Ghostly Goings On - over the moon

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Ghosty, if you’re stuck with this floor hole I can pop round with my welder and make it worse.

[M'coli]

[Sickboy]It should preshent no sherious difficultiesh... [/Sickboy]*

The metal's full thickness here, it's just fatigued and not corroded.

*

 

[Ghosty]

A steel plate has been sourced for MOT purposes. 
We don't have any rivets short enough though... 

Also, the boot lock is broken and needs replacing. That's not on the MOT list though. 

[Mally]

Presume pop rivets?  Knock the ally off the mandrel saw it shorter, put it back on..... Short rivet.

Solid rivet ? just cut it down.

[Supernaut]

Why has nobody suggested just getting it welded at the same garage that's MOT-ing it?

As in; do all the other stuff then make a perhaps temporary repair to the seat to take it to a garage, and get them to check it over for an MOT and weld whatever plate is needed. No messing about taking it to different places here there and everywhere.

[Ghosty]

That costs too much - £50/hour in labour and I'd either have to pay for the interior to be stripped or keep carting the car about so I can add/remove interior. 

[captain_70s]

I mean are you flipping it for profit or fixing it?

If the former I doubt disclosing it's flaws and pop riveting plates into the floors in the public domain is a sensible resale strategy...

 

[stripped fred]

If you're going to do it properly then it needs welding. You might get away with it but it's better to know it's safe, even if it costs a bit more.

[twosmoke300]

Some of the dodgy “ repair “ ideas on here at the moment involving seat and seat belt mounts worry me . 

In next weeks episode we show you how to use body filler in a grease gun to remove that annoying slop in ball joints and then the best way to apply it to rusty brake pipes ! 

[castros_bro]

As it's a Pug 106 1527cc diesel  do you want to sell it to me before you do lots of work ?

[brownnova]

2 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

Some of the dodgy “ repair “ ideas on here at the moment involving seat and seat belt mounts worry me . 

For clarity... my removal of the rear seats to avoid a fail for seatbelt mounts was literally in order to avoid getting it trailered at great cost to garages for quotes as I knew it couldn’t go out travelling to specialists until after lockdown. No one has or will ride in the rear seats until it’s properly welded.

[twosmoke300]

Didnt even mean your one 😆

[Ghosty]

5 hours ago, castros_bro said:

As it's a Pug 106 1527cc diesel  do you want to sell it to me before you do lots of work ?

It's a petrol one, lol. 

[Ghosty]

Minor update today. I figure I'll probably get it welded. 

Couple of packages came today, so for all but a few minutes work, here's a before and after. 

[Rod/b]

Is it just the photo or is that rear strip a different profile? 

[Ghosty]

8 minutes ago, Rod/b said:

Is it just the photo or is that rear strip a different profile? 

They're the same. The front one is dirty and hanging off a bit. 

 

[M'coli]

Right, I've been thinking about the seat ratchet, and need convincing that it's ok. If you've repaired the mount, bolted it in and the ratchet works fine (by that I mean emergency-stop-proof) then good stuff, but if not may I suggest...?

...unbolting the passenger seat and bolting the driver's seat in its place - it'll have to face the rear seats for the brackets to line up - and see if it'll stay in place when you imitate an emergency stop  (perhaps using both legs to replicate the strength you suddenly seem to possess in one leg when you're panicking!) And see if it holds?  It's just a thought.

[Ghosty]

That's not a bad idea - I'll most likely need to take it out anyway.

 

[Ghosty]

Bit more done today. I changed the thermostat, changed the lives round on the radio so it keeps its memory (mechless, and actually a nice little radio), fixed a vacuum leak, and pulled the seats out: 



I followed @M'coli's advice: 



The seat ratchet works about half the time, but it doesn't feel right. I think I'll have to find a replacement. 

[rickvw72]

Lift the carpets while your there, floor fractures around seat bolts and if really bad, around the handbrake. 
 

I used to buy and sell these, at a rate of about three a week at times. Welded that many it is silly, and that was about 10 years ago. 
 

Ive spoke out about wob and rivet repairs in the past. We shouldn’t encourage it. If it’s split, fractured or rotten, it needs welding. End of discussion really. (I’m a Motor vehicle lecturer who delivers mot training and mot refresher training, before im accused of armchair expertry again.)

Great little cars when fixed though. Good fun. 

 

[Ghosty]

17 minutes ago, rickvw72 said:

floor fractures around seat bolts

That's why the interior's out. I think I'm getting a welder tomorrow. 

[rickvw72]

Practice on some thin steel before trying a 106. The metal is really thin and can blow through easy. 

[Ghosty]

Yay for more easy stuff. 

CV boot. 



The boot is fine - I suspect it's a replacement? However someone had attempted to hold it in place with a cable tie, I'm sure you can work out how well that worked. 
Replaced it with a jubilee clip, it's secure now. 



Rear light replaced as the lens was broken. Very easy - the light mounts on two thumbscrews,  just clip in the bulb holder and stick it back in. One of the thumbscrews is hidden behind a vent so you need a screwdriver to get to it.

Otherwise, did a bit of polishing, and cleaned up the rubbing strips, they were slathered in mastic for some reason and held in place with a variety of inappropriate screws. Stuck some rivets in the holes instead. The car's never going to be perfect, and the damage was already done (and all the trim clip holders are broken), so I don't feel too bad about it. 

It's really quite close to an MOT now. 
 

[Mally]

Cable ties are supplied with some boot kits.

Have you checked the jubilee clip revolves without catching?

[twosmoke300]

I was about to post the same thing 

[Ghosty]

WIN. 

Can't take full credit as my dad is the sort of person that starts watching you do something then loses patience and snatches it away, but yeah. 

Just waiting for the replacement seat rail to arrive and it's MOT time. 

[Tepper]

Great little cars these. I picked up a ropey 106 XS fairly early in my motoring adventures, as I gave it death down the road leaving the seller's house the fault with the front seat mountings was revealed and the whole seat/base reclined bigtime, causing something of a brown trouser moment. The seller had clearly tried to bodge this, so I turned round and went back. She clearly just wanted the thing gone, so gave me some money back (pretty decent of her, I'm not sure I'd even ask now). I spent the money on beer, not welding, and continued to thrash the tits off that car making sure to hang on to the steering wheel during application of beans to prevent the seat rocking back. The back mounts were sort of functional, but came loose, so the seat just rocked back rather than becoming completely detached. Good times, hope you or the new owner enjoy this one as much as I did.

[mercedade]

10 hours ago, Ghosty said:

WIN. 

Can't take full credit as my dad is the sort of person that starts watching you do something then loses patience and snatches it away, but yeah. 

Just waiting for the replacement seat rail to arrive and it's MOT time. 

Looking good.

Does the handbrake warning light still work? 😀

[Talbot]

You've still got to do something about that handbrake travel!  It really should not double as a rocket launcher through the sunroof.

.. and without being too much of a doom merchant, I'm not so sure about the jubilee clip on the CV boot.  Cable ties do work if they are installed properly, especialy the flat steel "fold back" type ones.  You might find the jubilee clip works, but you might also find you've introduced rather too much out-of-balance mass.

Like this is what I mean:

[Ghosty]

8 hours ago, mercedade said:

Does the handbrake warning light still work? 😀

Yes