Project #3...Oh no, not another Nissan Figaro!!!!!!

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Bit of progress on the floors and inner sills. Have to say having the car on its side really makes a huge difference. Had to use the cleco clamps....I mostly butt weld so when a lap joint is needed they have to be rolled out.

I will do the floor/inner sill repairs in a couple of sections. This isn't the ideal approach but there are no repair panels available so I need to keep the alignment of the sill. Plus the steel is 0.8mm....just isn't practical to make a floor repair section for the full length in one go (it's 3 dimensional....not just a simple flange)

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Treated myself to one of these...makes it a lot neater joggling the top edge for the inner sill repair. I'd say these are worth it just for the plug weld punch!

 

[mechman]

Treated myself to one of these...makes it a lot neater joggling the top edge for the inner sill repair. I'd say these are worth it just for the plug weld punch!

View attachment 338896

Just got one. does quite a decent job.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Just got one. does quite a decent job.

I used to have a manual one but it was total pants...this one is so nice to use. Its really precise unlike the manual one. That punch is really handy...I have a shed load of plug welds to do. I find with the drill it always rips things and then I'm faffing about trying to clean things up.

I can't believe I did the last car laying on my back getting burned...today I was sitting on my chair with a cuppa working on the car flipped on it's side. It's so much easier doing a nice neat job when you are comfortable.

...but then my power file broke and I came back to reality with a bump

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I've been making some good progress on the inner sill and floor repairs. As these are basically the same as the last project I haven't taken lots of pics.

I still have one more piece to fully weld into the floor (centre of pic...tacked in)....it supports the seat mount hence the shaping to stiffen up the panel. Came out pretty good...all I used was a block of wood to make a blank.

Still got to go over all the welds and check for any pin holes...also a fair bit to finish off inside the car too. But definitely feels like a step forward having the main inner sill and floor sorted out....definitely stiffens things up. I'll leave the sills for now....need to check that the door gaps are still good plus I also need to buy the outer sill and reinforcers. Theres some more work to do at the rear (an overlapping inner sill plate) but this will be done as part of the boot/arch repairs.

Haven't decided what next...maybe the other side....or maybe just get on with the boot/arch repairs.

 

[Nick DV]

Just caught up on this and you've certainly had/got your work cut out on it! I saw a pink one locally, and close up it, appeared relatively rusty on the surface but seeing your rebuild, it must have been even worse below!!

Great work and keep the pics coming

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers @Nick DV ...it's definitely turning into a weld-a-thon I think. Today MrC and I worked on stripping back the wheel arch...it's a bit of a tea bag. I'm glad we got the floors and inner sill fixed before pulling the arch apart....would have been a bit depressed I think otherwise!

I'm going to be checking out a few Figaro shells next week so hopefully there will be an inner arch going spare. Otherwise there will be another "how to" guide on the way. All looks fixable but it's just a matter of how much time it takes...theres some complex curve in there plus there's 3 layers of steel (top seam) so will need to have a think about how to approach this.

 

[Nick DV]

You'll be checking a few Figaro shells! Didn't think there'd be that many around given the rust issues! Reminds me of Alfa's in the 70/80's

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

@Nick DV ....it turns out the main Figaro place is just up the road from me. I had a chat with them and they said they usually have 4 or 5 breakers in at any time so fingers crossed there's a descent shell just waiting for me to pick at! PlanB is to just buy the chassis end and fix the rest myself...PlanC (if they want stupid money for stuff) is just to fix it all myself!

I've developed enough skills over the years to know I can do it all...but prefer to save myself a bit of time if I can. I have 2 more projects waiting to get started (Toyotas not Nissans thankfully!!!!!) so need to get thro this one at a good pace!

 

[badabec]

Treated myself to one of these...makes it a lot neater joggling the top edge for the inner sill repair. I'd say these are worth it just for the plug weld punch!

View attachment 338896

I use one of those on my DS, but I always enlarge the hole to 8mm or even 10mm. I never achieved enough penetration with the hole they punch.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I stuck with the standard punch hole size for the moment...the steel is so thin (0.9mm) that it doesn't take much plus I take some care to get the wire aimed in the centre of the holes (I can see the plug welds on the reverse side coming thro slightly). They'll be another layer going over the top and I'll stagger the spots...then I'm planning to drill thro all the layers and plug them together at the end with a copper plate behind (belt and braces)...maybe every 4 inches or so.

Its a shame the standard punch hole isn't maybe +2mm larger

 

[Nick DV]

..but prefer to save myself a bit of time if I can.

Most definitely, and anything to make life easier What is the Toyota project?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Both projects are MR2s...I sold my white MR2 MK2 recently and then bought it back again! It's going to get a nice paint job. The other project is an MR2 roadster that needs an engine swap (and I'm fed up of looking at the spare engine in my garage!).

We are planning a house move soon so I need to get my projects sorted out if I can before that happens.

 

[Domdom]

I stuck with the standard punch hole size for the moment...the steel is so thin (0.9mm) that it doesn't take much plus I take some care to get the wire aimed in the centre of the holes (I can see the plug welds on the reverse side coming thro slightly). They'll be another layer going over the top and I'll stagger the spots...then I'm planning to drill thro all the layers and plug them together at the end with a copper plate behind (belt and braces)...maybe every 4 inches or so.

Its a shame the standard punch hole isn't maybe +2mm larger

I found these to be very helpful doing the Sierra. The Clarke punch tool, open the holes to 7mm with a drill, one hole every 2 inches and then plug weld with these grips. Copper backed mole grips basically.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers @Domdom ....never seen these before...they look excellent. I usually use a copper plate behind but it's a faff getting it in place sometimes...I definitely need some descent mole grips as most of mine are ebay specials!

 

[Nick DV]

Both projects are MR2s...I sold my white MR2 MK2 recently and then bought it back again! It's going to get a nice paint job. The other project is an MR2 roadster that needs an engine swap (and I'm fed up of looking at the spare engine in my garage!).

We are planning a house move soon so I need to get my projects sorted out if I can before that happens.

Look forward to the rebuild thread

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Flipped the car the other way and made a start cutting out the sills. This side is "much better."..but there is simply no point going to this much trouble and then leaving bits of floor in place. These cars rot from the inside out so it's best to just take it all out and put in fresh steel.

The piece of wood isn't holding the car up!

The floor/outrigger at the front is 3 layers so it usually takes a little time to repair properly.

 

[Nick DV]

The piece of wood isn't holding the car up!

Ahh, that's good! I thought it was a giant rat trap!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Been chopping and welding the floor most of the day. This pic sums up the problem quite nicely....vertical is the inner sill (other side is visible inside the car). Left is the floor....bottom flange is what you see looking under the sill from outside the car.

It looks like the seam sealer traps moisture on the inside of the car and it rots from the inside out. Even though bits of the floor/sill look ok on the outside it's basically full of rot working its way out! I reckon once rot is visible under the car (holes in the floor) it's basically too late.

I've opted to chop out the lot and weld in new steel...no point leaving anything in that could cause problems!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Got the passenger sill mostly welded up...left the plug welds off the last foot or so as I still need adjust things.

There was a lot of layers to fix (3 layers in a lot of places!)...had to repair the chassis rail too. The rail has an inner reinforcer (inside the hole) - I decide it would be better to just weld the inner and outer together to stop any water getting in. Same with the floor join to the chassis rail...it was originally spot welded...I plugged it and then did a continuous weld to just stop moisture getting in.

Needs a little tweaking but I think overall I'm happy.