Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - To gas or not to gas(less MIG) - 09/11/24

[captain_70s]

are those headlight wiper holes under the headlights?

I think they just give access to the height adjusting screw because my example is too bASe to have a dial in the car to adjust that...

[adw1977]

I think they just give access to the height adjusting screw because my example is too bASe to have a dial in the car to adjust that...

 

That figures.  If only you had a HL or above, you could have this luxury...

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/albums/72157629950036194/with/7298334020/

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I was perusing my ‘Cars we loved* in the 1980’s’ book earlier, and couldn’t help but spot this. ‘Project Bounty’ makes the Acclaim sound pretty special. Better than ‘Project it’ll do’ I guess.

Enjoy.

 

[captain_70s]

Mine drives nicely, although it does tend to wander. The bodywork on the other hand...

 

I went-a poking today as the MOT expires on the 21st, things are grim.

 

 

That is the O/S chassis leg and is the better of the two. There is fiberglass galore, I suspect it's been cunning disguised as having been welded. I'm going to cover it up with underseal and hope nobody notices it.

 

 

That is the N/S chassis leg, it is utterly fucked. The floor is alright.

 

 

That is the N/S seatbelt mounting area, very grotty. Prodding causes the whole area to flex, probably going to need patching.

 

 

That is the O/S seatbelt mounting area, even grottier. Has been "repaired" previously with a mixture of plates on the outside and inside of the car.

 

 

This is in the boot, prior repair gone grim. Desperately needs tidying up.

 

 

The state of things at the end of today are the car looks like this:

 

 

I have this snazzy cardboard template of an Acclaim N/S chassis leg:

 

 

I also have the rear seats inside for cleaning and the downpipe here for application of exhaust paste to a new blowing area...

 

 

I feel slightly less confident with buying this £850 car blind right now, especially as my fixed term contract for work ends on the 30th and I've no idea if it'll be renewed.

 

 

 

[theshadow]

not too bad done worse. :-D on a shitty a class merc last week,both rear inner outer sill areas,one side right next fuel pipe.

[AnthonyG]

I’m not sure not fixing the O/S chassis leg is a good idea, just in case somebody stupid driving something big and modern hits you.

 

Mot testers like to see metal in that sort of structural area for a good reason. Plus you’ve already got the N/S template, just reverse for the other side? (Unless Acclaims are weird and not symmetrical in that area)

[captain_70s]

I’m not sure not fixing the O/S chassis leg is a good idea, just in case somebody stupid driving something big and modern hits you.

 

Mot testers like to see metal in that sort of structural area for a good reason. Plus you’ve already got the N/S template, just reverse for the other side? (Unless Acclaims are weird and not symmetrical in that area)

 

Not fixing it isn't permanent plan, if I can get the time I'll strip it all back and see if there is actually some metal hiding in there somewhere. Whether I'll be able to do that before the current MOT runs out is another matter, my lack of off-road storage is proving to be problematic once again...

 

For now the car is condemned as there is less holding the car together as I thought there was and I'm mildly concerned a speedbump will remove the front N/S wheel...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

That's a bugger. Project Bounty is turning into Project PITA. Just a thought, but couldn't you just get a pro welder to spend a day on it, and do it properly? At least then it'll be done and you don't need to stress over it.

[drum]

Does looks bit grotty, not what you want to find when you go looking underneath.

 

320_touring lives near you and has the skilz!

 

Is that a brake line running inside the car? Maybe it pops up through a hole in the floor and back down through another! Good way to stop brake line corrosion mind.

[Tickman]

Some of that looks quite bad but a bit of time cleaning back and painting should make a massive improvement to a lot of it and will leave you knowing exactly what needs cut out.

[captain_70s]

The N/S chassis leg is beyond patching, the vast majority is getting cut out and replaced.

The O/S may be simillar.

 

N/S seatbelt area will need patching but should be easy to fabricate with flat panels.

O/S looks terrible but might not fail the MOT as there is no unpatched holes and I can't poke any more in it.

 

Rear arch rot is hideous but also potentially servicable with a wire wheel and some Hammerite.

 

I'm planning on heading up to a certain shite repair facility based in Cowdenbeath on Sunday to put some graft in.

[Tickman]

The N/S chassis leg is beyond patching, the vast majority is getting cut out and replaced.

The O/S may be simillar.

 

N/S seatbelt area will need patching but should be easy to fabricate with flat panels.

O/S looks terrible but might not fail the MOT as there is no unpatched holes and I can't poke any more in it.

 

Rear arch rot is hideous but also potentially servicable with a wire wheel and some Hammerite.

 

I'm planning on heading up to a certain shite repair facility based in Cowdenbeath on Sunday to put some graft in.

Looking forward to the pictures.

[JeeExEll]

[mk2_craig]

Cunty?

[captain_70s]

Did some faffing about today after work:

 

The exhaust downpipe was removed (again) and the welded joins sealed with some exhaust paste which I cured by the fire...

 

 

I pulled the heat shield thing off the front of the manifold, it only had two out of three bolts and one was rounded so I suspect it's been off fairly recently.

 

 

While I was there I tweaked up all the manifold nuts as they seemed suspiciously loose, the gaskets are also very clean.

 

I then bolted the exhaust back on and tightened it as far as I dared.

 

 

I think it's supposed to be studs and nuts but they come off like bolts and I don't want to risk shearing them, it needs a lot of force to turn them any more and doesn't seem to make things any better. The blow is now 90% gone but one side simply won't seal 100%, it'll do for now.

 

The rattling of the jubilee clip exhaust mounts at idle was doing my head in so I cut a corner off one of the Dolomite's old rubber floor mat, lifted the exhaust with the jack and shoved it in the gap. Rattle gone.

 

 

I also took the rear seats in for a clean and they've come up pretty well!

 

 

I took the car for a quick spin and it is far quieter now and seems to idle a bit smoother. There is a whistling noise under acceleration, hard to say if that's the exhaust blow or an intake leak, I'd not have head it over the blowing exhaust previously.

 

Finally a show of the two Hondas, 20 years of design between the two of them!

 

 

 

 

[captain_70s]

So I on Sunday I arranged to meet with FOAD at the legendary Foadwerx 2.0 shite storage and repair facility in order to get the Acclaim up on the 4 post ramp and get a proper look at the chassis legs.

 

 

Foadwerx is a magical place were time is stuck somewhere in the early 1990s and has a greater density of shite per square foot than any other place on Earth. Fact.

 

I drove over in about an hour and 15 although with a ton a crap in the boot including my 3-ton jack (presumably name for it's weight and not it's lifting capacity) the Acclaim wouldn't really go any faster than 60mph in top on an incline even with my foot welded to the floor so progress was leisurely.

 

Once I arrived the car was lifted and assessed.

 

 

Overall it's in pretty good nick, the N/S chassis leg was largely shot, the O/S one has been welded and then fibreglassed over for some bizarre reason so we left it alone.

 

Rust removed:

 

 

Carpet moved to prevent OMGFIRE, (not that there was any worry of that as the sound deadening material was very damp and smelt fucking terrible...)

 

 

New metal welded in and under sealed:

 

 

I let FOAD do this because he knows how to MIG and is slightly* better equipped than myself...

 

 

While it was up on the ramps I also took a wire wheel to the the jacking points and anti-roll bar as the underseal was all flaking off and looked horrendous, I then applied Vactan rust converter and re-under-sealed them.

 

 

Then I turned to the sills which were all covered in flaking underseal and rust blebs and looked properly terrible. Wire wheeled all the loose crap off to reveal rather solid and tidy sills, applied Vactan and fresh underseal:

 

 

The seatbelt mounting points will still need attention at some point but should be fine for the MOT.

 

I then had a nosy at the exhaust system and found it is blowing at pretty much every pipe join and weld even with my tightening all the clamps. FOAD offered to weld the joins up but I've decided to simply pack the joins with exhaust paste and re-tighten the clamps as I reckon I'm just going to have the whole system replaced sooner rather than later as it sits all wrong and hits speedbumps.

 

With that done we then turned our attentions to fitting the rear axle from the spares car to the (ex)knob van as documented in FOAD's thread.

 

 

Overall a productive day, very grateful to FOAD for letting me use the ramp and doing my welding for me. Also good to catch up with Derskine and Nisfan again who also popped by. When I drove home there were more downhill stretches and I made it back to Glasgow in under an hour sitting at an indicated 75-80 (actually 70-75) but in doing so I also used about 1/3rd of a tank of unleaded...

 

Here are some general Foadwerx pictures:

 

[junkyarddog]

Fantastic!

[oldcars]

That looks great now its all welded up.

[DodgyBastard]

Also pleased to report that the other chassis rail is solid and made of metal, we tested it with a magnet and it definitely isn't made of fiberglass.

 

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[AnthonyG]

Great stuff, should be fine for a MoT now.

 

That Bluebird is great, haven’t seen a pre-Sunderland one for ages now.

[HillmanImp]

I wish someone would lend me a ramp. Have a friggin mountain of welding to do on the Jag (and others) which would be much easier with a ramp indoors rather than rolling around on the floor on the driveway with burning hot metal in my ear.

[DodgyBastard]

I wish someone would lend me a ramp. Have a friggin mountain of welding to do on the Jag (and others) which would be much easier with a ramp indoors rather than rolling around on the floor on the driveway with burning hot metal in my ear.

You are more than welcome to use my ramp but having to travel probably won't make it feasible for you.

 

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[HillmanImp]

You are more than welcome to use my ramp but having to travel probably won't make it feasible for you.

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Ta for the offer but yeah, its a bit far. I nearly bought a house with an inspection pit several years ago. That would've been belting. Think building one here would be a nightmare with water though.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Ta for the offer but yeah, its a bit far. I nearly bought a house with an inspection pit several years ago. That would've been belting. Think building one here would be a nightmare with water though.

If welding I reckon I'd be a lot happier with a lift than a pit....

 

Nowhere local to you that does the rent a ramp stuff?

 

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[HillmanImp]

If welding I reckon I'd be a lot happier with a lift than a pit....

Nowhere local to you that does the rent a ramp stuff?

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Yeah but I'm too tight to fork out. For the money they charge I may as well pay them to do the welding.

[captain_70s]

Wire wheeled the welded patches in the boot and gave them a coating of Vactan. Did the same with the rear seatbelt mounting areas although the N/S is very tender, I reinforced the weakest bits from the inside of the car with fibreglass, as the sheet steel I ordered was apparently sent via Hermes so I'll probably never see it, and added a healthy amount of underseal to the outside of the car.

With a bit of luck this'll see it through the MOT on Friday and, other than the brake lines being routed straight through the area needing welding, access from inside the car should be adequate for proper repair in the near future.

 

Other problems that still need rectifying are as follows:

 

The electrics are garbage. Every light flickers in unison, dash lights, headlights, sidelights, brake lights, the lot. Not massively but just enough to notice it at night. The right hand indicator flashes too fast if any other rear light is illuminated (assuming this is a local earthing problem). Whether or not the car has enough charge to fire on the first turn of the key or require several sluggish churns of starter motor is seemingly decided at complete random. The flipside is that aside from the indicator issue everything at least works.

The main battery/engine/body earth points have all been cleaned up, I'll need to go hunting for more.

 

The idle is lumpy, not enough to stall even when the engine is cold but it's far from smooth. The carbs may be out of balance or have an air leak or something, I've not really looked into the engine/carbs/gearbox/cooling system aside from checking vital fluid levels...

 

The exhaust is garbage. It leaks from every single join and weld. For £250 I could apparently buy a full exhaust system, which is made by Imasaf in Italy, from a supplier in Germany oddly enough which seems to be the only place which actually sells them. I may pop down to my local Powerflow place and get a quote for a full stainless system...

 

There is a bit of a wobble through the steering at 60-70mph.

 

The O/S rear shock seems to be leaking a bit.

 

There is an oil leak from somewhere near the gearbox.

 

Tasks for tomorrow:

 

Seal up exhaust leaks.

 

Add a splash of Hammerite to the newly Vactan'd areas.

 

Re fit the rear seats/plastic trim panels/boot mat.

 

Re-earth the N/S rear light.

 

Hoover out the Civic and fit it's new floor mats.

[captain_70s]

As of now the exhaust is slightly less leaky. We shall see if it survives the trip to work. I also hoovered the interior as I had the hoover out:

 

 

While I was on a tidying bender I figured I'd clean out the boot, took out the plastic bins in the corners to empty them of crap and...

 

 

Joys. Call me Mr Mojo Fallin' 'cause I'm not feeling the whole shite life thing right now...

[Datsuncog]

A song that won't necessarily take your mind off the matter at hand, but is quite nice anyway...?

 

 

Disappointing though this latest discovery is, hopefully there can't be much more grot hiding now. Seems like you made good progress over the weekend, and you've already given this car more attention than it's had in many a long year.

 

You'll get there!

[captain_70s]

Disappointing though this latest discovery is, hopefully there can't be much more grot hiding now.

It's a Triumph, there is always more rot...

 

I need to dash out tomorrow morning and buy some steel, get the fucker patched before work...

[DodgyBastard]

It's a Triumph, there is always more rot...

 

I need to dash out tomorrow morning and buy some steel, get the fucker patched before work...

Bring it back over here on Thursday night and I'll weld it.

 

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