do the 3D shaping of the inner sill, or maybe I just chickened out!
Flanges are easy, the 3D bit is tricky...
Started with this former, bandsawed through a bit of thick timber and bashed it for a bit:
And a bit more to get to here:
Time passes and eventually with trimming and a lot more bashing it looks about right:
Still needs detail fettling in which nothing obvious will happen over 4 hours, but it will sit nicer!
Started with this former, bandsawed through a bit of thick timber and bashed it for a bit:
And a bit more to get to here:
Time passes and eventually with trimming and a lot more bashing it looks about right:
Still needs detail fettling in which nothing obvious will happen over 4 hours, but it will sit nicer!
From underneath you can see it’s not quite straight so I’ll have to stretch the flange a bit to open the radius out. Guess the shape changed with all the forming up top.
Fits ok to the floor:
You can see the rest of the carnage here. Next stage is to recreate the outside of the double skin inner to the floor. Difficult to work out what it’s supposed to look like, I made it up on the other side so I’ll just copy whatever I did last time!
Thanks, you can definitely see why press tooling was invented 
Another few hours today and I’ve decided to leave the back (again!) as I’ve a feeling anything more I make down there the expert will (quite correctly) throw away when he jigs the car!
So onto the front floor, half at a time as before.
Step one finish the sill flange:
You can never have too many clamps...
Then grind the new flange back and heat gun the insulation off the edge of the floor so the air saw will work (lovely in this weather!)
A hole!
New vertical flange going in as the original was a bit thin:
Then remove the old floor on the outside and clean up the flange by filling the little divots from the spotweld drill with weld and grinding back:
Next step is the bottom of the front bulkhead that I repaired many, many years back that’s coming out for a better job. It’s solid enough, but I’m not happy leaving it. Then the tunnel floor edge needs to come out, and I know the front 200mm needs a light repair.
Still going forward... I think!
Another few hours today and I’ve decided to leave the back (again!) as I’ve a feeling anything more I make down there the expert will (quite correctly) throw away when he jigs the car!
So onto the front floor, half at a time as before.
Step one finish the sill flange:
You can never have too many clamps...
Then grind the new flange back and heat gun the insulation off the edge of the floor so the air saw will work (lovely in this weather!)
A hole!
New vertical flange going in as the original was a bit thin:
Then remove the old floor on the outside and clean up the flange by filling the little divots from the spotweld drill with weld and grinding back:
Next step is the bottom of the front bulkhead that I repaired many, many years back that’s coming out for a better job. It’s solid enough, but I’m not happy leaving it. Then the tunnel floor edge needs to come out, and I know the front 200mm needs a light repair.
Still going forward... I think!
A month passes with little progress... Another back failure took me out for over a week and work isn’t getting any easier!
But I have moved it on a little, albeit in the same area, quite bored of this bit now...
I ended up cutting out load of the old repair, I wasn’t happy with the shape of the bulge where I’d joined it previously, so that had to go.
That left an annoying gap between old floor and new floor. So today I replaced that along with a large section of the tunnel side and the bulkhead behind the smugglers box.
I think this side is nearly done except for the pedal brace, but that might wait until the floor is in.
Onwards!
But I have moved it on a little, albeit in the same area, quite bored of this bit now...
I ended up cutting out load of the old repair, I wasn’t happy with the shape of the bulge where I’d joined it previously, so that had to go.
That left an annoying gap between old floor and new floor. So today I replaced that along with a large section of the tunnel side and the bulkhead behind the smugglers box.
I think this side is nearly done except for the pedal brace, but that might wait until the floor is in.
Onwards!
Bringing this up date I needed to get the floor accurately positioned and screwed in place:
Step one was to make sure the sides were bang on straight so it doesn’t mess up the sills, so out with some box:
Then establish a centre line with much measuring:
And screw the assembled floor in place to a reference bracket I’ve added across the tunnel to nail the centre line:
Profiled to the floor:
Then remade from scratch the pedal box reinforcement bracket I’d bought from Restoration Design as the studs didn’t line up, it was made of thin metal and was the wrong shape. Other than that it was fine...
I’ve now booked a slot with Barry around Xmas +/- a bit depending on how his current projects go.
Short list of what he’s doing for me:
- Jig as required (!)
- Backdate new OE rear x-mbr
- Fit inner/outer sills, jacking points, floor, rear crossmember, rear quarters, doors, wings (already dry fitted and self tapped together to best fit)
- Full repair around LH torsion tube, heater tube, surrounding metal work.
- Set outer panels and gap, engine lid, bumpers etc
- Lead as required
This gives me some motivation to crack on...
Lower A-Pillar/inner wing is now coming together. Had a issue with where I was planning to cut it in the repair as I noticed the metal was getting thin so extended the repair further around the inner wing first before cleaning up and priming the insides:
Then double check the fit, weld it in and mock up the A post lower itself:
I need to sort the alignment of the bottom flange before I weld the full corner, but that will have to wait until the floor comes off next time for access.
A-Pillar is now finished, time for a dry build!
Then time to take a brave pill before attacking this corner. I’ve already done it once, but don’t like what I did so it’s coming out!
Had some luck with the RH screen corner in that everything under the rusty surface is solid! Still had wax over it. Result.
The repair panel is very close, little tweaks, but no more than that. I’ll weld that in tomorrow after a bit more delicate sanding for a perfect fit. Looking forward to that A surface welding...
Step one was to make sure the sides were bang on straight so it doesn’t mess up the sills, so out with some box:
Then establish a centre line with much measuring:
And screw the assembled floor in place to a reference bracket I’ve added across the tunnel to nail the centre line:
Profiled to the floor:
Then remade from scratch the pedal box reinforcement bracket I’d bought from Restoration Design as the studs didn’t line up, it was made of thin metal and was the wrong shape. Other than that it was fine...
I’ve now booked a slot with Barry around Xmas +/- a bit depending on how his current projects go.
Short list of what he’s doing for me:
- Jig as required (!)
- Backdate new OE rear x-mbr
- Fit inner/outer sills, jacking points, floor, rear crossmember, rear quarters, doors, wings (already dry fitted and self tapped together to best fit)
- Full repair around LH torsion tube, heater tube, surrounding metal work.
- Set outer panels and gap, engine lid, bumpers etc
- Lead as required
This gives me some motivation to crack on...
Lower A-Pillar/inner wing is now coming together. Had a issue with where I was planning to cut it in the repair as I noticed the metal was getting thin so extended the repair further around the inner wing first before cleaning up and priming the insides:
Then double check the fit, weld it in and mock up the A post lower itself:
I need to sort the alignment of the bottom flange before I weld the full corner, but that will have to wait until the floor comes off next time for access.
A-Pillar is now finished, time for a dry build!
Then time to take a brave pill before attacking this corner. I’ve already done it once, but don’t like what I did so it’s coming out!
Had some luck with the RH screen corner in that everything under the rusty surface is solid! Still had wax over it. Result.
The repair panel is very close, little tweaks, but no more than that. I’ll weld that in tomorrow after a bit more delicate sanding for a perfect fit. Looking forward to that A surface welding...
Cheers for the comments guys
I’ve now welded it in and reminded myself how hard butt welding thin flat sheet is.
Not making the weld as such, just keeping it flat is impossible, even going slowly, cooling it between spots etc.
This picture is deceiving!
I put so much work into forming, sanding and getting a perfect fit of this panel it’s annoying when it doesn’t look spot on afterwards! The small section around the pillar came out really well as that’s stiff enough not to distort.
Still, it’s a chance to learn lead loading
You can see it the primer painted picture I remade the twisted 3D inner flange at the end of the dash as it was a bit flaky. That took longer than it should
The observant will also spot the hole that has appeared at the end of the dash. It was a bit pitted so I cleaned it up with the wire brush and put a hole through it... simple enough repair so that won’t take to long to finish.
And I get to do it all again on the other side...
I’ve now welded it in and reminded myself how hard butt welding thin flat sheet is.
Not making the weld as such, just keeping it flat is impossible, even going slowly, cooling it between spots etc.
This picture is deceiving!
I put so much work into forming, sanding and getting a perfect fit of this panel it’s annoying when it doesn’t look spot on afterwards! The small section around the pillar came out really well as that’s stiff enough not to distort.
Still, it’s a chance to learn lead loading
You can see it the primer painted picture I remade the twisted 3D inner flange at the end of the dash as it was a bit flaky. That took longer than it should
The observant will also spot the hole that has appeared at the end of the dash. It was a bit pitted so I cleaned it up with the wire brush and put a hole through it... simple enough repair so that won’t take to long to finish.
And I get to do it all again on the other side...
Bit of an update:
Spoke to Barry and he told me to try harder to get it flat without lead. Consider myself told...
It’s OK on the radii, but too high risk on the flat bit.
So I made this top quality bullseye pick Half an hour well spent, works a treat, you can even pull up a grinding mark.
Still needs filler of course, but so much closer now.
So onto the other side. Luckily despite the little hole in the screen rail nothing seems to have leaked through as the metal underneath was sound and still had paint and wax on it. Made a little bent and stretched section and then made the rest out of weld
Then made a big hole and peeled back a crusty layer or two at the top of inner wing:
Spoke to Barry and he told me to try harder to get it flat without lead. Consider myself told...
It’s OK on the radii, but too high risk on the flat bit.
So I made this top quality bullseye pick
Half an hour well spent, works a treat, you can even pull up a grinding mark. Still needs filler of course, but so much closer now.
So onto the other side. Luckily despite the little hole in the screen rail nothing seems to have leaked through as the metal underneath was sound and still had paint and wax on it. Made a little bent and stretched section and then made the rest out of weld
Then made a big hole and peeled back a crusty layer or two at the top of inner wing:
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