So some significant progress over the weekend after 12 hours of further welding, grinding and prep work. Whole of the O/S inner wing and chassis rail is now in a POR15 base coat, it makes such a difference to the appearance and it's really lifted my spirits over the project. I've also modified by strut... Continue Reading →
I organised a group buy with IM Axle to get the rear beam refurbished. Here it is having just come back with the 23mm torsion bars and polybushes fitted. I also mounted up the AST adjustable rear shocks for the photos.
Over the last week I managed to sneak in a few hours on the car and transformed cardboard templates into sheet steel and then formed it to the correct shape, drilled it and prepped it. With all the bends and unique qualities of this patch and probably because I tackled such a big section all... Continue Reading →
Did some more tidying up of welds and then cracked on with something I've been meaning to do for a while, reinforce the wishbone mounting points. I had been lucky enough to be given a piece of 3mm angle iron which I've chopped and modified into reinforcement brackets. These took ages, but just need to... Continue Reading →
Fairly busy week and haven't made much progress. I did get some work done though - fitted a replacement section to the wishbone mount support. I'd had to chop this off to fit the repair panel on the chassis rail. Then rather than start on the inner wing repairs I decided that I would repair... Continue Reading →
Finally managed to track down a Vauxhall Corsa electronic power assisted steering rack for the car. This EPAS is a 'c-type' and I'll be following the example set by James Ball aka Kiwi in getting it setup and installed. The use of the Corsa units has been popularised by the Mk1&2 Escort rally community and... Continue Reading →
After a little more prep work yesterday, the chassis rail top is now welded in place. Took my time carefully clamping it all in place and getting good contact for the plug welds and as a result I'm very happy with how it's turned out. Needed to get the dolly hammers out for one or... Continue Reading →
I'd been thinking that I didn't really want to swiss cheese the repair plate to be able to use clecos to hold it together whilst plug welding so here is the solution. Create some cleco washer plates, then drill the plug weld holes and the clecos can then still be used. Did a bit more... Continue Reading →
Managed another couple of hours tonight. Time was mostly spent getting things lined up with the clecos and fitting together. Need to spend some more time on making things fit properly then it'll be time to drill for plug welds and start putting it all back together.
After some use I have to say that the Tungsten Carbide die cutters are amazing. Even just used in the Dremel I'm not sure how I'd missed out on them this far but they have transformed my metal working. They're also going to save me a fortune in Dremel attachments. Jed was right with his... Continue Reading →
Needed a few bits and pieces to crack on with the car. First up some tungsten carbide die grinder bits to grind down welds in trickier to reach areas. Also picked up some Clecos. These are a product derived from the aerospace industry where they are used to hold sheet metal skins on wings prior... Continue Reading →
Following on from yesterday, I made the patch panel for the upper part of the bulkhead seam repair panel. Then prepared both faces of the joint with zinc etch primer. Once it was dry, marked the sections for the spotwelds and ground off the primer in the appropriate areas: Cleaned up the surrounding metal work... Continue Reading →
Rallye Project 