Sam, I thought you said this was a really good body ? 🤣🤣🤣
It is / was 😬🙈
In fairness I was expecting a lot worse but was pleasantly surprised. Chris may well disagree of course having been on the receiving end!
That said the shell treatment exposed a lot of things that were otherwise hidden so while it came up great in some areas there were the odd bits of hidden rot we wouldn't have found otherwise.
I trust the rubber bumper ride height will also be consigned to the bin courtesy of the suspension upgrades?
Oh yes, it should be markedly different. Not only is the R/B ride height getting binned but there are a few other amends up my sleeve too that should make this 'sit' a bit better - without giving too much away there is an arch roller in the armoury in case it's needed, but I will only know when I get to that point.
As Chris mentioned there are a few things that are ready to go asides making the modifications to the shell when test fitting / strengthening to compensate. To save Chris' time I'm going to do those as part of the dry build stage as will also have to route fuel lines, different fuel tank arrangement, fuel injection pressure tank, exhaust routing set up etc.
Post by grumpynorthener on Jun 8, 2021 21:26:15 GMT
Sorting the gapping out on the offside door - I'm forming a bridge with a piece of 3mm round bar
Once fully welded then dressed back
Then the rear edge
Upper section was formed in the same way has the front
Lower section was tighter so I did this freehand with weld bead
Then dressed back
Removed the door to allow access to complete the rear of the front section
Refitted and little work to achieve a flusher fit with the rear wing
Likewise with the front
Much better
Final detail will be attended to when I undertake the profiling
Sid was happy to sign it off too
Fitted the tailgate
Just some minor reshaping required in the to corners
Soon sorted
The only panel that's fitted with minimal work so far
Sam these 2 holes in the rear panel that I've highlighted don't appear to be factory 'do they stay or do they go' (The Clash 1982 - but that was 'Should I stay or should I go')
Sam these 2 holes in the rear panel that I've highlighted don't appear to be factory 'do they stay or do they go' (The Clash 1982 - but that was 'Should I stay or should I go')
They can definitely go - looks like someone had some fun attaching the number plate plinth.
It may be that the others either side aren't needed either as I'm intending to change the rear number plate lighting arrangement (moving onto the bumper and so potentially lose the overriders too) but will test fit those bits in time.
Post by grumpynorthener on Jun 10, 2021 7:50:49 GMT
Refitted the nearside door
Purpose being to achieve the best possible fit of the door frame (not particularly the door skin as this is being replaced)
The gapping's to the door skin are all over the place but at this stage I'm not overly concerned
Main aim is get the door opening & closing with the best possible latching / locking to the B post striker plate without the door fouling / jarring on the inner aperture - some doors can hold a very tight tolerance fit against the apertures and its important to allow for profiles / paint density etc - However, in this case with it being a model from the British Leyland range of vehicles - the tolerances are if anything over large and you can drive a bus between the aperture gaps
The other critical factor is that the door frame carries the horizontal swage alignment between the front & rear wings
With that completed I drilled 4 hinge location reference holes though the door frame back to the hinges - therefore making the rehanging & alignment of the door unmistakable
Original door skin removed and the new door frame bottom panel being patterned against the old one
Original frame bottom removed and the new section tacked in place utilising the offset measurements that I drew up before removing the original
Then the new door skin could be trial fitted
You cant really go wrong with a door skin that has a stepped swage profile providing that the skin is kept tight up against the stepped profile of the frame which acts as the datum
All ready for the completion of the welding to the door frame bottom followed by the fitting of the door skin - more later
Almost want the doors on the 304 to have a big gap (assuming they even fit in the aperture) so I can hav.e a play at welding 3mm round bar. Hope not though
Post by grumpynorthener on Jun 11, 2021 21:16:41 GMT
Sorted the gapping at the front top corner of the door skin first
This I did freehand with weld bead as the gapping was not far enough out to justify the round bar bridging trick
Sorted the horizontal gapping with the sill with the door removed & dressed the front top corner in at the same time
Now I can close the the bottom of the rear wing to sill off with the repair panel
Along with the bottom section of the B post that had been removed & set aside in order to allow access to fit the sill panels
Fully welded - welding repairs also underway on the B post to rectify the striker plate captive nut plates
Dressed back and the radius of the door edge attended to at the same time in order to achieve the desired gapping
Then progressed the vertical gapping
Then the upper gapping
Welding to the B post was completed then dressed back - when the car returns from its dry build I will undertake the profile areas initially by lead loading prior to skimming with a high grade polyester
And right on cue Sid called in to sign everything off
That leaves me with a few minor areas to sort - works below the rear lamps and a few aperture holes on the rear panel to blank out
Bonnet to refit and a few repairs to undertake to it and I'd like to trial fit the quarter glass frames & door glasses and ensure that they don't foul the A & B posts but essentially the structural & panel works phase is but a few days away from completion
Post by toomanyprojects on Jun 12, 2021 8:29:03 GMT
Superb. Still amazes me how far out those panels are/were.
Chris, you may have mentioned elsewhere but when you apply the bar do you pre-shape it or tack and form as you go? Have a feeling I'm going to need to do something similar for the celica doors.
Before then though I think I'd best start having a shift about here! 😄
Superb. Still amazes me how far out those panels are/were.
Chris, you may have mentioned elsewhere but when you apply the bar do you pre-shape it or tack and form as you go? Have a feeling I'm going to need to do something similar for the celica doors.
Before then though I think I'd best start having a shift about here! 😄
Tack & form as you go - then weld up the gaps - dress the face edge back and from there you can measure & mark the the width of the aperture to dress back
Post by toomanyprojects on Jun 14, 2021 22:19:33 GMT
While Chris is finishing the last few metalwork jobs I've been sorting a few things in the workshop in prep for lifting the engine onto the stand.
What do the collective think, are the arms suitably load spreading for the stand? I always worry about the bottom right around the starter mounting bracket but suspect it's more than up to the job
While Chris is finishing the last few metalwork jobs I've been sorting a few things in the workshop in prep for lifting the engine onto the stand.
What do the collective think, are the arms suitably load spreading for the stand? I always worry about the bottom right around the starter mounting bracket but suspect it's more than up to the job
Don't know about the mounting but it certainly looks very engine bay worthy
That engine looks very nice indeed!. I made my own engine stand and it was a work in progress for quite some time. It started a bit like yours but i believe my plate was thinner and the arms were made of 6mm thick kind of strip. It depends if you work on the engine while it is on the stand. yours looks pretty finished but i used the engine stand to rebuild the V8 so besides the weight, torquing bolts also can cause an extra load. I managed to bend the arms a bit and the big square plate so in the end i made the arm U shaped and welded a strip on the outside of the square plate. The pic underneath shows what i mean. Now its solid as a rock a a bit overengineerd but that is a bit my nature, i quess
I also made a tray underneath which catches oil and cooland fluent during dismantling and can be used to put parts and tools on during assembly and its still foldable. In the end i got it powdercoated
Keep up the good work you both! That will be a nice and fast car once finished! Peter
