Body Off.....at last
Discussion
After spending 4 months recovering from a broken ankle I finally gathered all my mates around to lift the body off the S3.
Can't tell you how exciting it is to finally start repairs rather than just taking things apart.
Got a specialist coming round in a week or two to quote for the obligatory welding of the outriggers. Will also get a quote for shotblasting and rebushing etc. Not sure what I'll end up doing yet, depends on the quotes.
A couple of questions if I may.
1. Anybody got some advice on the best way to clean all the oil and gunk off the chassis. Thought about steam cleaning but am a bit worried about old oil flowing all over the garage floor.
2. I want to remove the petrol tank but am wondering what is the best way to clean the inside of it. It is still full of petrol fumes and probably quite dangerous. Need to somehow wash all the petrol residue out.
Any advice gratefully received.
Ralph
Can't tell you how exciting it is to finally start repairs rather than just taking things apart.
Got a specialist coming round in a week or two to quote for the obligatory welding of the outriggers. Will also get a quote for shotblasting and rebushing etc. Not sure what I'll end up doing yet, depends on the quotes.
A couple of questions if I may.
1. Anybody got some advice on the best way to clean all the oil and gunk off the chassis. Thought about steam cleaning but am a bit worried about old oil flowing all over the garage floor.
2. I want to remove the petrol tank but am wondering what is the best way to clean the inside of it. It is still full of petrol fumes and probably quite dangerous. Need to somehow wash all the petrol residue out.
Any advice gratefully received.
Ralph
Lifting the body off is surprisingly easy. Took me about 20 hours undoing all the bolts, disconnecting all the wiring etc. Once everything was disconnected I got 8 friends round to lift it up and rolled the chassis out from underneath. The body is a lot heavier than you might think. Reckon I'll need at least 10 people to put it back gently.
It is SO much easier to work on without the body in the way.
There is a detailed explanation in a previous thread
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=31524&f=11&h=0&hw=body+off
that I used as a guide.
So far so good.
Aiming to have it ready for May 2005.
Ralph
It is SO much easier to work on without the body in the way.
There is a detailed explanation in a previous thread
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=31524&f=11&h=0&hw=body+off
that I used as a guide.
So far so good.
Aiming to have it ready for May 2005.
Ralph
Ralph S3 said:
After spending 4 months recovering from a broken ankle I finally gathered all my mates around to lift the body off the S3.
Can't tell you how exciting it is to finally start repairs rather than just taking things apart.
Got a specialist coming round in a week or two to quote for the obligatory welding of the outriggers. Will also get a quote for shotblasting and rebushing etc. Not sure what I'll end up doing yet, depends on the quotes.
A couple of questions if I may.
1. Anybody got some advice on the best way to clean all the oil and gunk off the chassis. Thought about steam cleaning but am a bit worried about old oil flowing all over the garage floor.
2. I want to remove the petrol tank but am wondering what is the best way to clean the inside of it. It is still full of petrol fumes and probably quite dangerous. Need to somehow wash all the petrol residue out.
Any advice gratefully received.
Ralph
Have the chassis steam cleaned to remove any oily stuff.
I wouldn't bother with blasting, just angle grinder fitted with a stainless brush. This is a better method of stripping off areas where the coating has split but is still firmly held in place IMO.
As for the tank, I removed mine after draining it and left it out side the garage until it had all evaporated. Be aware that when the petrol gauge says 1/4 full I still had nearly 20L of the stuff in the tank. It took nearly 2h to drain it and put it in the other cars.
Z
Ralph S3 said:
1. Anybody got some advice on the best way to clean all the oil and gunk off the chassis. Thought about steam cleaning but am a bit worried about old oil flowing all over the garage floor.
Ralph
Degreaser and a pressure washer work well - but even that won't shift the really tough stuff. Obviously you want to do it outside though.
i had my chassis steam cleaned with the body off ,i actually trailered it to a valeters who did it on their premises.
As regards the fuel tank if you want to throughly clean it , there are products available from www.por15.com (these are available via frosts) who manufacture them ,
I had a minor leak in the tank and had to clean throughly and coat with a special solution (suffice to say it worked,) the hardest part is drying the tank out after rinsing out the cleaning solutions this took me a couple of days on and off with hairdryers and heaters.
oh and welcome to the body off club
>> Edited by spivvy on Thursday 4th November 14:02
As regards the fuel tank if you want to throughly clean it , there are products available from www.por15.com (these are available via frosts) who manufacture them ,
I had a minor leak in the tank and had to clean throughly and coat with a special solution (suffice to say it worked,) the hardest part is drying the tank out after rinsing out the cleaning solutions this took me a couple of days on and off with hairdryers and heaters.
oh and welcome to the body off club
>> Edited by spivvy on Thursday 4th November 14:02
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