Carlton Diamond Estate

Impressive for such a small section... I'm sure Chris feels hard done by now

Slow going as there is an awful lot to pull out before the repairs can start, this is the inner wing where it joins the bulkhead, the 2 holes in the bulkhead are for the wiring harnesses that do everything apart from the engine stuff which is over the other side


You can see the issues, a common Carlton/Senator problem! this area is very difficult to see when everything is in place, one hole isnt anymore which lets water in the passenger compartment

Well you took your brave pills this morning 

That's the easy bit - the harder part is getting the replacement chassis legs & inner wings aligned & square - If I was you I would do one side at a time and only after I had set the car level and taken measurements / reference from the opposite side & workshop floor - is there a cross brace / subframe between the chassis legs at all ? 

I'm sure that you seen how the bodyshop / accident repair centres undertake front / rear end repairs - normally with the car sat on brackets on a level jig frame but there's absolutely nothing wrong with 4 axle stands, a spirit level and some refence points - the great advantage that you have is the car hasn't been impacted / accident damaged - Even some quick & simple brackets / jigs bolted through common refence / mounting points from side to the other - just made up from odd scrap equal angle / bar etc will make it really easy to get things trued up / aligned 

I haven't achieved as much as I wanted to in this quiet time but were "in the air tonight"


One thing I wanted to do is get the crank bolt loose while the engine is still fitted, as usual its done up to a billion german torques but having done a few of these engines I made a tool up that bolts to the crank pulley and rests on the chassis leg



Oh thats not good, thats a 1/2inch breaker bar broken!


Another bar with a 4 foot extension pole and the bolt is out, festive mug for scale


Happy New Year to all and lets hope for a productive 2024!

Slow going this week, a bit of pallet truck jenga to drop the engine/box out in one lump which will make it easier to split

Most of my gear is in big pallet sized boxes so it gets a lot of use, rated at 2.5 ton so its had a fair bit of abuse doing things it shouldn't do!

Slow going as my 98 year old dad has been in the hospital for a month, usual poor care and disjointed decisions by the NHS!!

Not having touched it for a while this weekend progress was made, there is just so much to pull apart before you can even get to the repairs, the sound deadening is the 1st thing they put in and its got to come out before the weldy action

Power steering box out, steering column/pedal box out, outer and inner sound deadening out, heater box out, its amazing how much rubbish is in the heater box so that will get a good clean




Removed all the tar pad sound deadening from the floor, a quick wipe down to remove the residue and locate the spot welds for the chassis rail and drilled out


Ive got all my dimensions for the various panels so were nearly ready to drop the chassis rail and wing assembly