Really unproductive weekend. Probably managed 3 hours on the project... Chopped out some more rotten bits. I'm happy I've got to the bottom of the problem areas now, so started making up repair sections. When it's all put back together this section creates a water trap on top of the chassis rail. There was really... Continue Reading →
Chassis Rail Repairs
Little update as work slowly progresses. This is a rather complex shaped gusset that sits within the chassis rail acting as a support. It curves in all three axis. Mine was so rotten it had to come out and I fabricated this replacement out of sheet steel, it just needs finishing off and prepping for... Continue Reading →
Gusset Fabrication
Finally managed to get back to this. Having managed to get my hands on a sheet metal folder, I set about making the reinforcement gusset to sit inside the chassis rail. Starting point was a cardboard template which was transferred onto steel and shaped to give the initial shape. The chassis rail curves in the... Continue Reading →
Progress
Worked out what that row of spot welds were for... ... the internal chassis rail reinforcing gusset was very rotten though so chopped it out... Pretty much all of the roof of the rail which is thinner SWG20 is badly rotten - it actually went to holes as I cleaned it up with a twisted... Continue Reading →
Get Chopping
I bought an 8mm spot weld drill bit through Frost not so long ago, but it's always been fairly poor at removing any of the spot welds on the car I've tried, so in the end I've given up and sourced this Wieländer and Schill 10mm bit... what a difference in terms of cutting power... Continue Reading →
First Repair Panel
Repair panel welded in: Ground down and seam welds added in: Definitely a big learning curve ahead on this welding in repairs business! Next section for repair: The drawn cut lines were a bit freehand! Chopped: I'm not surprised it was rusty there was about 1mm of seam sealer between the panels in places so... Continue Reading →
Cut Out
So last back in 2008 when I first had the car I did some tidying up of the inner wing and essentially buried some pretty ropey metal work in filler. Today it was time to reveal the true extent of the rot! On a positive note the repair job had held up pretty well in... Continue Reading →
I Can See the Light!
Cracked on tonight and starting to find the problems I knew were lurking! I had found some problem rot in the offside wheel arch that I knew would need attention, but tonight I uncovered the extent of the problem. At least I am getting rid of all the black crappy paint that had been coated... Continue Reading →
Update
So the brief intermission has lasted longer than expected as I managed to destroy my Dremel. It stopped working unless you hit it and then the motor started making an electrical burning smell complete with smoke. It was still going round but at erratic speeds and I didn't fancy electocuting myself or having it catch... Continue Reading →


