Likewise with both steel & ali but if using the kit it might be worth getting some old struts of the same dimensions from a scrappie as they'll probably still readily lift the bonnet while exerting a fraction of the force at rest
I put new boot struts on Mellie & for the 1st few months it'd fly open like a ninja & you had to hang off it to close it!
Post by toomanyprojects on Jun 28, 2021 16:02:59 GMT
So as Chris mentioned, after another long weekend on the road (see the VW and workshop threads for why), plus a bit of a day in the garden yesterday sorting roofers and felling a couple of trees (namely biting off more than my chainsaw could chew!), it's now back to the desk for a bit of a rest and a catch up with everything else.
Chris many thanks for your efforts, looks like you've had quite the battle. No point fighting something that isn't quite adding up however frustrating that might be so let's revisit with a few alternative options as you suggest.
For interest I did a bit of research and the number of varying levels of fitment around the doors is quite staggering, or perhaps not if you consider the original build quality! One of the best I found was the following:
Interesting that the quarter light frame to a-pillar gap opens the other way on this example
All of which makes me think that there has been some fiddling either in the door or bracketry in a previous life, as we know that has been the case with the quarter light.
With regards to the bonnet, as others have said, I suspect the struts are simply too strong for the lighter ally version, so perhaps an initial test using the original strut may be the first option, otherwise it's plan B...
Speaking of which, after a chat with Chris, and considering our options I ventured into 'the store' to see what I could find - a great justification to the wife why I've hung (or hoarded) several spares for a while , so first the bonnet options; two steel and one 'standard' ally version
So I've pulled out the latter and on first appearances it appears pretty straight and true asides a minor dent you can just see on the side above and below
The proof will be when it's offered up to the body shell however as the overall shape may be off. I'll dig out the standard strut later on so we're not fighting the gas versions either. Incidentally they can be used elsewhere for lifting the rather solid rear floor over the spare wheel so they won't be wasted if not used under the bonnet.
Next it was upstairs and into 'glazing corner' Hmm perhaps the wife has a point...
Anyway I pulled out the spare pair of quarter lights and front windows which on first glance look not to have been fiddled with
I've also got spare rear quarter lights and window regulator mechanisms too, although the final fitted option for the car will be of the electric variety and I'm speaking to a glazing co to see whether they can assist in a couple of options for the door glass.
In other news, I got home to a couple of parcels containing a few of the missing puzzle pieces for the engine
Will go have a play later all being well, next on the list is trying to procure the right dipstick and tube - who knew there were so many variants and of course the ongoing saga of locating a flywheel
Post by grumpynorthener on Jun 28, 2021 20:38:22 GMT
Placed the transit dollies back under the bodyshell
Then bolted them up - this in turn allowed me to dismount the shell from the lift
In turn allowing access for me to weld the floorpan vent / drain covers back on the nearside
And to also dress back a repair that I couldn't previously access with the lift in place
Then the dollies / shell could be lowered to the floor
Talked through the miss fitting bonnet / quarter glass frame / door glass with Sam and formed a plan of action - Sam has a choice of bonnets that we can try to see if we can improve the fit / quality - likewise with the glass / door frame
In the interim I undertook some further research
The nearside door frame is 5mm taller & 5mm wider at the top than the offside (this alone would make quite a difference to the fitting quality if it was identical to the that of the offside - i.e. 5mm less in height / width)
I also undertook quite a lot of measurements of the areas around the windscreen pillars / roofline to the door area etc - some measurements are well within tolerance when comparing the 2 sides
But then again some are simply miles away - a lot of this is purely down to lack of original factory build quality - but there's other factors playing a part too - its sortable with some methodical works - first thing is to compare other parts for sizes - then measure another shell for comparison (which Sam happens to have) before doing anything further - to that end its going to be far easier to undertake this with the shells in one location - this one has to go to Sam for the dry build regardless - Hence 2 B's x 2 blokes plus a measuring / parts comparison session is now on the cards - but first I have to get the shell to Norfolk - more quite soon
Reception area, 'lower' workshop, wow. Chris you need your extension to be like this, or just do a swop. Can you get the new trailer under Sam's workshop and just take it home??.
Reception area, 'lower' workshop, wow. Chris you need your extension to be like this, or just do a swop. Can you get the new trailer under Sam's workshop and just take it home??.
I think he wants to bribe the wife with a place for horses and for us to sell this place 😉
Post by toomanyprojects on Jul 1, 2021 21:56:30 GMT
The day job has been giving me a right royal kicking until now so apologies for radio silence.
It's in no way a reflection of Chris' hard work to date but I've just not had 5 mins to get out and admire his handiwork, been feeling like a frustrated child on Xmas eve ☹
So as Chris has already mentioned, we had a merry dance with the trailer with the scaffold all still in place. Not helped by the damn shingle... perhaps a new driveway is on the cards soon 🤔
After driving in forwards, unhitching the RR, pulling the trailer forward to the photo shown above and realising we didn't have the space to then turn it (these folk with swanky new long trailers eh! - yes I am jealous, looks a superb bit of kit), we decided to instead roll it back, remove RR from the bay, turn trailer into the bay and then re-hitch to RR and reverse it back for unloading...
Which just about got us to where we needed to be...
Except then someone had left a lift in the way once we were in the workshop without enough room to turn the shell to get it down the slope 🙄
As it was undercover we decided at that point to abandon all efforts and have some well-deserved lunch (others perhaps more deserving after a long drive than yours truly).
Late last night after work I got 10 mins to head out and have a bit of a sort, namely getting the lift out the way and the BGT down the slope into the lower workshop
🥳🥳🥳 she's home for the first time and with plenty of room around both shells.
The mercedes could then come back inside and normality sort of be resumed while the garages are still without a roof
Next job is to carefully remove the bonnet and start to get on with the dry build, which means adjusting the shell dollies as at present the front support bar is preventing the front sub frame and engine being fitted
I can then start to position the radiator, exhausts, suspension, fuel tank, steering, fuel pipes, wiring, etc. etc. Plus trial several of the custom elements.
Post by toomanyprojects on Jul 5, 2021 12:36:59 GMT
So let's rewind from the above slightly.
A clear weekend meant some long-awaited playtime on the GT and a much needed distraction from the day job. I woke up feeling pretty wiped and so the starting point of doing something relatively simple was the way forward
So on to the front end as previously mentioned and doing a quick swap of the bonnets with the other 'non-C' bonnet that I had in hand.
Fit looked good so think that'll work if required, the caveat is that I just rested this on to check fitment/shape so good to know there's an option. Will check properly by bolting it up etc. when I've got a bit further with other bits
Onto the main job then, and firstly to remove and relocate the supports so the front end was a little more accessible, also to free up the front subframe bolts holes as they were now needed for a little something else. To quote something that fans of Blue Peter (UK TV show for overseas viewers) will remember - 'Here's one I made earlier'
The pair of boxes to the right in case anyone is wondering are the springs, I've left these off for two reasons mainly - firstly they are a pig to fit without the weight of the car, and secondly, due to the position of the bolts through the subframe, if you fit them and then drop the bolt that locates within the sub-frame, you then need to disassemble everything to retrieve it. Leaving the springs out gives you just enough room to work with.
Of course working on my own I dropped the bolt numerous times while trying to line everything up and lift it with the jack at the same time so was glad I went this route - much muttering was still to be heard!
Still we got there eventually.
Time to test fit the steering rack. I knew this was going to be tricky as I'm fitting a wire wheel subframe to a rubber bumper car, but using a chrome bumper steering rack (keeping up at the back?) Essentially it was never going to fit without some modification somewhere, this is only the start as I'm also going to use an early dash but with a later column... asking for trouble really but where's the fun otherwise.
So as the pic in the previous post above shows - there was contact on the rear of the engine mount meaning the rack didn't actually sit flush on the subframe
A bit of opening up should solve that issue but I decided to save that job for another time as I'll also need to line the columns up and potentially revisit the UJ arrangement to do so as I've a feeling they are different sizes and spline patterns. I did say this was going to be fun didn't I?
Resisting the urge to dig out the wheels to get a first look, I instead spun the car round and fetched out the rear suspension set up as I knew this was going to require a fair few mods to the shell
Armed with the frankly pitiful instructions with the smallest thumbnail images you could imagine it was time to interpret them best as I could. Rubber bumper cars are 'different' it seems, 'Remove gusset flange from front rear spring locating points' said the bit of paper and showed a photo of a junior hacksaw... erm nope
which worked rather well
rinse and repeat on the other side
Where I soon found I was rather glad to be removing the rust/dirt traps as I was showered with ash from the treatment process. Not small bits either.
Small amount of use of the dremel with a carbide deburring tool on the end tided the rest up and I could then get on with bolting in the new/additional rear subframes which use the existing damper mounting points as a datum before you then add more holes... lots more holes in fact. .
firstly using the template provided
but also by using the subframes and the respective holes within them as a guide for drilling.
Onto the trailing arm brackets next, and this is where things got even more 'fun'. Due to the differences in the various cars, they have various holes for mounting to the shell, the theory being is that they also line up with the lower holes in the subframes you've just fitted... except they didn't. The kit also comes with additional 8mm spacers for fitting between the existing hangers and the new hangers for rubber bumper cars, two per side 'for lining up' purposes, except they didn't fit, there was no room for them to fit, the picture in the instructions was unfathomable, and so therefore they lined nothing up other than the remaining bolts on the workbench ^^^ that's a little way off where it needs to be.
The strengthening in the shell also meant that the subframe sat slightly away from flush too (but not 8mm) which was also puzzling me (turns out this wasn't an issue in the end however)
After trying a multitude of approaches and the bracket eventually falling out and hitting me in the face the towel was thrown in and a beer duly opened. Full Mutley mode now engaged
I retreated to the sofa, ordered some new drill bits from that jungle in South America, tomorrow would be another day.
Im always jealous of the amount of parts available for the likes of MG etc but it does seem a lot of the stuff is not the best fit! Well worth doing the dry build by the looks of things!
Im always jealous of the amount of parts available for the likes of MG etc but it does seem a lot of the stuff is not the best fit! Well worth doing the dry build by the looks of things!
Err no, especially something like this. Then again you can tell they've tried to design it for all eventualities and differing body styles and so there are compromises. Yes most definitely - more holes to drill tonight, which I'd much rather do now than through one of Chris' paint jobs! (luckily even his replacement metalwork is remaining unscathed)
Post by toomanyprojects on Jul 5, 2021 17:31:30 GMT
So after a mild distraction of a local car rally Sunday morning (more on that elsewhere), it was on with some more hole making
and sorting out the lower arm mounts which also involved fitting the crush tubes. That looks a bit better, which is more than could be said for my cheek bone, it was a little tender for some reason
Happy that everything was lined up, I could then focus on drilling the upper holes through the subframes bottom and top
Which neatly leads me onto another word of warning for anyone contemplating doing a similar conversion, the subframes create the perfect swarf chute, so even though you think you are well out the way of any metal that's getting chucked around you're not... and there's a fair amount
It's not the nicest stuff to roll around on, nor have in your face so visor/glasses recommended!
Holes all drilled it was time to bolt everything up
Which left me with this
Next job - Panhard rod stiffening bracket which required even more holes drilling!
Post by toomanyprojects on Jul 6, 2021 9:52:34 GMT
Armed with some new drill bits (which made things so much easier!), it was on with the next batch of drilling for the Panhard rod bracket.
The bracket locates up against the N/S axle check strap mount and has an oversize hole to bolt through for the various models... of course that didn't line up either .
No matter it's location was pretty obvious so on with the fitting
Once positioned and secured with no fear of it hitting me in the face I could then get on with drilling the rest and using the bracket as a guide
Now as the boot floor isn't the strongest bit of metal despite the curve, the kit does helpfully come with some strengthening plates, so after tidying a few bits up, they were fitted and the fun process of trying to bolt everything together began - you need arms like an Octopus to go through the rear window aperture and underneath when you are working solo but I got there eventually
and done
My only concern is that there is enough clearance for the exhaust system but we'll deal with that when we get to that stage as it is fitted on the side where the stock exhaust would usually route so fingers crossed.
So that's it, we can finally get the rear axle installed?
Err not quite no, I have some more holes still to make for another small kit that is linked to what I've just done (you'll see what I mean by that in a bit ).
Are you going to suppliment the mechanical fixings on all the bracketry/bracing with some sparky glue once you are happy with alignment?
The thought had crossed my mind, my only issue is ensuring the surfaces underneath are re-treated first, because as you can see, some are in need of some tlc so may do after round 2.
, so first the bonnet options; two steel and one 'standard' ally version
.
