A massive amount of work going in to this, even after dipping you can see a fair amount of rust in the seams still, what was the cost of a new shell out of interest?
£16,680 including vat but excluding delivery then 6 to 12 months lead time from ordering - I'm undertaking the roof repair / correct gapping work on a FOC basis whilst Sam purchased the new roof panel & bulkhead which were shy of £800 hence we both share a bit of the pain - But it's getting sorted and although we are frustrated with others we haven't had a cross word between us - End of the day we need to find a way to resolve it and we are well down that road - Yep fair point about the rust in the seams - apparently the new bodyshells are not much better - All seams will be getting heavily treated with preventative cavity wax once the shell is painted
A massive amount of work going in to this, even after dipping you can see a fair amount of rust in the seams still, what was the cost of a new shell out of interest?
£16,680 including vat but excluding delivery then 6 to 12 months lead time from ordering.
Yup, a scary amount all things considered. There were a few considerations of why I didn't go down that route, I won't go into them all; cost, build tolerances (you can spot reshells with the bonnet panel gaps for example ), the hybrid model/shell approach meaning there would have been work required regardless, in addition...
Yep fair point about the rust in the seams - apparently the new bodyshells are not much better
Yes, add that to the above list of reasons too . I've witnessed first hand where the shells are delivered and stacked outside in the rain. No thanks.
Ultimately lots of unforeseen work which is a little frustrating for both of us, especially as through no fault of our own. Although I'm feeling guilty as Chris is the one doing the hard bit, no matter how interesting it is!
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 5, 2023 6:50:15 GMT
All the flange edges have now been dressed back
The roof gutter / cant rail on the offside is now cleaned back
And the bulk of the old roof skin flange has been removed from the nearside - I'm currently awaiting a delivery of belts for my power file to complete the dressing of the roof gutter / cant rail - I have a few areas that require some minor fabrication in the interim that I can be advancing
Do you buy the wide belt sander belts and cut them down Chris? I have found that to be much cheaper.
Ray - In a word no - there's loads of different ways to save money in a bodyshop but there's not enough time in the day to execute / follow them all through and whilst it works for the man in the street who's hobby time is free mine isn't so the by the time I factored the time / labour cost into measuring / cutting a wide belt into several smaller ones have I actually saved any money or has it cost me more than just buying the correct size belts in bulk at a discount ?
I have a contact in the related trade (smart repairs) he insists that he's saving money by using a standard gravity paint cup on his spray guns then cleaning the paint cups out after every single use - It probably takes 5 mins of his time plus some cleaning materials - If you are good in the smart repairs business you can readily count on £30 - £40 an hour - I reckon its cost him £3 to clean the paint cup and he probably has to clean it 4 - 8 times a day depending on workload - There's a disposable liner system in place of the paint cups that costs sub £1 if you purchase in bulk - He's not saving any money
Looks scary! how are you planning to fix the roof along the gutter area?
There's relatively little damage to the gutter area - all par for the course - the roof skin flange edge abuts / goes in over the top of the gutter / cant rail - The challenge will be keeping it true & neat to a OE standard whilst also ensuring its sealed / water tight afterwards
Looks scary! how are you planning to fix the roof along the gutter area?
There's relatively little damage to the gutter area - all par for the course - the roof skin flange edge abuts / goes in over the top of the gutter / cant rail - The challenge will be keeping it true & neat to a OE standard whilst also ensuring its sealed / water tight afterwards
I was thinking more how you were going to fix the roof along the gutter line? weld or use one of the fancy panel adhesives?
There's relatively little damage to the gutter area - all par for the course - the roof skin flange edge abuts / goes in over the top of the gutter / cant rail - The challenge will be keeping it true & neat to a OE standard whilst also ensuring its sealed / water tight afterwards
I was thinking more how you were going to fix the roof along the gutter line? weld or use one of the fancy panel adhesives?
A combination of both - I have a 2K panel bond that is spot weldable
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 8, 2023 7:52:56 GMT
Top inner flange of the inner A post / windscreen pillar where I had drilled the spot welds out to release the windscreen / bulkhead panel - I could leave these as they are and just plug weld them up - However, that means upside down welding along with introducing much more heat into the area than I would like to and run the risk of heat distortion hence defeating the very object of what I'm working to correct - It would be much better spot welded as original
But you cant spot weld through the drilled out spot welds so with the original shape patterned then removed a fresh section of metal was welded in
Then dressed back - this I can now spot weld to
I'll do the same with the end of the side rail too and the section is already made up for letting in
Using the same patterns the nearside sections have also been made up ready for welding in but I'm now out of welding gas - Now off to my welding supplier for a bottle refill - More later
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 8, 2023 20:33:10 GMT
Cant rail section on the offside let in to allow the top of the windscreen pillars / bulkhead panel to be spot welded insitu
Nearside being a repeat of the procedure on the offside
Then some alignment / reality checks - offside first
Ok - then the problematic nearside
That's largely no longer a problem
Some minor fine tuning to be had but happy so far
So lets take a leap of faith and trial fit the bulkhead / windscreen aperture panel
Ok so again some minor fine tuning but not a lot - I'll remove the panel to achieve this then refit it and reclamp it - then replace the clamps with temporary fastenings - cleco pins or self tapping screws - then I can trail fit the roof skin - For now I'm off to pour a gin
This really does look impressive. Worst thing... you make a fool like me think I could do that! Which is obvioulsy not true as for one I don't have welding skills. I can glue though :-)
This really does look impressive. Worst thing... you make a fool like me think I could do that! Which is obvioulsy not true as for one I don't have welding skills. I can glue though :-)
Alex - Good stuff if you can glue as a good section of todays new cars are glued together - they like to call it bonded but in reality its glue
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 13, 2023 8:34:21 GMT
Some adjustments made to the roof rails / apertures with the bulkhead panel removed
I then checked with the door glass raised up to the top and it makes some difference - no matter how tight you secure the quarter glass frame to the door shell - the quarter glass frame moves a few millimetres forward as the glass is raised
Bulkhead panel refitted
Once I was happy with the fit I replaced the clamps with self tapping screws to allow the roof skin to be trial fitted
Happy with the alignment of the new panel with the windscreen pillars on both sides
The roof skin is just draped on for now
I need to undertake some minor trimming in on the flanges and I had run out of workshop time by this stage for operating noisy workshop tools
), the hybrid model/shell approach meaning there would have been work required regardless, in addition...
