Spridget - The Story So Far...

[Luxobarge]

Hi Luxobarge,

Sorry I somehow hadn't noticed your welcome post - getting old...

You still haven't dug your old resto photos out then?

Cheers

Hi mate - good stuff this, keep it coming! Reminds me SO much of my resto, very much the same sort of rot. Nice to see it done properly, good quality of work if I may say so.

I don't have any resto pictures of mine in digital format - but I might be getting some soon, I'll see what they're like and may post some up.

Cheers!

[Mrotwoman]

Get 'em scanned in mate

[Luxobarge]

Get 'em scanned in mate

I would if I had a scanner!

[Spencer]

Slowly working my way forwards:

It is clear that for a period of time the owner of this car didn't open the bonnet as brake fluid has been allowed to leak from the brake master cylinder

Brake fluid being a good paint solvent, there is somewhat accelerated deterioration of the footwell area



Some kind of white paint has been used to attempt to cover the damage up, but it has deeply pock marked the surrounding sheet metal



All a bit of a mess really for the sake of a 50p 'O' ring...

As you can see I have hacked the triangular section away as it was rotten internally, no amount of linishing was getting back to good metal so it has to go...

Cheers

[Aar0sc]

Get 'em scanned in mate

I would if I had a scanner!

Get a scanner. I've got an old one if you want it; we used it about twice before the laptop we used with it died; then the new PC came with a printer/scanner combo for free. I think we might still have the installation CDs too.

Also; what did you use to seal the welds?

[Spencer]

As mentioned previously I plan to use this car as regularly as possible and do some track days / sprints, as such I want to try and tighten the front structure in terms of both handling and longevity, which will basically mean trying to add some discrete strengthening items but overall trying to be sympathetic to the overall appearance of the car

So this is the structure I am using, (the pictures are slightly out of sequence compared to the previous post)

A lateral tube connecting the inner chassis leg to the inner sill (which is hidden in between the toeboard and the footwell and then triangulation from this up to the front crossmember



Where the 'toe board' lateral tube meets the diagonal tube which goes up to the front suspension crossmember



The complete internal triangulation ready to be hidden by the std sheet metal triangulation



I have also closed the sides of the std sheet metal, it helps stiffen the panel which can (in enthusiastic use) crack at the radiused edges, also prevents years of crud collecting inside and rotting from the inside out, just as the original one did. My only reservation is any effect on general cooling to the engine bay - but I guess they will be easy enough to remove if required.



My past experience with reconditioned lever arm dampers wasn't great and its sounds as though not much as changed as to there being unreliable, telescopics are the alternative which necessitates some kind of upper mount either as part of the car or as part of the upper wishbone as are sold commercially, I wanted to mount the damper top in double shear so opted for a body mount.



It attaches to the tubular structure as opposed to just the skin of the sheet metal and should be man enough to take the dampers forces.

And trimming the sheet metal around the mount.



Because I have had to essentially disassemble a complete Heritage inner wheel arch assy I have had to drill out plenty of spot welds, the curved spreader plate didn't fair too well so I had to make another:



Completed, compared to the one I butchered:



Plug welded in place:



Essentially finished from the engine bay view



And from the wheel arch view:



Cheers

[Spencer]

The FLWB inner clevis mounts have come in for attention as well owing to some rust damage but mainly due to them being quite twisted and distorted from previous owner battles to get inner bush bolts removed which were rusted in place.

The old mount:



Having removed the old inner mount it is clear that the chassis leg in this area was quite deeply pock marked and weakened as a result



So whilst it was cut out I added some 'baffles' to connect all of the surfaces of the box section instead of the clevis just being welded / connected to just the top and outer skin of the chassis leg



The new part made from 2mm thick steel mocked up in place:



Part way through being welded in place



And the same done to the RWD mount of the RF Lower wishbone, with a threaded stud in place to use the FWD mount to align the RWD mount





Cheers

[Luxobarge]

Some seriously sexy welding going on there.

What welder do you use? Do you use Argon or Argon/CO2 mix?

(Obviously the quality of the welds is due entirely to your skill, but I'm interested in what kit you use nonetheless! )

[Spencer]

Cheers, thanks for the kind comments

I use BOC 'Argoshield Light'

http://www.boconline.co.uk/products/pro ... _light.asp

0.6mm wire

Cebora 180A 'Auto Star' MIG

But for me the most important bit was learning from proper fabricators who had to bite thier tongue and be patient whilst showing me the ropes.

I'm OK whilst everything is going OK but still have quite a bit to learn to figure whats going on when the pigeons pay a visit or the various other things that make a mess, but in general if that happens I just stop, grind it off and experiment with pieces of similar thickness scrap metal and try and figure it out.

Plus I only photograph the good welds

Cheers

[Spencer]

Got a bit bored doing the front end, so started to strip the rear arch as I will have to cut the lower section (where it meets the sill) to fit the outer sill:



The beading on the top is pretty sound



And the wheel arch lip is solid:





Should hopefully fit the outer sill this weekend

Cheers