Practically Classics Forum

I have to say that by a mile the best thing in our workshop is the chassis tilter - it becomes childsplay when you need to alter the angle or get to the underside of what you are doing - I would highly recommend it should you be undertaking a restoration of this scale

The Javelin shell has over 80 captive 1/4 BSF nuts which are utilised to retain the main floor & boot floor panels (ply sheet) plus the front & back wings - several studs / nuts had to be cut off due to being seized along with the fact that the metal cage that retains the nuts rust out - after much internet trawling - a supplier was located - but at 50 pence each for a bit of bent metal - well at least I only have about 20 to replace and not all 80

Last job on the A post was the area of rot at the top of the post that carries one of 3 side mountings for the front wing The bracket was removed and the area cut back to sound metal which in turn was made good with new metal - cleaned up and the bracket reattached

Centre outrigger was next on the list which is also the jacking point for the factory supplied jack The jacking tube had been overplated which in turn had just rusted from the inside out whilst the majority of the outrigger was solid - the plan was to replace all of it with a club spares supplied new one The exhaust pipe travels through the hole in the outrigger but before I removed the old one both of the B posts were braced with some 50 x 25 box section

The outrigger which is welded to the chassis rail also picks up the sill at the centre of the car whilst also supporting the B post Once removed it revealed the rusted out area of the sill to the underside of the B post - only one course of action then First I put some heat over the area to remove the lead that had been leveled over the recessed welds to the B post then the area was cut out & removed from under the B post

A new section was fabricated up and tacked in Alignment of the B post was checked before final welding commenced The door hinge from which both doors hang was also trialed for fit at the same time

The outrigger was checked for fit but remains to be welded in The jack was also checked to ensure that it does not foul the sill edge

Couple of tricks I use to make the process easy - they are just simple timesavers - for template profiles I use a short length of welding wire and just bend it shape with a pair of pliers To prevent burn through when welding between repairs / panels - especially if you have a small gap - use a peice of copper plate on the underside of the weld - this in turn prevents the burn through and the weld will not attach to the copper plate - it also results a flush weld on the underside and minimum dressing of the join Apologies for stating the obvious to those who are already aware of the above - but if it helps just one of you out - then it's been worth posting

Grumpy Northener wrote:Couple of tricks I use to make the process easy - they are just simple timesavers

. . . if it helps just one of you out - then it's been worth posting

Good ideas there which have helped me so thanks for that

Mike

The B post retains the hinge hanger for both of the doors - the lower hanger had been messed about with and we just happened to have a new one in the botom of a box of hinge spares - they are alloy so they tend to desolve a little being encased in a steel B post - first I had to dress the apperture for the hanger where the sill / B post repair had been undertaken The club spares department had located a source of the correct screws for the hanger The post hanger and the door hanger then have a small bush placed between them which completes the hinge setup once the pin is located