Tales of eccentrism motoring 2012 onwards ,rag tag engineering

[Jim Bell]

I think welding in the rain is chapter 2 in the Big Book Of Heroic Things To Do to Impress Your Friends. 

Glad to see it churning along man. Is this one the sole dailly ATM or is there something to slide into family duties while it's getting a seeing to?

[yes oui si]

Hero

[Jikovron]

Aye it's the daily beater although now out of 6 cars 1 works so the ignis is doing all of the journeys between us.

I found the welding mask, it was at home afterall, I'd actually forgotten to take it up the parents ,then forgot that I had forgot thus couldn't find it there, anyhow the exhaust is massively in the way so I pugilistically removed it 

Then discovered that the car was so full of hand tools that I couldn't recline anywhere which was sorted with a random plastic box

This assisted greatly in the sense that the power leads weren't lassooing everything in sight and dragging it all over the floor pan.

From this view it can be seen the entire rail is rotten right through to the foot well crossmember so there is more joy to come.

Finished the inner arch now that its merely icy rather than windy and raining

The one sticky point with a car like this is that everywhere looks ready to rot straight through and coupled with laminated foil construction for the main part hand in hand with complex pressings it's like these are designed to be a challenging welding task.

[captain_70s]

  On 26/02/2020 at 22:02, Jikovron said:

It's like these are designed to be bean cans at 10 years old

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FTFY

[Jikovron]

Yeah your right there man and to think it looks spotless up top.

Tonight's work scene, the stage was set for yet more rust here rust there everywhere.

So with the rear part of the rail gone I could have just welded in from the axle mount back however a closer look revealed that the rail under the mount is cornflakes so must go.

With the exhaust and the trailing arm pivot bolt coerced from its metric threaded hermitage I could get on and drill out the spotwelds and as always I partially missed a couple so had to keep wobbling the metal/hammering screwdrivers in.

From this angle the rail looks weldable, However it really isnt as it's full of rotten blown laminated sheet,,,so thusly be gone!

So the next task will be to cut the rail off, make card templates galore and lie underneath being bathed in sparks trying to weld basically an entire 5 piece jigsaw chassis rail on.

 

[Jim Bell]

I think welding upside down in the road in February is chapter 12. 

[Angrydicky]

Incredible work!

[Jikovron]

Rain put paid to doing a full day but when it reduced its intensity I pulled out the cardboard mat and cracked on as far as I could

The rot had extended into the foot well crossmember so that was cut out.

This area was the worst as the grinder couldn't get in at the top properly so had to blindly grind and guess where the spot welds were as the rust hid them all.

The rest of the rail came off without much fight, thankfully the last of the rot is away so I can get on and make huge templates of the old rail.

This is it roughly in order and the only thing I'll use is the spring mount, trailing arm mount and the stiffener.

[Jikovron]

The drudgery factor stepped up to the max today, so now with a knackered back, grit in my eyes I'm still not finished, it felt like all I was doing was walking back and forth between the car and the workshop trailing the extension lead depending on what tool was needed and forgetting what part of the panel needed hitting,bent,ground etc. 

Lesson learnt either way, it's not worth the aggro letting the sole daily car run faults right up to the mot ! 

The footwell crossmember recieved a patch

Then I could turn my attention to the inner wall of the chassis rail, making it in one would have been way too ambitious so big sections where jigsawed out of a electrical panel.

The donor metal is 1.5mm thick and was a nightmare to form into any meaningful shape.

This section took a fair old tweaking to fit

It's about this time that I was massively bored of battering my head off the underside so up she went ! 

The outer chassis rail was fitted with the reinforcement for the seat belt and seat base mounts 

Thick wall 30x30box made a reasonable job of matters, the welding could have been better, but it's solid and the wind, rain,snow etc didnt assist much.

The trailing arm mount was repatriated by bolting it on and hammering it flat onto the rail.

Just the last piece to make up then the spring cone can go back on and then over to the other side to patch ,,,maybe.

[xtriple]

I once spent a 'happy' weekday welding a mates 106 which was slightly crusty inside the rear wheel arch. I was trying to do it between rainstorms and at the first drops hitting my head, throwing black plastic bin liners over the welder and then legging it inside. Once raindrops stopped actively falling from the sky, back out there, placcy covers off, power on and get bac on with it. I'd been doing this for some time before the mate whose car it was ventured outside (he didn't like the rain) and pointed out my MIG welder was now sat in about three inches of water.

I didn't die... but a few of the nine lives may have expired!

[Jikovron]

I had the luxury of being underneath so the rain,snow and hail wasnt as bad as it could be,  I've seen how rough a 106/saxo gets when the boot floor starts squeaking and fatigue failing.

The mot is in about 40mins, will see if there is a reasonable pass or something glaringly wrong elsewhere! 

[Jim Bell]

Fingers crossed man. 

[captain_70s]

Congrats, nice work.

[Jikovron]

 

Uncross those fingers we have a result!

With a short trip up to a knowledgeable and a rightly stickler for detail tester it gained a pass,  will do the other side in summer as it is solid enough now but will have burgeoning issues internally undoubtedly.

Emissions where all looking good which is a good sign that the cat is still happy at 150k so no work needed there thankfully.

Minor things I'll attend to will be a replacement mirror casing, severe levels of rust proof mess, discs and pads in a few k and probably front tyres at around the same time,,then hopefully it's the car I hoped it would be,,,not how reality shaped it lol.

 

 

 

[blackboilersuit]

Welding in the street in February is one thing but actually cutting all the rot out and doing the job properly elevates you to true legend status. You deserve a 48 month ticket for that effort!

[Jim Bell]

[Angrydicky]

This is really inspirational stuff. Congrats on the MoT, richly deserved

[juular]

Excellent thread, heroic MOT save as well.

[shoddybanger]

I doff my hat to you, good sir. This is the true spirit of autoshiteing right here. Classy work indeed. And what a great piece of automotive produce to be receiving it!

[Jikovron]

Thankyou for all for the kind words, a sometimes a trial (although trivial) is made much more bearable when shared via the medium of community.  As an aside I reckon a decent cordless drill with a decent cache of spot weld drills would be ideal, as my 12v aldi drill although not bad couldn't hack the pace at all, and I blunted the spotweld drill within 10 spot welds.

I left vvv this stuff at work but I reckon it would have kept the drill bit going ad infinitum as you can blast the crappest amtech tap through stainless etc with the stuff

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIRCRAFT-TOOLS-NEW-BOELUBE-SOLID-LUBRICANT-1-6-OZ-70200-13/121928734572?hash=item1c6384d76c:g:I-cAAOSwyYFaFUsz

 

[Jikovron]

I took a look at the proton which has been a continuous piece of ornamental garden furniture for years now and has required work done that is a major amount of hassle namely rot in and around the arches.

Previously when the car was on the road it was something I was going to just sort with simple panels bashed into near enough shape however a scrapped mpi donated the rear quarter and inner panels in one large assembly which I carefully unpicked and had shot blasted and subsequently repaired where the rot had taken hold.

First up was to remove the rear seats, clear out the rubbish and clean the horrible oily film that was prevalent over everything.

A quick bucket of soap and degreaser made it possible to sit inside without getting covered in needless filth.

Behind this is where the rot had set in behind the shock mounting panel.

I ended up having to hand grind the spotweld drill as it went dull quickly.

Shock mount gone,,and this opened up handy portholes to weld the inner arch via.

One thing that I find handy is when the patches come out without being too mangled so I can copy them.

I cut out a rough sized rectangle for this and as the metal was worked it proved to be insufficient to say the least so had to add some blinking triangles!

This wanted some serious levels of repair,,making it from scratch would have been a major ballache with the potential for spending hours to get something no good.

First repair piece in, and as always welding in the wind is sporadic runs whilst the wind momentarily calms,,,then sitting there waiting for the next lull, this on top of the welder being abit hit and miss caused mild vexation it could be said.

Another patch made easier via the access holes, but still might aswell have been gas less as the wind was unrelenting by this stage.

I had cut this away ages ago but had just left it for months,, might aswell start adding metal to clear the out the triumphs boot and make use of the mpi repair panels.

This took loads of fettling as the metal had warped from the sand blasting,welding,being stood on etc but it went on no bother in the end.

I tried to avoid cutting the panel above the bumper but the inner arch was rotten further along so that's the next area of attack.

Eventually I'll get to this stage but there is loads of farting about needed before I close it up.

Looking ahead there is the front valance to try and reconstruct possibly out of some old IBC plastic sheeting maybe.

[Jim Bell]

 

Pretty sure it stands for something like that. 

Tops metalling man. It's really putting a bit of weight on in the lockdown. 

[Jikovron]

So as enthusiasm continued with the proton 1.8 good luck sir I dove right in at the cosmetic end of the spectrum which rewarded me with relatively smooth levels of progression forward, the task I view through cynical specs is pasting on various rust prevention coatings as I'm always suspicious that somehow I havnt recreated the laboratory conditions required for zinc primer,hydrate 80,hammerite black paint,Pu seam sealer etc or indeed as I suspect I've got the order of application mixed up as I sprayed the panels with zinc primer, then pasted on the hydrate80 where I think it should have been pu sealant around the seams,hydrate 80,zinc primer then black paint either way I'm hopeful rust will be kept at bay.

So the lower rear quarter recieved a repair as it had rot down behind the mud flap,its been shot blasted like the rest so I've to bare metal all the alu oxide off it as blast coating seems to cause loads of issues with corrosion etc.

Next up my metal folder that I made with a 100 amp clarke welder years ago came into good use for the arch repair patch, originally I was going to stitch in the old pieces but as they are all 1mm smaller it made sense to trace round them in one fresh piece and it removes an element of surface corrosion.

So with some carefull deburring the pieces all fit together nicely although there are minor differences in tolerance between a 95 mpi and a 91 1300, it's not enough to be a problem however.

At this stage really the welding is going to be ruinous to the visible area but it has to be done I guess.

Once I've made a mess of that ive got to reinstate the damper mount as modify is to remove the old mud trap whilst keeping strength in the area.

The piece that curves over the top is at the top if the wheel wheel which spreads the forces all over the wheel tub, but tbh I bet it can be simplified massively.

Then after that it's only the 3 patches in the middle before i call that part of the car done.

[Jim Bell]

I love the enthusiasm of ending on "and when I've done this there's only 3 other bits to do, then this specific part of the car will be done."

Fantastic outlook and skillset. 10 stars!

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Splendid commitment going on here, that upside-down late-night winter roadside welding on the little Japanese car (is it a Domino?) is boardroom-grade shiting, defo well beyond what I could muster.

Did you get yourself a new spot weld drill @Jikovron? If not PM me your address and I will send you a 6.5mm 'Dormer'' effort, the Rolls-Royce of spot weld drills. Consider it a contribution to the cause!!!!

[Jikovron]

  On 23/04/2020 at 07:44, Jim Bell said:

 ......

 

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  On 23/04/2020 at 08:21, Mr_Bo11ox said:

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Thankyou for the most kind comments gents, if at least something approaching entertainment is provided along with winning the fight against natural vehicular entropy then it's an additional string to the motivational bow!

Also mr XB I've not replaced the spotweld drill insofar as to just increase the drilling pressure/resharpen repeatedly which has been impractical on unsupported paperwork.

I'll send a pm regarding your generous offer, many thanks!

[Jikovron]

First up, this SKF drill bit arrived courtesy of Mr_bollox, which is a very pleasant surprise and rather generous, many thanks for that I can now indulge in the precise severance of spotwelds without denting the panel work!

Feeling generally upbeat I attacked a few more jobs, a wheel well patch was hastily battered into shape and not welded in as the access is handy currently.

So next up the bit I had hoped to spend time caressing into position and inanely spot welding into position whilst feasting my eyes over the seductive sheet curves was cast aside in favour of just blasting it in position.

^^^ the ole 1986 passively cooled welder disaster zone just sat showing me how I should be living life

I should be breaking out the filler really but it's a repair based on practicality and slight impatience 

Also of note I tackled some sort of rust proofing measure on the daihatsu welding work as my quick blow over with zinc started fostering corrosion so I wire wheeled the whole area, pasted on the rust convertor, zinc primer,some horrible gloss black paint and some old man 'bitumastic' stonechip everywhere inside the arch.

Loads more to be done! 

[Jikovron]

Massive diversion to the proceedings! I fancy a Locost but rather than wade through the 2 outdated Haynes tomes and cut a vast pile of pipes out of 25mm RHS ready to accept 'worthless' old escort or sierra mechanicals I'm making this ultra light and very tight on the dimensions ,1M track,1.8m wheelbase and maybe a Honda gx390 driving some lightweight transmission gearing, it's not meant as a serious vehicle but a way of channeling some old ideas into something daft.

I visited cyclekarts.gb for some inspiration and found plenty, although they run a fairly fixed formula of very early GP cars so I'm on the fringes of that tbh.

I drew up some ideas to see how it plays out.

I've got lots of hardware like chain drive diffs and various widgets but machining work will have to wait and also parts of the chassis to take semi trailing or an ultra light live axle will have to wait really.

The decided factor is a split beam front end like a lotus 6 with some sort of worm gearbox steering box though so I'll use 32mm pipe welded to some bicycle hubs as kingpins.

Also in the mix as its cut down on size is 10x2.5 rims with 4.00-10 tyres which keeps it in some level of scale.

Armed with some level of idea I've made a start on the chassis which I'm going to make entirely out of electrical conduit as its dimensions and wall thickness are roughly what a locust would use but being tube I can do away with loads of horrible joints by way of scabby conduit bender! 

Abit of a bugger to get back into the swing of as tiny mistakes translate into borking whole lengths of pipe !

It's a fine balancing act between cleaning off the zinc, but not thinning the pipe! 

Some of the hardware, a 90degree gearbox,diff and a sturmey archer of whi h the latter is questionable regarding longevity.

[Datsuncog]

Crikey, that's an unexpected turn!

Fantastic stuff, like JimH's Sentinel thread I find this kind of scratch build work quite fascinating. I've zero engineering knowhow, and seeing an actual vehicle appear from assorted tubes and billet looks kinda like magic.

Kingpins from cycle wheel hubs. Legendary.

[somewhatfoolish]

What are the pistons and rods in the background from?