160 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Nice Spit mate.

 

I might make one copying that design 

[Mini Waco]

Looking forward to following your project.  With your Jig, did you get the Balancing tools they offer?

[Stu.]

Thanks pal. I didn't get the leveller as I thought I could manage without it. In hindsight I think it would have been handy to use as I had to lift the shell onto the jig on my own which was a little tricky, but I managed ok.

[Stu.]

While the roads were dry, I decided to take Molly out for a spin this afternoon.

.

Edited by Stu., 07 December 2014 - 03:55 PM.

[Stu.]

Started working on Felix this afternoon after working out the best position for the jig in the garage. The clearance between the shell and the electric door motor is a bit tight with 20mm gap when rolling over. Bearing in mind I didn't check the jigs critical clearance dimensions I think I've been very lucky !



Started by removing the existing hammerite from the front offside inner arch. I knew there were some patches in there but found quite a few when I got it all stripped back. Even though the repairs seem fairly good, they are plates over the existing arch which I dont like so will need to cut it all out and fit new panels.



I also had to remove filler which was plastered all over the place, presumably to give a smooth finish to the arch. In places it was literally 6mm thick !

This is the bottom corner between the arch and footwell. I recon I'm likely to find a lot more of this.

Edited by Stu., 07 December 2014 - 10:34 PM.

[Stu.]

Did a bit of exploring on the outside of the floor with a scraper tonight. Everywhere I dig I'm finding filler pasted over welds of plated repairs. In places, like the battery box its 5mm thick. I think I'll have to strip the entire car and remove all traces of filler!

Edited by Stu., 15 December 2014 - 08:22 PM.

[Stu.]

Started stripping off the floor which was suprisingly easy. I'ts just had a thin coat of black hammerite which came off very easilly with a sraper.



I keep uncovering patch repairs. Some dont seem too bad actually.

Edited by Stu., 10 December 2014 - 09:29 PM.

[Stu.]

Started work on the boot floor today.
 

 
I started by removing the valance. I was worried I'd cut into the lip of the rear panel but it worked out ok.
 

 
My suspicions that the boot floor was covered in filler were confirmed as I started to hack it all off.
 

 
I can't really understand why the patch repairs have been covered so much in filler because the metal below the filler is ok. If the welds were ground down there would have been no need for it.
 
I think once I've cleaned up the boot floor I'll assess it for possible patch repair, but I'm starting to think I'll be needing to put a full new one in as it's had multiple repairs already and some are fairly poorly done. Replacing the full floor might be easier in the long run.
 

 
I don't know what's been welded in here as a repair, but I can only think it's a section of boot floor from another shell that's been slapped on and badly spot welded in over the existing panel, but it's been really poorly positioned and welded.
 

 
Anyway I'm going to keep stripping off the paint and filler till it's all gone, and then I'll know where I am and can start ordering some new panels.

Edited by Stu., 19 April 2015 - 07:10 PM.

[Ben_O]

I would go for a new complete boot floor. i am putting one in mine, it's so much easier and more through than more patches. providing it is fitted well, sealed and painted correctly then it will last much better and look alot better too.

 

Good progress though! I can't understand why filler was slapped on so thick either. very strange!

 

Ben

[Stu.]

Yesterday I finished digging around the shell to find the extent of corrosion and filler to give me an idea of what panels I'll need.
 
I found more horrors to the rear quarter panels. I knew they had repairs as I can see the welding and patch in the companion bins.
 

 
........... but I wasn't counting on quite this much filler covering the repair on the outside. This is the near side.
 

 
and the offside panel.
 

 
It'll take me too much effort to remove all the filler, and I'll still be left with crappy repairs so I've decided to add new rear quarter panels to the list.
 
Thats all for now. I think I'll start with replacing the boot floor, so I'll clean up all the edges so I can unstitch and remove it, but I want to get the new panel first before I cut anything out so I might potter about with other bits of the shell until I've got it.

Edited by Stu., 19 April 2015 - 07:12 PM.

[ger]

Nice project, more or less what I'll be doing to my GT. I'm looking at getting one of those spits aswell.

[Stu.]

Go for it. A bit pricy but well worth it.

[Stu.]

Waiting for some panels to come from M Machine so thought I'd do a bit on the floor.



Removed the battery cable rail and the brake pipe retainers from the off side to find corrosion and holes to the floor under the rail.



Ground it all down a bit to tidy it up. The holes behind the rail will be a bear to repair. I'll have to work on my metal fabrication to get the proper radius.

Coated the bare metal in zinc primer for now.



Hopefully the new panels will come on Monday so I'll be able to get started proper :)

Edited by Stu., 20 December 2014 - 04:54 PM.

[Ben_O]

I found heavy rust behind all my brake pipe retainers too and the battery cable retainer.

 

Luckily though, the brake pipe retainer only take a few minutes to make up out of some sheet steel and a new battery cable channel is only a few quid.

 

Just a shame that you ended up with holes behind yours

 

Still, could have been worse i guess...

 

Ben

[Stu.]

I had a couple of hours spare today so I tackled the section of the floor behind the battery cable retainer which has holed in a few areas. I had to be careful how much I cut out because It'd be very difficult to put new metal in due to the multiple radiuses. I thought about getting a new tunnel and cutting the required section out, but they are way too much to lay out for what I need so I'll have to compromise a little unfortunately. I think it'll be okay though, its just that the steel will be a little thin where its pitted, but I'll be treating it with Deox-Gel to remove the corrosion and the whole floor will get 2 coats of epoxy mastic, Gravitex and top coats so it should be ok.
 
Area marked out for removal.

 
Cut out

 
Template.

 
New section cut, bent to the radius and tacked in.

 
and welded up.

 
I had some trouble later trying to grind down the welds at the base of the curve. I kept removing metal from the panel as it was difficult to get the flap wheel in just on the welds so it thinned it quite a bit. I'm not completely happy with it but its not to bad and I think it'll last ok once it's got all its paint coverings on.
 
It finished up like this.

 
Thats all for now. I've got about three more sections like this to do on the tunnel side and I think my new panels should hopefully come tomorrow so I'll have a lot to do.

Edited by Stu., 19 April 2015 - 07:13 PM.