My day in pictures......

[BChild]

My day in pictures

I'd recently waxoiled the chassis rail and then noticed a bit of waxoil oozing out of a scabby bit on the chassis rail - well I couldn't leave it like that!!!

I'd already hit it hard with a zip wheel when I was cleaning up the underside and it didn't turn to dust but it obviously wasn't as sound as I thought.......



Chop chop



Glad I did - had to go a fair way over till I got to good steel



Grind grind - shiney steel



I'd had me cornflakes so the box came in handy - make a card template



Transfer to 1.5 mm steel



Cut, sand, hammer and splash a bit of weld thro primer on it



Same with the chassis rail that remained



Had a few hard drive failures over the years - recently liberated a few magnets out of the dead ones - make great fixings for butt welding - even better when you can find more than one of them - bloody mini in the garage seems to have eaten them all

Don't try to weld near one does weird s**t to the arc!!

I know it looks a bit "gappy" but with multiple curves I find it easier to weld it in where it touches and then go round beating it into the shape that closes up the gaps - works well with chassis sections - not so well with bodywork!!!



Yes it did catch fire - but I was ready for it - I knew that the wax oil would flame up quite nicely



First piece in



Grind it back



Cornflake box and scissors I have plenty so knock the next bit up (holes are for a few puddle welds - spot welds with a MIG) My Portamig was appreciating the break as it's not been on power 5 out of 12 for a while - minis don't like anything more than 15 amps



Splash a bit of weld thro on it



Hit it with the sparkly stick



Upside down welding - yeah that's my strong point - NOT



Grind it back (just the weld so as not to thin the metal)



Bit of Red (Pink) Oxide - I remembered to drill a new drain hole



Am I happy with that......



Well a blind man on a galloping horse would be so



Slap some chassis black on it then



There I did it - I posted pics of my not so invisible repair and "functional" welding - who'd have thunk it!!!

Subframe can go back up tommorrow and then I can tackle the Sills and rear quarter and boot floor.....

The joys of owning a 90's Vauxhall/Opel/Lotus

 

[BigAl.inSalford]

Nice job, I hate welding upside down....it hurts!

 

[Angusdog]

The weird thing is, even though no-one can see it, I'd be just as proud of that as you. Looks like a solid repair - well done!

 

[Flapdisk]

Nice one mate, you're right welding upside down is no fun at all, if I ever meet that Newton bloke I'll kick him right in the nuts for inventing gravity

 

[Lanzecki]

Gravity's only a theory

A good repair. Last time I welded upside down I was moaning like a stuck pig so much that the wife turned the welder off thinking I really was hurt.

It too my beard 2 months to recover from the burning it got. After that I added a leather bit the the mask.

 

[BChild]

Always scared of posting pictures of welding on here as I'm not a brilliant welder like some but My Sunday follows (with a bit of background)

This is my Sunday in Pictures (same as Saturday just different stuff to weld)

So removing bodykits on an LC is always a scary job in my mind as I didn't know quite how far my little "there's a hole in my bucket etc" issue went so here are some before pics

Passenger Side



Looks like just a little clean up - maybe a small repair - repaint and I get to leave the arch on

Drivers Side



Needed to remove the arch because I remember the "Herald of Free Enterprise" LC Picture - 2 bolts sheared - two came out fine

Bloody sunroof drains



And once I get the skirt off the drivers side I can assess the true extent of the Sill work required (yes the nut holding the front on is rusted solid)



Later in the week I had a chop chop session so this was were I was up to before the weekend

Passenger side wheel arch behind the bumper - hit it with a zip wheel and it didn't like it - so I cut out the cancer



Clean up job on the back bumper - strip disc and treated





Drivers side sill



Going to need to do something with the arch now the cover is off



Behind the bumper (D/S) (it's not all out yet but I need to put some steel back in before I cut the inner arch out or I'll have sod all to work with)



Fresh steel rough cut and marked out - going to work with me tommorrow to take advantage of a nice industrial folding machine

Found another small hole further up the sill by a water drain hole - go figure!!!

Also on the list for work - 14 x little square plates with holes in to fix the skirt to the sill - in stainless instead of rust

OK so I had a weekend welding

Repairs to the rear quarter (slapped some primer on the bare metal and welds to stop the fresh metal rusting – still needs a proper grind back etc)





Sill section replaced (no pictures of the rebuilt middle sill as I was cracking on and the camera batteries died so needed recharging)

It all needs grinding back as it was too late to grind outside on Sunday evening!







Still a little localised repair to do – but we know how they quickly turn into big sections....



The passenger Sill Cover/skirt fought me just like the bl**dy drivers side did but I finally got it removed..... So I get to see the state of the other side – good job I bought both sides really even if I am only going to use them as repair sections





Three days left to go and it's got no rear end in it and MOT is booked for Thursday.........

 

[Wedg1e]

Good efforts there chaps... though it reminds me of why I like fibreglass-bodied cars

That said, the steel tube chassis on my TVR is suffering from the ravages of time (as they all do): I spotted a bit of grot from underneath and whipped off the offside sill cover to take a peek...



That plate is still basically sound around the bolts (they secure the A-post reinforcements through the GRP shell to the chassis) but it's obviously on its way out so there was only one thing for it: out with the grinder...



A quick rummage in the stock pile turned up an offcut of 2mm galvanised sheet; this would make things a bit easier as I wouldn't be able to access the rear of the plate to paint it once it was welded in.
The sheet was marked out and the plasma cutter brought to bear...



I don't have a sheet metal folder so I resorted to clamping the sheet between two thicker bits of plate and hitting it with a sledgehammer (not shown)



The bolt hole positions were drilled and the areas of galvanising that would need removing marked:



The coating was then removed with an abrasive disc.



The original bolts had large washers under their heads, inside the cabin, but I opted for cutting another piece of plate to act as a spreader:



Then the plate was temporarily fitted with the rubber packing pieces behind, while I got a couple of tacks on. The plate is 250 x 150mm and the folded sides are 15 and 30mm.



The rubbers were removed and Mr Blobby brought in to do the welding - and yes, that black-painted copper pipe IS a fuel line



Quick splash of paint and the sill cover can go back on... then I can crack on with the list of jobs I was working through when I spotted that bit of grot

Incidentally, this the rear plate on the same side; I renewed it in 2001, still looking good

 

[BChild]

Great work - I must get one of those strip discs that can go on a drill as the angle grinder ones I have aren't good when you lean on the edge...

A TVR has been on my wish list for a long time

 

[Wedg1e]

Great work - I must get one of those strip discs that can go on a drill as the angle grinder ones I have aren't good when you lean on the edge...

A TVR has been on my wish list for a long time

The strip discs are one of the few things I've ever bought from magazine recommendation - Practical Classics raved over them about a dozen years ago. Oddly you never seem to see the 3M ones any more, but the B&Q version seems to work just as well. I avoid catching the disc on edges and threads etc. otherwise they disintegrate before your eyes.

I'm late for work or else I'd witter on about TVRs as well - they're all much of a muchness, it mostly comes down to which shape you like and how rare a car you want: mine is one of about 93 in this particular shape/ spec..
They all suffer from the same gremlins though - but they aren't as unreliable as 'experts' will tell you, it's mostly the owners that are at fault
If you want Meccano, a train set and a pedal car, all your hobbies can be neatly combined in a TVR

 

[Flapdisk]

I've never used one, I have seen them but I thought they looked too coarse, can you strip the paint off say a door or wing with them without leaving deep scratches?

 

[marlinspike]

Are these the kind of thing you mean?

http://www.weldequip.com/cleaning-fleece-115mm.htm

I used one of these on an angle grinder to strip gloss paint from a cast iron fireplace. It did a great job, though as stated, they just wear away immediately if you use the edge instead of the face.

Aldi often do them in a pack for about £6. I did have to remove the safety guard from my grinder to use the Dronco ones though as they were too thick otherwise.

They didn't mark the cast iron, but not sure about a door. I will be stripping my door soon so I will update, but I would think they will be ok. I think I did try them on my rusty car but can't remember if it left marks, but don't think it did. Best thing was they don't seem to produce sparks so I felt a lot safer using it.

 

[Wedg1e]

I've never used one, I have seen them but I thought they looked too coarse, can you strip the paint off say a door or wing with them without leaving deep scratches?

The drill-mounted variety are a bit more forgiving than the grinder versions; they will leave a marked surface but how bad depends on your technique. They'll strip alloy as well but it tends to leave a scarred finish - as though the part has slid down a road

 

[Flapdisk]

Yeah that's the boys, I would be interested to know the result you get stripping paint to the metal on a car body, modern epoxy primers seem happy with scratches to 320 grade ish so providing it doesn't leave much worse than that it should be ok.