118 replies to this topic

[rally515]

I love this build one of my favys .
Up there with bean & trig definitely :!:

[Tupers]

I want to sit and watch

Great thread keep em coming!

Well ok but you must promise not to distract me.

I love this build one of my favys .
Up there with bean & trig definitely :!:

Thanks, it's fast becoming one of my favorites as well.

[Tupers]

While removing the last section of seat crossmember we found the exhaust tunnel had corroded quite badly. After treating the area around the rust I squared off the holes and started looking at how to repair them.




Fortunately we had a complete floor we'd cut out of another car so I took a piece of tunnel from it and traced the sections I needed.






A bit of trimming and it was ready to tack in .




Then some grinding and a lick of zinc (still need to clean the rest of the tunnel up with the wheel of terror).




The rust on the inner sills had also crept up the A-pillar so after some cutting I got it back nice and solid.




The heel board closing panels arrived from Mini Spares so I set about checking the fit. The heel board was already set in place so I clamped the closers in and everything lined up as it should.




Knowing this I popped the heel board out and welded the closers on before putting it all back in as one unit.


After some wriggling, a few final measurements and some Clecos the heel board and closing panels are in.




Next job, half floors.

[rally515]

Good to see your going all out to keep as much original metal as possible,top work on the tunnel mate .

[sledgehammer]

Awesome work - Much braver than me

must have been tempting to split the car in two - it's almost there

[steven]

lovely work

[surfblue63]

Good to it progressing well, at this rate you'll be on the road in the summer.

What's the story with the Mk1 Zephyr/Zodiac. By the looks of the pipe it's got something a bit bigger than the standard straight six?

[Tupers]

Good to see your going all out to keep as much original metal as possible,top work on the tunnel mate .

I think with a rare car like this it's important to keep it as true to the original spec as we can. If we do it right there's no reason it shouldn't be around for another 50 years.

Awesome work - Much braver than me

must have been tempting to split the car in two - it's almost there

It is a bit nerve racking having as many panels out of the car as we have but fortunately the bracing kept it nice and firm.

lovely work

Thanks.

Good to it progressing well, at this rate you'll be on the road in the summer.

What's the story with the Mk1 Zephyr/Zodiac. By the looks of the pipe it's got something a bit bigger than the standard straight six?

If we can keep up the pace it shouldn't be long until we're ready to start body work. From them on in everything else is fairly simple so I wouldn't rule out an early finish out.

We've been reassembling the Zephyr for a customer who had it for quite a while but never got it finished. It's still got a straight 6 lump but we had to fabricate an exhaust system for it so the owner asked us to make it sound a little more purposeful.



The first job on Monday morning was to fit the wheel of terror to my grinder and clean off the passengers side of the exhaust tunnel. You've got to cling onto it for dear life but it does a fantastic job of stripping off everything but solid steel.




Then it was time to pop the half floor in after a little fettling around the heel board to make it fit in nice and tight.


From then on in it was just a case making all the plug welds and carefully seam welding the tunnel an inch at a time to avoid any warping.






The new floor is slipped under the exhaust tunnel and will be seam welded on both sides and also plug welded. I will then linish down the weld on the inside so that it and the exhaust tunnel look like on piece.


We also made sure to add plenty of welds to the heel board to floor brackets.


All of that welding took rather a long time but before the end of play I got the other side of the tunnel cleaned off and checked the fit of the second floor panel.

Edited by Tupers, 29 January 2013 - 07:17 PM.

[rally515]

Ha ha "wheel of terror",i created one of those with a 5-6 inch knotted disc (for a bench grinder) on a 4 inch grinder so had to take the guard off (got close to the fingers so i used to wear a red welding glove & when i started to see red fabric flick up i promptly altered my grip ).Only reason i stopped using my creation was because i killed a makita grinder errr that wasnt mine shreaded the gears flat inside it .

[Artful Dodger]

you are mad that's silly! But funny! Ha.

The wire knotted wheels are quality. Very good!

[rally515]

Just to ad to the knotted wheel on a grinder thing,It tore the cogs inside the grinder flat after doing the inside of the floors & half a floor on the outside.
Ohhh & One of are welding gloves now has insulation tape on the index finger .

[rally515]

Sorry tupers for waffleing on on your thread .
Great work on the floors so neat & tidy also.
I agree with surfblue that it should be on the road in no time in your capable hands .

[Chriss]

Looking good so far

[grahama]

Hi,

really, really nice work, and a bloody lot of nice plug welds too, nice one.

Graham

[Artful Dodger]

Yeah thats a lot of plug welds!! Spode you have to do them for toe panel etc. but for the door step etc can you not use a spot welder? So easy! Can put sills on much much faster!