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95 Sprite Rebuild & 16V Conversion


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#61 Ben_O

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Posted 26 March 2015 - 03:11 PM

 

 

Next all I have to do is move the brackets to a fresh piece of steel and get them in the right position, how hard can that possibly be?

 

attachicon.gifMini-133.jpg

 

When i did mine, i fitted the fresh steel and then when i was ready to fit the brackets, i got the heater unit and screwed the front of it to it's mounts under the bottom dash rail. Then i used a block of wood to hold the back of the heater up to the correct height and then hooked the brackets over the threaded bars on the back of the heater, held them in the correct place on the bulkhead and marked them each out with pencil.

 

I did take measurements to start with but when following them, it didn't look right hence the other method.

 

Ben



#62 alchall

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Posted 26 March 2015 - 03:39 PM

 

 

 

Next all I have to do is move the brackets to a fresh piece of steel and get them in the right position, how hard can that possibly be?

 

attachicon.gifMini-133.jpg

 

When i did mine, i fitted the fresh steel and then when i was ready to fit the brackets, i got the heater unit and screwed the front of it to it's mounts under the bottom dash rail. Then i used a block of wood to hold the back of the heater up to the correct height and then hooked the brackets over the threaded bars on the back of the heater, held them in the correct place on the bulkhead and marked them each out with pencil.

 

I did take measurements to start with but when following them, it didn't look right hence the other method.

 

Ben

 

 

Good thinking, thanks for the tip! I think I will do the same, I have measured up but not sure how easy it will be to actually get them into the same place, at least using your method I can get it all to actually line up and look straight.



#63 Ben_O

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Posted 26 March 2015 - 04:19 PM

That's right mate. When i measured mine, i marked the centre line on the toe board, then marked it up onto the bottom of the bulkhead and then drew lines out to the brackets and wrote the measurements above the line to tell me how far each was from the centre line and then how far each was from the bottom edge of the bulkhead and then photographed it.

But when it came to refit them, i followed the measurements and wasn't happy so i used the other method just to be sure.

 

Ben



#64 alchall

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Posted 26 March 2015 - 04:30 PM

Fantastic, thanks for the advice, I'm sold!



#65 alchall

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Posted 06 April 2015 - 10:40 PM

Big update today, spend the best part of 4 days and made some good progress, lower bulkhead repairs complete (just those pesky brackets to re-fit), toe board replaced, off side doorstep and A post replaced, off side A post boxing plate replaced.

 

Oh and my Dad bought me this for my 40th....

 

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KAD Quickshift

 

So I also started refurbing the gear linkage, all cleaned up, some parts de-rusted and primed, just waiting on some paints from Frosts to arrive before I finish it off and re-assemble, here it was as it came out of the car....

 

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Anyway, back to bodywork, previous dodgy repairs cust out and Deox Gel getting to work....

 

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New pieces cut to size and drilled for plug welds at the top where it meets the cross member inside and at the bottom for the toe board....

 

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Welded up

 

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Cleaned up

 

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Toe board out!

 

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New one all clamped up (I went back and forth with the old toe board marking up where it went in order to make sure that I was 100% sure it was back in the same position the old one came out), I did start offering up the front subframe to use as a reference point before removing the old toe board but it quickly became clear that this was a pointless exercise! I also removed all the e-coat from the edge to be welded and gave it a coat of weld through, and the same along the inside of the bulkhead, no pics of this though...

 

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And the welds in place, only a couple of holes blown in this which is nice and although you can't see from any of the photo's I got good penetration in the plug welds so I'm happy it's nice and secure! for some reason I only seem to have taken a picture at this stage from inside :-/

 

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Welds cleaned up and then primed, it's now looking a whole lot neater than it was before hand and the rust is all cut out along with the plates covering it up! You may also spot a couple of bolts holding it to the tunnel, I have done this as a temporary measure to keep it in exactly the position the old one came out without resorting to welding it in place as the floor pan is being replaced anyway so this seemed prudent to me.

 

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Next, doorstep removal, didn't take long to get it out, much fettling required though at either end to make sure I didn't cut out too much so the new one would fit nice and snug, had to do a bit of a repair to the frame inside the B post and it looks like the outer part of the B post on this side is going to need replacing as the rot as well and truly set in along the seam with the rear wing (rear wing to be replaced anyway so no big deal)....

 

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And the new one in, welded up and cleaned up, bit of a tricky and drawn out job but that is more to do with my inexperience in welding than anything, although I am getting better, you'll also notice I've put a bolt in here too to keep the floor in place for the time being.

 

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And finally the A post boxing plate, removed the old one that I left in to do the doorstep repair, I've now got the hang of plug welds and the need to make sure the two pieces are tightly clamped together to avoid blowing holes (seems unavoidable sometimes though), and my seam welds are also getting neater as you might be able to see from the top of the inside of the new A post boxing plate.

 

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All in all not bad progress, a couple more sessions and I'll have this corner done, I have cut out the angle that I welded in along the edge of the upper bulkhead on this side as it turns out the inner wing isn't a straight line (check in on Ben O's build and I can see that he confirms this also to be the case) so I'll be re-creating this edge and I also have a new lower dash tray but I may just replace each end of it as it's only the extremes of the old one that are in a poor state and it looks like it might be easier to do this than try and replace the whole thing (lots of very tricky plug welds to attempt in order to replace it entirely!).

 



#66 Ben_O

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Posted 07 April 2015 - 05:11 AM

Looks like you are about the same point as me :-)

 

although i have just started welding the inner wing on mine.

 

Nice work.

 

Ben



#67 alchall

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Posted 07 April 2015 - 01:27 PM

Cheers, a few days dedicated to it and I've started catching you up, I'll have to make sure I don't overtake you as I'm relying on your experience  :shifty:  :lol:



#68 alchall

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 07:36 PM

Not had time to do any further metal work this weekend but I've made a bit of progress refurbing the gear linkage, I'm waiting on a new reverse light switch to arrive (tested this one and it's a bit temperamental so for a fiver I though I may as well just replace it) and new cotton reel bushes for the bracket. 

 

I also needed to replace the copper sleeve that the gear linkage rod runs in as it was as thin as paper along the bottom; I though was going to be a simple job of a short length of 15mm copper tube hammered into the hole to replace the old one but although it seemed very tight on the way in it does work it's way out so I need to either find a proper part of find some way of bonding it to the housing.

 

Anyway, so far it's gone from this....

 

Mini-142.jpg
Mini-141.jpg

 

To this....

 

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I bought some paints from Frost that I'm using for this and with a view to using elsewhere; the rods are painted with Silver CAD and the housing with Aluma Blast (the latter is a bit frivolous but I was curious to see how it comes out, it's not a bad match for a nice freshly blasted piece of aluminium and went on really nicely). I also got some extreme chassis black (both primer and top coat) which I've painted the bracket in (not shown in the photo) and I'll use for other parts too. I'm impressed with the quality of the paints and how good a finish I can get from a rattle can.



#69 Hendred

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 07:43 PM

Flippin eck that looks amazing mate!



#70 alchall

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 07:49 PM

Thanks, I'm very pleased with it, both my girlfriend and my neighbour asked if it was all new  :D frankly it was fairly straightforward to get it to that state, just some patience in both the de-rusting and painting stages.



#71 Hendred

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 07:53 PM

Must look good in the flesh if they both thought it was new



#72 Ben_O

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Posted 13 April 2015 - 08:58 AM

Not had time to do any further metal work this weekend but I've made a bit of progress refurbing the gear linkage, I'm waiting on a new reverse light switch to arrive (tested this one and it's a bit temperamental so for a fiver I though I may as well just replace it) and new cotton reel bushes for the bracket. 

 

I also needed to replace the copper sleeve that the gear linkage rod runs in as it was as thin as paper along the bottom; I though was going to be a simple job of a short length of 15mm copper tube hammered into the hole to replace the old one but although it seemed very tight on the way in it does work it's way out so I need to either find a proper part of find some way of bonding it to the housing.

 

Anyway, so far it's gone from this....

 

 
 

 

To this....

 

attachicon.gifmini-160.jpg

 

I bought some paints from Frost that I'm using for this and with a view to using elsewhere; the rods are painted with Silver CAD and the housing with Aluma Blast (the latter is a bit frivolous but I was curious to see how it comes out, it's not a bad match for a nice freshly blasted piece of aluminium and went on really nicely). I also got some extreme chassis black (both primer and top coat) which I've painted the bracket in (not shown in the photo) and I'll use for other parts too. I'm impressed with the quality of the paints and how good a finish I can get from a rattle can.

I don't want to P on your bonfire mate but did you get a really through key on the alloy and use a decent etch primer?

 

Only i painted mine by cleaning it right up, priming it and then spraying it silver and as soon as it got wet, the paint started wrinkling and then eventually peeled off in sheets.

 

I pray it doesn't happen with yours because it looks lovely!

 

Ben 



#73 alchall

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Posted 13 April 2015 - 09:55 AM

I don't want to P on your bonfire mate but did you get a really through key on the alloy and use a decent etch primer?

 

Only i painted mine by cleaning it right up, priming it and then spraying it silver and as soon as it got wet, the paint started wrinkling and then eventually peeled off in sheets.

 

I pray it doesn't happen with yours because it looks lovely!

 

Ben 

 

 

Lets hope it holds up, I followed the instructions and keyed it but no primer, if it comes off it comes off and I'll start again with etch primer, like you say lets hope it doesn't have to come to that because it does look good!

 

Interestingly the silver CAD paint does say to etch prime so it's got electrox, two coats of etch and a few coats of top coat so that really should hold up!



#74 alchall

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Posted 19 April 2015 - 10:21 PM

A small and picture free update this week....

 

Not had a great deal of time as work has taken over my life a bit for the time being, I've received my new reverse light switch which fits nicely and have worked out what type of bearing I need rather than just a short length of copper pipe for the gear linkage so I've ordered one which hopefully is correct if my measurements are up to scratch - Wrapped Steel Plain Bearing Bush 1/2x19/32x1/2 inch - is the chappy I have ordered, for the grand sum of £2.63 plus VAT and free delivery from simplybearings.

 

I've also prepped the near side door step and A post boxing plate for welding (slightly premature given I've not even hacked out the old doorstep but it was something I could do in the time I have had available.

 

And finally I decided I really should remove the bonnet hinge brackets so that I have absolutely no rust on the bulkhead, good job I did, near side was quite bad underneath although the off side was not too bad at all, anywho the bulkhead and the brackets are all cleaned up and busy de-rusting as we speak.

 

OK that wasn't quite finally; it was supposed to be but as I found the brackets to be extremely easy to remove (despite my previous reservations that led me to leave them be in the first place) I decided to  whip off the "clips" that retain the loom to the bulkhead, there was a little rust under each which was very easily dealt with and is now clean and has been coated with Electrox. I am not too concerned with originality so have not yet decided if I replace them as they were or go with something more modern and sturdy.

 

That's all folks, hoping to get the near side door step and A post boxing plate done in the next couple of weeks.....


Edited by alchall, 19 April 2015 - 10:23 PM.


#75 Hendred

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Posted 20 April 2015 - 06:37 AM

It sounds like you were still busy enough even with limited time.






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