That is looking good so far. yep the inner wing/battery tray needs cutting out. Get the strengthener off and then see how far down you need to go. It souldnt be such a hard piece to make especially if you do it in a couple of pieces.
This was a boot floor section I had to make, it can take a while to make formers but it really helps, this former was made out of ply off cuts, covered in a bit of steel with some steel tube cut in half for the ribs and lots of big clamps to hold the sheet down that your working on
This was a boot floor section I had to make, it can take a while to make formers but it really helps, this former was made out of ply off cuts, covered in a bit of steel with some steel tube cut in half for the ribs and lots of big clamps to hold the sheet down that your working on
The panels are a good start but whatever your using to do the hammering looks a bit pointy going on all the marks, I cant see you will get enough support using the origional wing as a former unless you can get lots of support behind it
Post by grumpynorthener on Apr 24, 2023 7:29:48 GMT
A weekend visit to Norfolk and the ladies opting to digest in some retail therapy that didn't peak either my own or Sam's interest
Which in turn allowed myself & Sam to disappear into the workshop to undertake some surgery on his Celica roof
Tackling the worst corner on the front nearside - the roof skin originally was covered by a option of the 70's 'The vinyl roof' these can cover a multitude of sins and in this subjects case it did ! The vinyl can trap water & moisture which in turn creates rust traps - hence the rust perforation
Some trimming back and the can of worms was opened
More later - probably accompanied by some pics / comments from Sam in this joint venture
Post by toomanyprojects on Apr 24, 2023 9:36:08 GMT
You beat me to it
As Chris says, I got to play apprentice this weekend, in particular how to tackle the bit of the roof that was scaring me the most. Needless to say a certain person made it look very, very easy. Although it did catch us out a little when we got to the really fiddly stuff which took a little longer than planned, as such we didn't get to pre-discussed 'main event', and if we had tried neither of us would be alive to tell the tale , something for another time perhaps.
Suffice to say it was rather enjoyable watching and learning, so thank you once again for all the advice Chris.
Lot's of lessons learned and some key takeaways which I'll try and jot down in a bit.
Post by grumpynorthener on Apr 24, 2023 18:05:12 GMT
Sam chopped some further sections out to allow access
New gutter rail section made up & trial fitted
Then welded in and slightly dressed back
Followed by the first repair section of the outer roof skin - work like this can be daunting to most home repairers but most of it is down to confidence in what you are undertaking - Its best to do repairs like this with compound curvatures / multiple faces & angles in several sections
Then followed by the next section
Card templates utilised for the patterns
And the repairs finalised - now with repairs of this nature I would also advise to rebate / recess the repair area slightly - don't worry too much about attempting to achieve the final profile as matching / inline with the roof otherwise you may well find that you trying to achieve the impossible - The plan with this repair was to make the are sound & strong then worry about the profile after - Unfortunately we ran out of time but the area will now be dressed with body solder / lead loaded to achieve the required profiles but that will have to wait for a future visit
Post by toomanyprojects on May 2, 2023 15:47:45 GMT
Finally some time to play catch up on updates from the past couple of weekends. Suffice to say lots of frilly bits were harmed in the process
Chris has covered most of what we achieved the weekend before last, so I'll try and fill in some of the gaps from my side, in particular some lessons learned / key takeaways.
So as everyone loves a top 10...
1. Measure and measure again to make repair sections as close as you can before marking and chopping anything out
2. Don't try and be too clever when it comes to making repair sections, some hammer work, a folder and a vice provide most of what you need to get a reasonable profile
3. It can get pretty scary pretty quickly if you chop too much away, so approach logically and systematically.. oh and be prepared for hidden surprises
4. Confidence goes a long way. Do whatever you need to do to get your head around things first, if that means starting again on a section you've spent and hour or more on making because of a nagging doubt, then so be it, get it right before making permanent.
5. Take your time and give yourself the ability to make adjustments as you go, remember it doesn't have to be absolute perfection
6. Be prepared to adapt your kit. Ahead of spot welding the gutter section I filed down the spot welder pins so they could sit within the gutter sections without touching the lip
7. Keep things as clean and tidy as you can. It makes adding the next section a lot easier
8. Be a womble make use of things that you find or are given. In this example a shoe iron from my grandparents - handy for shaping sheet steel, and in this case, creating a radius edge using heat after a bit of work with the shrinker/stretcher
9. Have a few cutting/grinding options to hand if possible that allow you to cut/shape/clean up without removing too much material. We had a grinder with cutting disc, grinder with flap wheel, dremel with mini cutting disc, and an air powered finger file on the go
10. Before ticking the job off as complete, test against the parts that will need to fit in the area that is repaired. In this instance there is a chrome trim that runs around the outside of the screen.
which highlighted the need to file a bit more away,
so I drew around it to give me a line to work towards
which after a bit more work resulted in
and following a bit of tidying I could call it job done for now
and that was the weekend before last...
A bit of time over the bank hol involved this however...
Post by toomanyprojects on May 3, 2023 17:35:31 GMT
Ok onto yet more frilly bits around the rear 'sail' vents
Removing a couple of spot welds and some careful cutting with the dremel revealed what I suspected was lurking underneath
A clean up, some application of hydrate 80 and a bit of shaping and that was part one complete.
Now for the tricky section, out with the cardboard then...
ok confession time, rather than heed the previous tips, I decided to try and have a go at shaping the section in one go to see what I could achieve. It took a bit of time and patience but I'm rather pleased in how it turned out
Happy with that, it was out with the dremel once again
and after a bit more cleaning and treating, the repair slotted in
Frustratingly I couldn't then weld it in as my welder has gone AWOL once again into someone else's workshop...
Onto the next repair section then, specifically the fuel filler surround - look closer at some of the photos above and you'll see why this one may test me a little more...
Post by toomanyprojects on May 9, 2023 10:45:51 GMT
Yet more progress! These long weekends we're having aren't half coming in handy
Welder was requisitioned from her ladyship's workshop and I set to work, it's been a bit of a while so I can't profess to it being my neatest effort...
However, bearing in mind Chris' advice of trying to keep things a little rebated in order to allow skimming and profiling at a later date, I was pretty happy with the outcome once cleaned back
Smaller piece next and I'd now adjusted the welder slightly so that went in nicely
and cleaned back
Time to mask up and protect everything
Before checking that the sail vents still fitted as intended
Happy with that bit of progress I then went shopping to a local brewery as self-congratulation
Onto the next tricky bit then, the aforementioned fuel filler surround
I managed to locate the chrome trim that would hopefully give me a guide as to what I'd need to shape as a repair, however given the number of curves and angles there was no way it was going to be a single piece effort. To give you an idea, look at the shaping of the chrome trim
So starting point was a strip of metal that had a visit to the shrinker
This was slowly shaped to fit the existing profile
Then on with some CAD to make up a section that would meet the above
Before chopping out the offending area where another surprise awaited me...
A quick check of the rear side confirmed that I'd uncovered the only area of rot on the strengthener
A small positive there then, now how to fix it.
My thinking was initially that I could make up a curved piece and then use the bead roller to shape the rib or I could just make a flat section, it would be hidden after all and no one would be any the wiser. A quick brew and a head scratch later I then had an idea.
Off into the stores of doom (my term for the storage area of parts/stuff out of sight and usually out of mind that I really need to get shot of... well according to SWMBO!). A quick rummage and I soon found what I was after, the spare rear quarter from the car I collected from Scotland that got sectioned a few years back. Even better was that it had what I needed still attached... well sort of - seems they all like to rot in that area!
Some careful hits with a sharp chisel later
and after a bit of a clean up of sealant, I had what I needed
Time to reduce it down even further
and after some more trimming and a bit of shaping, I had what I needed
The slightly annoying part due to the extremities of the rot, was that I then had to open up the original cut-away even more, but it will give me better access for welding
Last job was to cut away the offending section ready for treating and cleaning ahead of welding
Some playtime this week hopefully assuming the day job permits. Feels good to be making some regular progress once more.
Shock horror I've been busy again... well when other 'SWMBO' jobs allow. That and I was supposed to be at a certain event at Goodwood this weekend but life just got in the way and it wasn't going to happen... So when life give you lemons, continue fixing one
Picking up on the above, the first job was to tidy things a bit more
then get busy with the hot stick
Was spitty and horrible to weld with such small pieces, not to mention the lack of metal thickness, but we got there.
It also cleaned up ok, and there was no distortion in what was an awkward shaped area, so pretty happy with that
Annoyingly I then ran out of dremel cutting discs which curtailed much more progress but the next two spots for treatment have been identified. The top and bottom corners of the rear windscreen
Of which I started making bits up for in readiness.
Post by toomanyprojects on Aug 8, 2023 16:43:19 GMT
So after rolling about in the rain first thing Saturday (see elsewhere for why). I was 'supposed' to be carrying on with aforementioned elsewhere garden project at Casa TMP. Alas by the time I was done with the rolling about, the timber merchants were closed and so I couldn't get what I needed, not to mention the rain was still pretty persistent. So what to do with a sudden spare afternoon... back in the workshop it'd have to be then. Every cloud and all that (see what I did there )
Previously I was waiting on some more cutting discs for the dremel, of course they had been delivered way back when, and I'd typically, not got near things since (May FFS!?! Where has this year gone!)
So onwards once more starting with that hole in the top corner of the rear screen
out with the dremel then
Then some snips and metal
and slowly as I welded it in, things started to come together
and with the top piece in as well
lastly a little protective coating to show 'it's been done'
Onto the bottom corner
now this one wasn't too serious in terms of hole, so rather than cut things out and risk making more of a mess, I decided a simple spot repair using the welder might work given the metal surrounding seemed pretty good. Rather pleasingly it seemed to work as intended
I may need to do the same with another of the rear frame areas needing attention:
I've left it for now as it may be that a skim of filler will suffice? Thoughts / suggestions welcome.
Onto the passenger floor then which I'd previously marked out
and even made a repair piece
offending item sliced out and Hydrate 80 applied to the exposed chassis leg
repair piece trimmed and held in place with clamps
before it got ground back and treated
Annoyingly I ran out of zircon belts for the finger sander at this point and those I'd previously picked up at the NEC were the wrong size so need to go back and tidy a few bits once the belts arrive.
Regardless, I was on a roll, so it was on with the mess that was the A-pillar... yup that doesn't look good
and it wasn't
in fact even more got removed than initially planned, and again was treated with Hydrate 80
before a new piece was made up using the template I'd already taken and the other side as reference
and welded
Last spot repair was to the front wheel arch, where again it was thin and had perforated when treated
Need to come back and have a good tidy of these once the belts are in hand
Overall some pleasing progress though.
Oh and if you were ever wondering why these like to harbour rust so much, and I may have mentioned this before..., they are like onions, they have layers of very thin metal...
It feels never ending, much like my 304. You are making progress though. On Sunday my powerfile started throwing the belt off due I suspect to the wheel on the front wearing convex. Need to order a new arm and hope for the best.
It feels never ending, much like my 304. You are making progress though.
Oh yes, I know that feeling... little and often is the new mantra I think. Slowly, slowly and all that, although there are some more sizeable repairs coming up unfortunately
