Project The Austin 2dr 1100 story - Part IV - Now in sharleys hands

[vulgalour]

Is that for the under-seat crossmember repair?  If so, I'd puddle weld to the floor and seam weld to the crossmember, there shouldn't be a need to seam weld all of it.  It's also a good bit quicker to puddle weld and easier to clean up so it'll get it off your list that bit faster.

[SiC]

Yeah that's the badger. Anything that increases speed is good!

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Here's a handy hint for welding, set an old mirror on the floor under the car and you can see with ease if anything goes up underside. It takes some pain out of some of the positions you have to get yourself into. You'll appreciate it after your 9,683rd weld.

[sharley17194]

Makes perfect sense, if the pipes do keel over i can advise on cheap(ish) replacements. 

 

Really useful to know. I'll see what it's like once I take it off. I've pretty much conceded it's going to have to be removed. Hopefully the hydrolastic pipe fittings won't put up too much of a fight at the rear end.

If it's savable, I'll weld it up and give it a paint. Quite keen to clean up and reuse parts on this car when I can. Not just cost, but also I want to save waste on parts that can be reused rather than swapping with second hand and binning the old.

[SiC]

Sploshed some paint all over the bottom of this.

 

Before

 

After

 

Managed to get most of it on the car rather than me and the floor!

 

The front leak isn't anywhere near as bad as the rear. (Some of the pools of fluid are paint running through from me pretty much throwing it on)

Good test of my welds though as it's not draining away!

 

Rear is worse but has mostly drained away from how it was this morning.

 

I think it's leaking through this window strip. Not helped by the car at an angle and it making an efficient area to run down.

[SiC]

Floods!

 

This is definitely coming through the door.

 

This looks to be too.

[Guest Hooli]

My Midget used to leak there, it was coming from the back of the car & running down the B posts into the sills before coming out on my feet. Enjoy tracking it down.

[SiC]

Patched the hole I cut the other day. Metal I cut was a bit small, but I'm getting used to dragging across now.

 

Finished the floor area by welding in the edge bits. First time I've puddle welded on the car. Wasn't entirely happy it was strong enough, so ran seam across too.

 

Gave a quick grind back to take the top off the welds I've been doing. Not too much though as I didn't want to thin the metal. I have a nasty habit of doing that at the moment.

 

I've not been happy about the penetration on the left hand side in the transmission tunnel so I ran another bead over the top to make entirely sure it's gone all the way through. Also ground back the other bits too.

 

Gas was getting low at this point. I'm still using the bottle that wasn't sealing properly at the regulator as I haven't had a chance to change it.

 

This bit has been bugging me. At some point in the distant past, someone has managed to weld this bit onto the outer sill rather than the inner. You can see the red bit of metal that Vulgalour did on where it should actually be attached to.

 

Metal seemed thick still, even if it is rusty. So I chopped off the metal in the middle and gave it a good smack with a hammer. Then ran a bead across. Machine at this point was struggling to run the wire through smoothly. Made a bit of a mess by putting far too much material on. Hence I ground it back before taking any pictures.

 

I gave the rollers in the machine a quick wipe down and it seems to be feeding ok now. No idea how they've got dirty really as the wire should be clean. Will have to keep an eye on it.

 

Out of gas now, but that's ok as I need to paint all this new stuff. Right this second I'm tired but I'm going to have to go out and put another coat on, then put the cover over it. Otherwise the paints going to get a soaking when we have the next rain shower!

[Guest Hooli]

The dirt could be the rain. Back when I tried to weld wet weather often resulted in surface corrosion on the outer roll of the wire.

[purplebargeken]

Bloody good progress mate!

[SiC]

The dirt could be the rain. Back when I tried to weld wet weather often resulted in surface corrosion on the outer roll of the wire.

It was fine when I started off though. Only by the time I got to the last bit before it started being a problem!

[Guest Hooli]

*shrugs* dunno then, just thought I'd mention it.

[SiC]

Found a can of this in the garage - Isopon Zinc 182.

 

Given two heavy coats on the bits welded so far and used an entire can up. Oops.

 

I'll give a coat of enamel in a couple of days once this primer has fully hardened. I think I'll paint the inside white for now. Underside will be black paint - partly because I've got a big tin of black enamel that I got cheap from Lidl! Don't want to do inside black as otherwise it looks a bit drab. Not that it'll matter once I've got carpets down.

 

All this work this afternoon has made me completely knackered! I'm sat here utterly pooped.

[SiC]

Need to get some seam sealer and splash it over all the welds I've done. Need to make 100% sure water won't get into them and rot it back out after all this work. Especially as water is getting in.

 

I tried Moss yesterday and they only had it in the caulking gun format. I'm going to need so much of it I rather get it in a tin!

 

Any suggestions of what to buy and where? Ideally online/eBay so I can just get it delivered to work.

[SiC]

Oh yeah, I always forget to post this. Updated the to-do list.

 

I'll get the seam-sealer and paint on. Then do a quick job fixing up the wheel arch.

 

Once thats done (hopefully by this week), it'll be the big moment when I chop off the outer sill!

[DodgeRover]

That outer sill, depending on when it was replaced it could be rather easy to get off, brazing and or pop rivets used to be perfectly acceptable.

[Asimo]

What a heroic effort! 100/10

[sharley17194]

the sill is made up of 4 pieces, outer, center membrane, inner and closing panel. the outer, center membrane and closing panel all meet along the seem under neath. The Closing panel is then welded to the floor underneath. Not sure if you know this or im telling you to suck eggs...

Patched the hole I cut the other day. Metal I cut was a bit small, but I'm getting used to dragging across now.




Finished the floor area by welding in the edge bits. First time I've puddle welded on the car. Wasn't entirely happy it was strong enough, so ran seam across too.



Gave a quick grind back to take the top off the welds I've been doing. Not too much though as I didn't want to thin the metal. I have a nasty habit of doing that at the moment.



I've not been happy about the penetration on the left hand side in the transmission tunnel so I ran another bead over the top to make entirely sure it's gone all the way through. Also ground back the other bits too.


Gas was getting low at this point. I'm still using the bottle that wasn't sealing properly at the regulator as I haven't had a chance to change it.


This bit has been bugging me. At some point in the distant past, someone has managed to weld this bit onto the outer sill rather than the inner. You can see the red bit of metal that Vulgalour did on where it should actually be attached to.




Metal seemed thick still, even if it is rusty. So I chopped off the metal in the middle and gave it a good smack with a hammer. Then ran a bead across. Machine at this point was struggling to run the wire through smoothly. Made a bit of a mess by putting far too much material on. Hence I ground it back before taking any pictures.


I gave the rollers in the machine a quick wipe down and it seems to be feeding ok now. No idea how they've got dirty really as the wire should be clean. Will have to keep an eye on it.

Out of gas now, but that's ok as I need to paint all this new stuff. Right this second I'm tired but I'm going to have to go out and put another coat on, then put the cover over it. Otherwise the paints going to get a soaking when we have the next rain shower!

[SiC]

the sill is made up of 4 pieces, outer, center membrane, inner and closing panel. the outer, center membrane and closing panel all meet along the seem under neath. The Closing panel is then welded to the floor underneath. Not sure if you know this or im telling you to suck eggs...

There used to be a very good overview of repairing them here: http://ado16.co.uk/replace_those_sills.shtml

 

Unfortunately in the last month or so the page seems to have been canned and redirected into the main ado16.info which has far less useful guides like that.

[SiC]

This was a screenshot of the article I took on my phone in the event of this happening.

[vulgalour]

That's a HUGE step forward!  You've earned a sit down, a cake AND a beverage of preference for that lot.

[SiC]

That's a HUGE step forward!  You've earned a sit down, a cake AND a beverage of preference for that lot.

I always try not to think of where I've been, the end goal or what I need to do to get there. If I do, it's easy to freak out and panic that there is a very long way still to go and that it'll never get done.

 

My day job consists of doing projects that can take many months or even years to fully complete. Often progress is made purely by myself or myself and a colleague. So if I slow down, the project slows down. Hence I find it useful to put blinkers on and just get on with it - but try and forget what is still left to do. Then just do a bit of good old divide and conquer on the jobs. I.e. keep chopping jobs up until they become simple enough. E.g. Fit floor is a job, but that can be divided into make pieces to fit main panel in, which divides up into measure pieces, cut up pieces, clean down pieces, weld in pieces, etc.

 

Even after this last lot of work there is an awfully long way to go still! Even when the body is all welded up, I'll only be at a point where many restoration projects just start at. Paint/Suspension/Electrics/Interior Trim/Engine Clutch all areas that still have major jobs to be done.

 

I better like driving this car once its done!

[vulgalour]

You might think this is where most restoration projects start but it's more where they finish.  Most restoration projects start with a relatively complete and running car with no obvious rot problems.  Then, when it breaks down and the owner for the first time ever noticed a suspicious looking blob on a sill, or some rust, or a bleb in the paint, they get poking.  Then they find out it needs 'loads of welding', which usually isn't, it's just a moderate amount, and then they either mothball it, scrap it, or sell it.  You're coming in sometime after that point.  Most of the digging has been done, the disheartening scale of the project revealed, and the problems recognised and catalogued.

 

In some ways coming in at this point is really good because there's no big surprises (we hope) waiting to trip you up.  In others it's really bad because you don't actually get to enjoy using it until you've put everything right again, which you're well on the way to doing now.  Seriously, the side of the car you've welded up should be the very worst of it and you've got that massively more complete than it was when it came to me, or even when it left me.  Almost every AD016 is going to do this to their owners, many that are long gone already have done it to their owners, but at least when it's all done you'll have one of the most solid examples out there, if not one of the most original.

[SiC]

You might think this is where most restoration projects start but it's more where they finish. Most restoration projects start with a relatively complete and running car with no obvious rot problems. Then, when it breaks down and the owner for the first time ever noticed a suspicious looking blob on a sill, or some rust, or a bleb in the paint, they get poking. Then they find out it needs 'loads of welding', which usually isn't, it's just a moderate amount, and then they either mothball it, scrap it, or sell it. You're coming in sometime after that point.

 

I think this car has been that quite a few times. Bought and used till rotted, bodged for MOT, flogged, used for more, flogged when utterly knackered, restored and then repeated a good few times over the last 17 owners and 46 years!

 

That's an average of 2.7yrs per owner over its life.

 

Most of the digging has been done, the disheartening scale of the project revealed, and the problems recognised and catalogued.

 

I haven't taken off that rear subframe yet!

 

 

In some ways coming in at this point is really good because there's no big surprises (we hope) waiting to trip you up.

 

When a car is rotted to all fooked, you can't be surprised anymore when you find even more.

 

 

In others it's really bad because you don't actually get to enjoy using it until you've put everything right again, which you're well on the way to doing now. Seriously, the side of the car you've welded up should be the very worst of it and you've got that massively more complete than it was when it came to me, or even when it left me. Almost every AD016 is going to do this to their owners, many that are long gone already have done it to their owners, but at least when it's all done you'll have one of the most solid examples out there, if not one of the most original.

Original... like those socks when I was a kid that my Nan darned every other weekend.

[vulgalour]

The glass is original, probably, and that's one bit that can't rust.

[SiC]

I was having a read on the old history that's about online on this. I guess something that will happen more and more with old cars now the internet is truly established. For any internet searchers of the future, the car reg is DPN 90K.

 

Anyway, I was re-reading the old eBay advert that catsinthewelder bought it from. Here it is for prosperity:

Hi and welcome to my listing for this Austin 1100 2 door, a bit of a rare beast.

 

 

 

My family and I are pretty much obsessed with 1100’s, at the minute we have seven variants and over the last 20 years or so must easily have owned 50 plus. A few years ago this little car came into my brothers ownership through ebay, like most listings for classic cars on here it made out that all it needed was a service and it would fly through an MOT. He didn't believe it for one minute but the price was right so he bought it anyway.

 

When we got it home it had plenty of new bits on it, it also had the usual 1100 rot which the listing assured us it didn’t have. , fast forward some Negative feed back, one sill completely replaced, one patched and a load more welding and it was ready for MOT. Our attention then turned to the body which was hand painted with black “paint” (originally it was harvest gold). We started sanding to find that the “paint” was in fact some sort of underseal which needed to be scraped off. My brother really couldn’t be bothered so painted it black with hammerite and drove it for over a year as it was.

 

Time came to pass the car on and after flying through an MOT it was sold to an enthusiast near London (we’re in Nottingham). He paid us to deliver it so, having never had a problem with it mechanically, we decided to have a go at driving it down (backed up with a modern car carrying a fixed tow bar). It drove down no problems at all at around 60-65mph and we left it with him thinking we would never see it again.

 

A few months later and many hundreds of man hours getting rid of about two thirds of the black stuff we got an email to say it needed to go to make way for a new project and we could have it for a price we couldn’t say no to or it would go for scrap. Back down to London and despite it being sat for a few months, it fired up first time and zoomed back up to Nottingham good as gold.

 

We weren’t sure what we were going to do with it so parked it up. The year before I had skidded my new car into a kerb in the snow causing damage which cost more than this car to repair, decision made that it was going back on the road as a winter car. It took an angle grinder with a stiff wire wheel in it to get the rest of the black off, once it was off we realised we had a car with no paint on it which isn’t ideal in the uk. I didn’t want to spend too much money on it so disappeared off into the garage and came back with some paint my brother bought when he was 15 for a mini project which was never used because he realised by the time it was finished that cars really shouldn’t be purple.

 

The paint job was done by us, using basic equipment and isn’t great. I don’t mind it and think it suits the car but it’s a bit rough. I’ve been to local shows with it because I’m not too self conscious but you wont be winning car of the show with this. It could do with flatting off and a top coat putting on by someone who knows what they are doing. There is about a litre or more paint left so you might have enough to do this, otherwise we know the paint colour so you could get some more easily enough.

 

I put it through another mot (pass with just an advisory on an oil leak, now sorted) and put it on the road for use through the winter, including negotiating the mile long private drive to my brothers house in about a foot of snow.

 

In April after the worst of the weather we had a look under it to see how it had fared and surprisingly enough the sill we fitted was fine, but the one we patched was looking rather sad. It was replaced (properly I might add by my father who is a retired blacksmith) and the underside completely stripped, hammerited and undersealed.

 

The Car

 

It has a few bubbles appearing on the doors and wings but the usual MOT failing rot spots are solid and it should easily fly through another MOT. If it sells for more than £750, you pay a £100 paypal deposit (there are some butt heads out there) and give me some warning before you collect I’ll get it through another MOT for you.

 

The interior is a bit of a hotch potch with the original door cards but seats out of a wolseley (darker green) because the originals were all ripped and very uncomfortable. The back seat is split on the seams where the sun had got it but the fronts are very comfortable and are in good condition. We were going for functionality with this car rather than looks and no one ever sits in the back anyway!

 

It has been Regularly serviced while we have had it and what ever it has needed has been done (recent new clutch because it was juddering, brake light switch a week ago etc etc) The engine is a corker, it doesn’t smoke or use a drop of oil and I’d happily jump in it and head off down the motorway in it tomorrow. its never failed to start even in the coldest weather.It rides level, handles well and the brakes are as good as you will find on any 1100.

 

If you are looking for a reliable starter classic or a car which costs peanuts to run (free tax, £92 insurance fully comp and pretty good on fuel) then this is the one for you. If you want to go off winning shows the day after picking it up, keep looking.

 

It saddens me to have to sell but I only have parking for one classic and I want to get my summer car (Porsche 924) back out of hibernation to play in in the sunshine.

 

 

 

Cash on collection please.

 

Interesting things to note from this.

 

1. The sills on both sides were replaced just before catsinthewelder owned it. Makes sense as they look in pretty decent condition. I'm suspecting I will be able to reuse them.

 

2. The clutch was replaced too. At the moment it's stuck, jammed or otherwise inoperable. If I can get it out and split, looks like it should have plenty of meat on it and reusable.

 

3. Reading through Cats thread has reminded me that it had oil pressure issues and bits of gearbox in the oil after a change. Pretty sure I need to get the engine up on the engine stand and split the gearbox off for inspection. I'm not 100% sure what I can inspect while doing that, but I'll try! Also I'll put a new oil pump on it for good measure.

[SiC]

The glass is original, probably, and that's one bit that can't rust.

Well ... There probably is a fair bit of grinding dust stuck on/in it now to rust away.

[sharley17194]

Thats the ad from the second time we owned it, my brother wrote that...

 

i saved it from certain scrap but i never in a million years thought it would still be here now. Nor did i think someone would try and restore it...again. I didn't bodge the car just never poked some of the previous bodges. I got it as a rust free car, i was probably blinded by ebay wording and having driven over to Preston from Nottingham i wasn't going home empty handed. It was a shed then (Shed is the name we gave it.) and this was 8 years ago. Thats one of the reasons i hand painted it black, simply to make it look one colour. I wish i had some pics of it when i first get her. Its a credit to you Vulgalour and SiC for taking on this project. 

 

I know how hard it is to do projects, they take twice as long as expected and twice as much as you hoped. They are so worth it in the end.

 

I loved this car and always will, its by far my favorite car, it would go any where and do anything you asked it. I did fit a 1300 GT engine and twin carbs which made it move down the road a little better...I still have the original harvest gold seats from it, they are vile beyond belief!

 

I was having a read on the old history that's about online on this. I guess something that will happen more and more with old cars now the internet is truly established. For any internet searchers of the future, the car reg is DPN 90K.

Anyway, I was re-reading the old eBay advert that catsinthewelder bought it from. Here it is for prosperity:
Interesting things to note from this.

1. The sills on both sides were replaced just before catsinthewelder owned it. Makes sense as they look in pretty decent condition. I'm suspecting I will be able to reuse them.

2. The clutch was replaced too. At the moment it's stuck, jammed or otherwise inoperable. If I can get it out and split, looks like it should have plenty of meat on it and reusable.

3. Reading through Cats thread has reminded me that it had oil pressure issues and bits of gearbox in the oil after a change. Pretty sure I need to get the engine up on the engine stand and split the gearbox off for inspection. I'm not 100% sure what I can inspect while doing that, but I'll try! Also I'll put a new oil pump on it for good measure.

[sharley17194]

ill find out where this went...

 

There used to be a very good overview of repairing them here: http://ado16.co.uk/replace_those_sills.shtml

Unfortunately in the last month or so the page seems to have been canned and redirected into the main ado16.info which has far less useful guides like that.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 Almost every AD016 is going to do this to their owners, many that are long gone already have done it to their owners, but at least when it's all done you'll have one of the most solid examples out there, if not one of the most original.

 

 

 

Imagine having to do this in 1980 after you forked out the equivalent of 15 grand in 1972! Most 1100's were this bad even then and the Mark III always seemed to rot faster. In 1980, Father Bluejeans rescued the engine and box from a Teal blue Mark III 1300 that had the rod change box - 1973? The car was fucked out of its brains with rot. Seven, eight years old.