Workshop/Project car going ons. The (owner needs a) Miracle (for this) Maestro

[JMotor]

Twixfest was coming up and I needed to decide what car I was taking. 

Corsa or Altezza? 

Factory fitted AND fully functional AC won. 

Enjoyed driving this car on the route that @loserone planned. Aye, the exhaust was maybe a tad fruity for my liking as a minor niggle. I'd also like to extend my apologies to the residents of Acomb last night 😆.

I suspect the Corsa would had been absolute riot on the Northumbrian roads too.

Swung by the unit on the way back to wash the BUG off the car. It was just hammered with spatter.

Really enjoyed this weekend and the car never put a foot wrong. 

Only downer was the radio suddenly packed in. Glad I packed a Bluetooth speaker!

[JMotor]

Back on the Maestro today. 

Booked the rest of the week off. My thinking was to chap on with the arch this week.

Reconstructing the inner arch lip by doing it in little sections at a time.

Went a little hotter with the welder. Laying down much neater tacks. Less grinding required hopefully.

Not perfect. Doubt it'll matter once the paint, sealer and underbody Schutz is gobbed on.

I'll see how far I get today. Would like the inner done by the end of tomorrow. Like shite that'll happen 😆!

[Matty]

🫡

[grogee]

4 hours ago, JMotor said:

Back on the Maestro today. 

Booked the rest of the week off. My thinking was to chap on with the arch this week.

Reconstructing the inner arch lip by doing it in little sections at a time.

Went a little hotter with the welder. Laying down much neater tacks. Less grinding required hopefully.

Not perfect. Doubt it'll matter once the paint, sealer and underbody Schutz is gobbed on.

I'll see how far I get today. Would like the inner done by the end of tomorrow. Like shite that'll happen 😆!

There should be some sort of Victoria Cross Award for anybody who welds Maestro rear arches. 

[jim89]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

There should be some sort of Victoria Cross Award for anybody who welds Maestro rear arches. 

Possibly more of a crucifix ?

[grogee]

4 minutes ago, jim89 said:

Possibly more of a crucifix ?

 

[JMotor]

Or you're given one of these numbers as an award? 

[Matty]

Ah if there weren't nut jobs like you the world would just be full of mk2 Escorts and nowt else 👍

[JMotor]

On 15/07/2025 at 15:15, JMotor said:

Would like the inner done by the end of tomorrow. Like shite that'll happen 😆!

Another day later than expected. The Maestro has this.

Will warn folk it's a patchwork. Had to stick the grinder in when I wasn't happy with the profile and then fill the cuts back up with snot. 

It's been ground down but not to blend the metal in. This is to keep some rigidity and not thin the metal out. 

Check for pinholes, paint with red oxide and then think about chopping up my expensive outer arch. 

Left the ends of the inner for now.  I'll sort those when the outer is on for good. 

[JMotor]

Last couple of days progression.

Finished off the inner arch to sill area. The outer sits on the sill so crafted a wee piece to slot on to replace the thin air 

Dug out the new (to me) arch and set about sorting the rust pits and spider lines on the back of the panel. Hand sanded with 120 grit and then applied two coats of Hydrate 80. 

With two decent coats of the Bonda primer. 

The next bit was a little nerve racking. I had to trim the panel down. Laid it over to plan my next move.

Clamping it on and then cutting both arch and quarter panel to make them fit. 

Another clean up and threw some tacks on.

Glad I followed what others have said about arch repairs. About not using all of the panel. There is some gappy parts. Which is more of an inconvenience than a "oh crap, I've ruined it!".

I like the fact I can also retain most of the body lines and things like the door shuts remain unaffected. Like so.

I'm pretty pleased with the job. Still some work to do, the panel needs twisted and pushed in to achieve the fit I need. 

More tedious welding tomorrow. Wooo whoo 🙄.

[Matty]

Just remind me, you don't actually do this for a living do you? You should...

[JMotor]

14 minutes ago, Matty said:

Just remind me, you don't actually do this for a living do you? You should...

Just a plain old parts guy me. 

*Sorry for the incoming ramble*

Definitely thought about it. Skills aren't quite there to be confident to do cars other than my own. Yet. To this extent that is. Have done simple patches for folk I know. 

Someone did ask me if I could put sills in their Fiesta. I politely declined. It's the time involved and how to charge for it that gives me a return is a sticky one. 

It is very satisfying to see what was a rotten fillered up mess back to solid steel again. Welding sparks on the head can get in the sea though 😆.

[Matty]

3 hours ago, JMotor said:

Just a plain old parts guy me. 

*Sorry for the incoming ramble*

Definitely thought about it. Skills aren't quite there to be confident to do cars other than my own. Yet. To this extent that is. Have done simple patches for folk I know. 

Someone did ask me if I could put sills in their Fiesta. I politely declined. It's the time involved and how to charge for it that gives me a return is a sticky one. 

It is very satisfying to see what was a rotten fillered up mess back to solid steel again. Welding sparks on the head can get in the sea though 😆.

I know its an easy one to say but harder to do. What to charge is what covers your costs plus an hourly wage commensurate with the skill. There are still people who want a piece of Dexron pigeon shitting over a sill to get an MOT but this isn't that. If I wanted what you've just done doing to my car I'd be aware that

A. There's about 2 people in a 20 mile radius who could be arsed.

B. There's about 1 person in a 20 mile radius who would do it right.

And that costs. Never under sell yourself kid. You've got some fair skill sets.

[JMotor]

Ok now we're chuffing along quite nicely.

Very happy with the welds I was getting. 

I'm going to enjoy sanding those welds down. Aye there will be filler required but a thin skim is the expectation. 

Sadly I ran out of time. That's ok though. Next weekend will be another session. 

[Matty]

When's the 1800 VVC K series going in?

[JMotor]

If the A-Series was buggered.

A donor car would be sought out. 

Other issue I have, my friend group is into VAG or GM tat. 

PD enjins have been mentioned a lot with the saying "Shitebag if ya dinnae" has been used too.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, JMotor said:

If the A-Series was buggered.

A donor car would be sought out. 

Other issue I have, my friend group is into VAG or GM tat. 

PD enjins have been mentioned a lot with the saying "Shitebag if ya dinnae" has been used too.

You're our friend now Dave. 

[JMotor]

Had a few hours to spare after work this morning. 

That's the arch to rear valance area rebuilt. 

Extra spots of weld is me filling the pinholes or missed bits. Hoped to have had the front section done too. Meh! That can wait for tomorrow.

I was going to do a slightly larger update of work done.  To be honest, I wanted to share this sooner. 

[JMotor]

Another few hours spent resulting in this. Front section all welded and threw a good few heavier tacks on the bottom of the dogleg.

Then a combo of finger file and just a ordinary grinder with a boggo grinding disc. Makes for neat and quick work. I rarely use flappy discs now. I'm chuffed with how well came out.

Made a start on the plug welds of the arch lip. 

It's maybe a bit arse backwards to do this when the arch is attached. My reasoning is it's easier to judge where I need to make the hole to weld inner to outer. I had to bash and bend the inner to a tight fit. 

Kinda cocked up too, as I was going to show my technique for welding the two. But it's dead easy to explain. 3mm hole drilled as a pilot hole through both layers and then up to 5.5mm but only on the outer layer. Clamped a piece of copper behind the hole and sent it with the welder with a decent amount of heat. Mostly getting flat plug welds. 

If I remember I'll take a picture to show this method. As I ran out of time and only got as far as you see on the last photo.

[JMotor]

I was bored shitless this evening. So I went down to the shed to do a another couple of hours in the Maestro.

This next picture is on the last set of plug welds. Nothing complicated here. Clamp the two layers up tight and the copper to help send a decent amount of heat in with. 

That looks not too bad that. Tomorrow's job is this.

I don't forsee this being a trauma to sort. 

He says. Likely be just a ball ache to patch up.

[Matty]

What a fucking job. You really need to make this a living. I see a lot of crap passed off as pro but your work is really well thought out and executed.

 

And if you put a PD in this you're   dead to me 😁

[JMotor]

Thanks @Matty 🙂.

Glad folk like the work so far. This is a good warm up for the drivers side and fuel filler area. Maybe it's not as crispy 😬?

It's certainly something to ponder about doing metalwork as a job. I won't rush into making a decision, I've the Opel to finish first! 

7 hours ago, Matty said:

And if you put a PD in this you're   dead to me 😁

😆. The A-series is staying for now. It works and I've enough on as it is. 

[JMotor]

So that little hole I mentioned. 

Cut more scutter out and clean off.

Made a new bit from several pieces. Boy it's got a lot of curves in that little section. 

Trimmed and welded in. 

Ground the welds down and smoothed off with the fingerfile. Again didn't go daft. It'll be near invisible once when it's finished off. 

This was indeed a fiddly bastard to do. That was more down to me making it that way. 

Not to worry! That's the arch metalwork done. Happy with that. Think I'll have a tidy up in my work area and break from the car for a wee while. 

[HMC]

Really nice work, love it!

[Matty]

50 minutes ago, HMC said:

Really nice work, love it!

It'll be one of the best ones going by the time he's done with it. I still see Maestros at shows and by God they can rot!

[JMotor]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Really nice work, love it!

Thank you 🙂. 

14 minutes ago, Matty said:

It'll be one of the best ones going by the time he's done with it. I still see Maestros at shows and by God they can rot!

Wish I had just gobbed it full of filler again or left the speed tape on! 🤣

Glad I'm doing this now. As it would of only gotten worse. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Great work as always @JMotor 

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 15/07/2025 at 19:29, grogee said:

There should be some sort of Victoria Cross Award for anybody who welds Maestro rear arches. 

according to my B-I-L he would rather weld a maestro/montego than a similar aged astray/chavalier

[Noel Tidybeard]

22 hours ago, Matty said:

It'll be one of the best ones going by the time he's done with it. I still see Maestros at shows and by God they can rot!

not as quick as a mk3/4 escrote or sierror

[Matty]

2 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

not as quick as a mk3/4 escrote or sierror

Certain stuff always got a rep. GM and Ford stuff rotted just as successfully as owt BLARG ever nailed together. But they were the popular whipping boy so there you go I suppose.