Practically Classics Forum

Wow! a Truly heroric weldathon Terry! And if you don't mind me saying so...Just showing off!

TerryG wrote: The rear seat which I was able to remove the seatbelt anchor for by pressing it out with my fingers is where my mother-in-law sat most Sundays for the last year or so!
I have added seatbelt tests to my weekly car checks.
It is truly amazing how it has gone through it's last few MOTs as it can't have got to this stage in less than a year.

Found the same with the drivers side rear belt mounting through the wing tub of my disco. looked fine, and was MOT'd like that twice until I thought "there's a bit of surface corrosion there, I'll just use this drill mounted scotchbrite disc to clean it back and rustproof...."

Ended up welding in a 4"x3" plate to replace some very crunchy metal, and added a lot of seam sealer and underseal, as I didn't want to touch it again.

Funny thing was it got looked over very closely judging by the witness marks of the corrosion tapper when it went in for the MOT a couple of months later.

On the plus side it's a 2 door so at least I didn't have to rebuild a door shut and sill

The 2 door discos are getting rare. I can't think the last time I saw one.

Pics when I get back in from the garage (fixing the rabbit cage AGAIN, damn thing) but in the hour before SWMBO got home I put a new outer edge on the wheel arch and measured up the big hole in the floor to make the first couple of repair sections. I think I will need at least 6 but I will do the big 2 first.
(I am avoiding the inner arch with it's curves until last as if anything is going to get stuffed up it will be that and then I won't feel like doing any more)

Then I have to do it all over again on the other side. At least I know how easy it is to get a rear wing off now.

Work is slowly going on through the evenings with me making up repair panels to weld on at the weekend.
As I have one rear wing off I thought I would clean it up, fix the paint (some small blisters) ready to put it back on once I have welded up all that is behind it.
Unfortunately the rear corner is quite rusty inside, outside it looked OK but inside it is rotten. for a bit of pressed metal, the O/S is £125 and the N/S is £155 both plus VAT and delivery.
Bearing that in mind I have spent about 100 years with a grinder trying to clean it up. Pitted metal is a complete pain in the bum to try and clean!

good luck

Terry . Yours hydraulic ? http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/stuff- ... pets-11070

They are indeed. Something Buick got right designing the engine was to include hydraulic tappets.
I would be tempted if I was doing another engine build, Normally when you buy a cam, you get the tappets with as you should change them together.

I just had to have a read through to see where I was up to.
SWMBO insists that I have higher priorities than the car (mainly painting) so I haven't managed any full days on it but have an extra 2 days off next month hopefully to finish fixing this bit (I won't say finishing the car as I know I will find something else next week)
I have got further along than this but my phone is being a PITA and won't let me copy off any new pictures
Anyway,
This is the NSR corner/light box A bit scruffy on the outside
ruined on the inside So I had to make up a new piece Drill out the old one, clean up the rust and weld it in While cleaning it up for painting, I discovered the car has been resprayed once before I also made up some floor / wheel arch repair sections which are now welded in. There are other bits welding such as 90% of the wheel arch now being solid again that are done. Pics to follow shortly.

Mainly due to the weather and other jobs getting in the way, I have not done as much on the RR as I would have liked. Not pictured here but the wing and light box for the near side are both repaired, painted and ready to go back on. The drivers side still needs work as there was much more corrosion.
Progress with pictures. After earlier deciding I would try just to repair the rust damage leaving the floor in place, there was so much grot the more I trimmed the more I found so I got annoyed and just ripped the whole thing out. Just as well I did as underneath some chassis issues were revealed (both sides are the same so I will only post images of one) To get at this I had to take part of the rear floor out. Just as well I did as this is rotten too (not pictured)
but it allowed me good access to attack and re-create a rather important bit normally hidden. Not the tidiest job in the world but given the silly angles I have had to work at, I don't think it's too bad. it passed the "whack it with a hammer and see if it falls off" test

I haven't got as far as completely repairing the drivers side but the top of the chassis itself is now solid.
I have also started wire brushing and k-rusting the original chassis as you can see in the pictures it is a bit flaky but bashing it with a hammer shows it to be solid.

Parts made / collected:
new boot floor and extension to replace the patchwork of metal that was there
lower rear tailgate seal mount
z sections to replace the corroded lip that the boot floor sits on
rear seatbelt bushes and mountings
all new brake flexi-pipes (the rear ones have unions made entirely of rust)
lots of grommets, P clips and cable clips.

Lots of 1.2, 3 and 5mm steel.

Still to get:
New LPG plumbing and a vertical 720x250 tank (if I can find one) with 2 smaller tanks under the rear quarters.

Next jobs:
Finish an identical repair on the other side of the chassis
brush off, rust treat and paint as much of the chassis as I can while I have good access to the top
weld in new mountings then re-fit the rear and boot floors
repair the drivers side rear wing and light box then re-fit
sort out the joke of an LPG system and re-fit the pipework more securely than a couple of screws and p-clips in to the sills.
All hopefully before winter :S

I've said it before but I feel the need to say it again - your patience and tenacity on this car are beyond belief Terry, good for you for sticking with it and not giving up. It seems everywhere you turn you find more rust, but you just get on with it and deal with it! Keep it up, you're gonna have to run out of rust eventually.....

May I also say your welding and metal fabrication skills are getting to be pretty good these days too!

Cheers bud.