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Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - Scrapped 20th August 2021 // Final Video To End 2021


St.Jude

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14 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

These sill panels are so thin. Without joggling the panel, blow through is inevitable.

overall mark: A+

I was blowing holes through what was on the car, not so much on the bit I made - unless it's fairly thin in width then it would just melt.

-

Today, Day 3 (haven't updated the title as I can't do that on the phone), the replacement panel turned up.

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I took a photo of what I did, sent it to the wife and she said "I can't tell the difference".

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I question her eye sight given she married me but I will take that!

Slight bit of the sill I need to trim, based on what the new panel is telling me. So I'm about to do that now - I want the bottom of the forward side arch (next to the door) done today, and at least have half of the rear most arch done today.

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - 10 Day Blitz: Day 3 - Meet the new panel, same as the old panel.

Day 3 finished. Note to self: check the wire speed! I think the welding has improved because the wire speed was knocked up high to weld upside down.

So I finished the bottom of the driver's side arch.

I then turned my attention to the rear, and there was a corner of rust by where the rear door hinges that looked dodge. It was dodge, so I took the door off. Not great to do when my knee is getting worse!

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Cut out the rot, and started rebuilding it. Sort of did the same as the other side, with the exception of putting in a bit of reinforcement which was now missing as it was rotten.

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It started raining, so I rushed the last bit.

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But now, maybe tomorrow but I've been roped in to be with the wife most of the day, the next bit will be to put on the bottom arch. I think though that given the relative straightforward curve on this side, this arch will take a day or two to get to the point of the outer arch to be on!

As an aside, and I can't remember if I mentioned this, the last time I had days off work to do work here I had gout in my foot. Wednesday last week I woke up with excruciating pain in my knee. It hasn't improved and I think it's worse. 

To give you an idea, I think I tore a ligament in or around the knee cap, so I can't bend it. Sitting on the bog is painful, so getting up and down off the ground isn't great. Well annoyed at this as if I was on full power I feel I could do more, but at the same time I'm managing to do a lot and ignore the pain - until it's bed time and then I wake up with it.

What it has taught me though is that a lot of my strength comes from my legs, meaning putting the back door on the RAV4 is now a two man job. So for now, I've got it propped up on the car with a block of wood, and wrapped some bungee cords around the roof bars.

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1 hour ago, Minimad5 said:

I've said it once before, but well done for ploughing on with this.

Worth posting your rough location and see if anyone off here is willing to help, even if it's just a little lift or two with heavy doors etc ?

I'm in Stourbridge, God's own Nursing Home. I've a mate down the road who would come and do heavy lifting if I asked, so I'm not totally on my own. I just rather do these things myself

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2 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

Guess where my sills are…….???

Frigging Poland still!!!! (Not that I’m implying Poland is a bad place?)

They seem to have moved from one depot to another every other day.

I never thought I would ever see the day where we found a delivery company worse than Yodel or Hermes - yet here we are with GLS!

Would be worth emailing the parts place and ask for Kostas I think. He's the owner, he might give them what for!

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(will update title when I'm near a computer).

Day 4: late start as I struggle with Wednesday's even when I'm at work. Went great guns with the arch, finished a bit I missed Monday and started to build either side up.

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Wanky camera angles today because the camera on my phone smashed a few weeks ago as I was cutting this arch out, and when the sun shines it acts like a prism. So I had to selfie it without being in it.

As you can tell, it's not all welded. That's because the gas ran out! 15 mins before the shop shut, so that's stopped it for today. I rang them and they have a bottle so I'll be there at 8am tomorrow to crack on.

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - 10 Day Blitz: Day 4 - No Gas Stops Play

Guys guys guys guys!

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I've an arch! Nearly.

I've got to do the rear part, that shouldn't be a big issue. But tomorrow the new panel will be in place!

Can't begin to say how much easier it is when you don't have a fuel filler neck to account for, but there we are.

Have also made the decision that, unless something mental happens, the trailing arms aren't going to be touched. I think I'm asking for trouble trying to free it from the suspension links and shock absorber. They'll need replacing at some point, but for now it'll do especially as they weren't a problem before the MOT. Plus it's edging closer to August and I really need to crack on with doing bits on the house for the wife and the future ruler of the world to be.

And, to top it all off - I'm sunburnt to fuck.

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - 10 Day Blitz: Day 5 - Sunburn means I've nearly got me arch
On 7/14/2021 at 11:28 AM, St.Jude said:

I never thought I would ever see the day where we found a delivery company worse than Yodel or Hermes - yet here we are with GLS!

Would be worth emailing the parts place and ask for Kostas I think. He's the owner, he might give them what for!

They’ve arrived! But even more importantly they are still straight!

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6 hours ago, garellikatia said:

Brilliant work mate, I keep looking at this for tips 👍😀

The biggest tip I can give is pay someone to do it, but if you can't afford it, buy a tent and do it 😂

1 hour ago, Ian_Fearn said:

They’ve arrived! But even more importantly they are still straight!

Good stuff! I was quite impressed with my panel, so hopefully it does the job for you 

_

So, I've got an arch, and it's all welded!

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As you can see, I tried my best but the original panel still distorted. Not as bad as the passenger side, but fairly annoying. 

Not as annoying at what happened to my finger. Don't know how, but a bit of weld fell on to my ring and Christ it hurt. Took my ring off and revealed this boo boo.

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That's my Dad's ring and it's been on that finger since the day he died practically and it's never been off. Not even for rugby, but a stray weld splatter means I've got to take it off for a bit.

Other than a slither of welding to do on the passenger side, and a bit of an amendment to some welding on the sill (all of which is about half an hour to an hour's worth of work) - ALLLLLLLL THE WELDING HAS BEEN DONE.

Tomorrow will be a day of going deaf with grinding down some of the welds, then cleaning the underside for a day of red oxide primer paint for Sunday. Hopefully!

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I think the luck, and any sort of good nature I have for this, has ran out.

While underneath the car, with the wire brush and DeWalt (not Dettol this time), I discovered some cracks by the passenger side springs. I kept the wire wheel on it, more chunks of steel came off, exposing the inner skin, and a swift poke of the screwdriver....

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Yeah. Not good. Not great. Not anything to be fucking happy about. The driver side is the same bar the inner skin, as it still feels ok but isn't as think as it once was.

 

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So I'm here now, applying plusgas to the rear suspension which I didn't want to take apart. The wife is sorry for me, but also doing the wife thing of "scrap it m8" - and I'll be honest now more than ever I'm tempted.

I'm not 100% sure about how far the rust creep affects the spring seat. I think it might be ok, but then when the angry pixies get at it how long will it remain steel instead of disappearing like so much of the other steel has when it's been a bit thin?

Tomorrow then I'm dropping the trailing arm and associated bits and pieces, helpfully the brake line needs to be disconnected to allow the lot to come off. Also means jacking the car up and relocating the axle stand a bit more inboard which I don't like having happen on a car I'm going under. 

Genuinely, this could be it for the car - at least under my stewardship.

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - 10 Day Blitz: Day 7 - Like Morrissey, It's All Turned To Shit.

I've just skim read the thread again. I've stayed away commenting on it as it's become the "ungrateful bastard" I feared it would be. We obviously had different views on saving it from the start but I was really cheering you on with it.

 

Properly heartbroken for you over this. The work and effort you've put in has been incredible.

I can't give advice but you have come really far with it and it would be a shame to sack it off now. I'd take a week off to think about things.

This thing really has kicked you in the balls at every single turn. If you need help smashing it to pieces let me know, I've got a 14lb sledgehammer that you can borrow and maybe it could be used as anger management therapy for the forum.

All the best with the decision but I definitely admire your perseverance, (remind me never to upset you as you are bloody relentless 😀)

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52 minutes ago, Agila said:

I've just skim read the thread again. I've stayed away commenting on it as it's become the "ungrateful bastard" I feared it would be. We obviously had different views on saving it from the start but I was really cheering you on with it.

 

Properly heartbroken for you over this. The work and effort you've put in has been incredible.

I can't give advice but you have come really far with it and it would be a shame to sack it off now. I'd take a week off to think about things.

This thing really has kicked you in the balls at every single turn. If you need help smashing it to pieces let me know, I've got a 14lb sledgehammer that you can borrow and maybe it could be used as anger management therapy for the forum.

All the best with the decision but I definitely admire your perseverance, (remind me never to upset you as you are bloody relentless 😀)

There's a field opposite with a fairly stout tree, that's where it'll be going!

I haven't a week to think about what to do, but I went for a drive just to avail of the air con with the wife and really the car needs to be on the road now in order for me to get the list I have done. So it needs to be done, or it needs to go. But, at the same time, it owes me to just work. So I'm going to drop the thing tomorrow and just do it - but on the provisio if it's weakened where the coil spring sits, then I'm not going to tackle that and the scrapper will be called.

33 minutes ago, Tickman said:

Can you just 'MOT patch' the area instead of ripping it all apart?

Might be enough breathing space getting a ticket on it and it being of use and not a drain

This is what I want to do, but in a way I'm not worrying that it'll collapse as I drive. So that's the absolute maximum amount of work I'm willing to do on it now, so if the spring seat can't be fixed easily by me then it's going.

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To remove the rear end on the Fourtrak, I had to cut every single bolt. And the bushes too. Cos the bolts were fused into the bush.

Ive been on mine for a while, take it steady and it’s not the mission rushing it becomes.

Or scrap it. I’ve had dreams of binning the Daihatsu, but there’s a stubborn part of me that won’t give up. 
 

Problem if you bin it will be the nagging feeling that you’ve done the worst of it, that’s what I decided. 

Do it if your enjoying it, bin if it’s driving you mad. That’s the mantra I’ve been working too, and as my cars still fucked, has to be sound advice.
 

 

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Sorry to hear of your ongoing woes with this ungrateful bastard. 

I think most would have sacked off the project as a lost cause way before now and reclaimed their days off with sunshine and beer. 

However, you're balls deep already, have developed your welding technique and confidence as mentioned above, and as Magnus Magnusson almost said, you've started so you'll need to finish.

MOT quality patch is definitely the way forward and will give you the opportunity to get the Rav on the road, drive it properly and see if you actually gel with it. Without going back through the entire thread, I'm assuming the MOT had already lapsed when you bought it? 

If you like it, drive for a while and tackle the ginger bits later on. If you feel nothing but resentment and fear that it's still going to shit on you from a great height again, put a brick on the throttle pedal, bale from the drivers seat and watch as it pummels itself into that tree of doom!

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Patch over with a thick bit of C channel or at least thick steel, fill the cavity with old oil and you should be alright. In fact, plate over that entire section for strength and fill it with something that won't allow corrosion to set in and you'll be golden. Fingers crossed you'll be able to pull through with this, you've done incredibly well so far.

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Well it's done, in a fashion.

Tried to remove the spring, wouldn't go without dropping the shock absorber. So that was nice.

Moved the axle stand to more inboard, and still managed to pick the most useless place for it as I couldn't get my fat head and fat mask in properly to weld the patch as you saw above.

But, eventually, with a lot of swearing, sweating, and a fairly low moment with the brake line, I got it there.

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I wrapped the rubber brake line in my other welding gauntlet. If it's good enough for my hand it'll be good enough for the brake line. Welded for 2 seconds, let it cool down a lot, then went again. So no fire occured, quite proud of that. Not proud of the fact this is the most MOT bodge I've ever done on anything, but fuck it it's strong, does the job, and lets me move on.

I will say that I heard something from the wife that I'd never thought I'd hear. When I came in for a 5 minute break from the heat (had been out there since 10:30, this was about 1:30) I said I was half way through the welding. She asked what was left after that, and I said I had to clean the rust off the rest of the car. At which point she said "maybe don't clean too much or too hard this time". I will remind her of this when she moans about the kitchen again.

So I set about with the De Walt and wire brush, and it did most of the car before I thought something odd was happening to the drill. It kept flying off, like it was in top gear or something. Long story short, my 6 month old drill has a bust gearbox. De Walt with their De Wank quality eh? No matter, I had done enough. 

This point I then got the Vactan out, with my W cup and brush, and started treating everything orange. It was at this point I could hear hissing - my welder was still out and I thought maybe the gas that was left in the regulator was escaping, but it turned out the gas was on and the regulator is toast! The rubber line from the regulator to the welder has a hole in it I think, as I moved it around and the hissing would stop or get worse. I did wonder why I was getting through so much bloody gas! Now we know.

Eventually I finished the vactanning. So while the bought in panel saved me 4 evenings/2 days, I lost a day with the welding yesterday, so I'm still ahead of sorts. I would think that tomorrow I'll be putting on some red oxide primer, which I'm going to put two coats on, at which point the painting deviates obviously with underseal gets slapped on underneath and the filling etc starts on the arches. Will need to prep the fuel tank as well which I need to get out of storage.

On top of all this, when I was balls deep in to rust, the wife went out to the shop. Apparently she got me a present, so after I had my shower she said look in the fridge, where this was waiting:

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Along with a four pack of M&S lager as I said I was disappointed with the Brewdog "Lost" lager. Was quite taken aback by that, given she hates the shite I bring home.

Also, is there was any confusion over how hot it was today and how much I can't handle the heat while working hard, here are all the 1 litre bottles of water I got through today

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Finally, my maths are shite. I'm back to work tomorrow so the 10 day blitz was only 8 days long 😂😂

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  • St.Jude changed the title to Toyota RAV4 GX "Jack" - 10 Day Blitz: Day 8 - My Welding Is Better Than My Maths, End Of The Biltz
On 7/17/2021 at 9:15 PM, Dick Longbridge said:

MOT quality patch is definitely the way forward and will give you the opportunity to get the Rav on the road, drive it properly and see if you actually gel with it. Without going back through the entire thread, I'm assuming the MOT had already lapsed when you bought it? 

If you like it, drive for a while and tackle the ginger bits later on. If you feel nothing but resentment and fear that it's still going to shit on you from a great height again, put a brick on the throttle pedal, bale from the drivers seat and watch as it pummels itself into that tree of doom!

The MOT had failed, but it still had a valid MOT so I have driven it already. It's just I didn't want a massive project like this while I already had one on the go, and since then life's changed a fair bit so this car won't even be enjoyed for that long after it's back on the road. 

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