Workshop/Project car thread. Colouring in time.

[JMotor]

Thank you @outlaw118 🙂. Well I must thank everyone else for the kind words too!

Won't lie. I hadn't appreciated at how much work was needed to get this far. It's a process for sure. But we'll give a bash and see what happens!

Managed a little more progress today. It's not much but still a step forward. 

Made a card template of the inner area and then transferred it to steel. This time not from the the usual source, a Fiat Doblo back door 😆. Pushed the boat out, 1.2mm zintec gear! 

It was easy to form. A vice and a hammer got the curve without too much hassle.

Fits ok for a hand form section. Just tacked in for now. As is the theme of late. I'll finish it next weekend 😆.

[JMotor]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

His commitment to seeing an unloved car see a few years longer should see him knighted. Or sectioned. Depending on how you view it 😆

Aye definitely the latter! 😆 

I think it's because they are unloved is what drives me to do it. Not seen many Ledbury's getting this level of metal work. 

And as said before it's seat time with the welder. Can't get better at welding if I don't do any. 

[Matty]

16 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Aye definitely the latter! 😆 

I think it's because they are unloved is what drives me to do it. Not seen many Ledbury's getting this level of metal work. 

And as said before it's seat time with the welder. Can't get better at welding if I don't do any. 

Tbh pal its lovely to see someone on with something they obviously love doing and also doing it bloody well. Credit to you this.

[JMotor]

Some progress has happened. 

This all happened today. Because I couldn't be fookin arsed doing owt for a while! 😆 

Inner is now fully welded in. Glad that's done, it was an awkward bugger to do! 

Now on to the fuel filler pocket! 

Happy with that. Still some tweaking to do to make it fit. Well it's turned out better than I thought. As I had nothing to work from with that area just falling to bits when the filler neck was removed.

Ah yes! Big thanks to @Stinkwheel I now have a filler neck that isn't knackered with rot. 

[rm36house]

Great job Sir as always. :))

[JMotor]

Thank you 🙂.

Ah! Nearly forgot. 

I haven't made the hole for the filler neck yet. Was going to leave this until the pocket is welded back in. 

Luckily for me I have something that will aid in this procedure.

Got this from the same fella who sold me the struts a while back.

It's just as ruined in behind as mine was. 

Someone bodged the area up on the donor piece. Found loads of fibreglass and as you can see a metal plate for locating the neck into. It was a really nicely made plate. Then just riveted in. 

Did think about using that plate for repairing my cars section. Then thought it would be better if I just made something from scratch instead. I'll use that as a template for mine.

[JMotor]

Today's progress. 

One fuel filler pocket back in. Sorry only one picture. The welds blended in nice and should require a thin layer of filler to true it up. 

Still to cut the hole in the inner skin, a reasonably quick job for another day. Then I'll tweak the hole as it's a little wonky. 

Glad this is done as that's the last major area fixed. Aye there is still some rust repair to do, but it's not full scale fabrication jobs like before.

[JMotor]

For the last two winters the Maestro has been the weapon of choice. Because simple, worked and was already flea bitten with rust. So I didn't give a shit about just using it.

This year, it's stuck on my ramp and probably shouldn't be used in the winter after all the work I've done and still to put in. 

So I done a buy.  

Thank you to @warninglight I now own this as of this evening. 11/10, would purchase another car from him again. 

That Laplander of his is cool as! 

The V70 has about a week's worth of MOT left. Long enough to get it back to the unit and smoke about in for a day or two. Plan to sort the ABS issue the car has and throw in for a test. Then just use. Should be handy auld bus. 

Means the Altezza can come inside. Just in time for it's MOT. Never ends 😆.

[warninglight]

Nice to meet you, and thanks for an easy sale!

The aircon seems to work and I think the heated seats too, so should make a decent winter hack.

[JMotor]

On 01/10/2025 at 21:50, warninglight said:

The aircon seems to work

Air con that might work!?

Likewise, nice to meet you and thank you for the tea as well. 

[JMotor]

I planned a whole collection caper tale. With some exciting tales of how I battled the weather, mechanical failure and at least 1 PC. 

Except it was actually quite boring. Got a lift and just drove back with zero issues. Comfortable buses these things. 

Threw a bucket of water over it when I arrived back. A more in-depth clean will happen soon. 

Main priority is getting the ABS fault fixed and sling in for a test. 

Ah! Altezza went in for MOT yesterday. Yet another clean pass. That was with another garage this time. Really chuffed about that. 

[JMotor]

Been slacking the last few weeks with the Maestro. 

Back on it today. Welded the last piece of arch in. Still to attach the inner lip to the outer on that side. That's an easy job.

The Volvo is getting some attention too. Removed the ABS module. Was gonna to have a go sorting it myself. Think I'll send it off to be repaired. At least I've some comeback if its not right. 

[JMotor]

Back onto my ARCH nemesis.

Ha! Get it!? 

And no! I'm not apologising for that either! 😁

By heck that was tedious work! 

There is more plug welds than what Rover would of had used. So, more work involved. 

Next job is to finalise the small areas and tidy up pinholes and such. 

Volvo's ABS module is due back tomorrow from being refurbished and a friend fitted a new front spring for me. Unusually it wasn't broken. Just sagged. 

It be nice to up the amount of roadworthy cars sooner than later. 

[JMotor]

Spent half an hour on the Volvo this evening.

One ABS warning message now gone! 

Just for reference. I used a company called Volvo Diagnostic to get the  ABS module fixed. Was a week turnaround including delivery time.

I think it's just a front end knock to sort now and I can chance an MOT on it.

[warninglight]

Great work! Have you got anywhere with that module in the rear view mirror, or holding off on that til MOT achieved?

I guess you'll even have a working speedo now!

[JMotor]

2 hours ago, warninglight said:

Great work! Have you got anywhere with that module in the rear view mirror, or holding off on that til MOT achieved?

I guess you'll even have a working speedo now!

Thanks 🙂.

Yeah, I'll leave the mirror alone until a fresh ticket is on it. It's on the "will get to it one day" list.

Oh yes! It does indeed have a working speedo now 😁. 

[JMotor]

Volvo fixin' today.

Found the knocking noise. Weird one this. The lower ball joint of the drop link wasn't fully tightened up. Tried and failed to get it any tighter. So I cut the fucker off and replaced it. 

Very lucky I had the foresight to get one. At the same time I purchased a new PAS hose. As the original was very much past it. Both purchased from Parts Monster. Both parts appeared to be reasonable quality. 

I digress. 

Auld manky as fook hose.

New one installed. Spent a extra minute making sure it didn't rub on anything. 

Topped off with fresh CHF. 

Quick test drive around the sheds confirmed my replacement parts were doing as intended. 

Everything else seems happy. Think I'll get a test booked very shortly. 

[Matty]

I appear to have missed over a month pal! Nice Volvo, what lump/box is it?

[JMotor]

@Matty not to worry and I'll no hold it against ya either 😆.

Aye! She's the 2.4 jobber with the pots of Fem (five). With 140 of the ponies. Gearbag is Spanish waiter. 

I think that's the base enjin and box for these? 

Runs sweet and goes well enough. Sounds decent when using some  right shoe.

Was advised to drop the sump on it just in case it was a sludge puppy inside. Which might not be a bad idea. 

[Matty]

50 minutes ago, JMotor said:

@Matty not to worry and I'll no hold it against ya either 😆.

Aye! She's the 2.4 jobber with the pots of Fem (five). With 140 of the ponies. Gearbag is Spanish waiter. 

I think that's the base enjin and box for these? 

Runs sweet and goes well enough. Sounds decent when using some  right shoe.

Was advised to drop the sump on it just in case it was a sludge puppy inside. Which might not be a bad idea. 

Ah yass. Back when i was a trainee overhead linesman, one of the skilled lads swore by 850s as a work hack. I can still bring that warble from memory as we hit the M6 Cumbria bound at some fuckin awful hour of the morning! Top choice kid, and sterling work on the Maestro too 👍

[JMotor]

Ugh! 

The Volvo had a couple more issues. 

Rear handbrake was (to be polite) PISH. Only one side grabbing. Drivers side still free spun. 

Surprised to see it's had the manual adjusters fitted. Excellent. Got that adjusted up and I can now lock both wheels. 

But you know that moment when you're just casually looking about, that's when you tend to spot other problems. 

Found the rear spring was broken. Whoo! 

Did the right thing and bought THE cheapest one I could get on eBay. Had much use out of the Parts in Motion coupon codes 😆. 

Then purchased an internal spring compressor. Handy tool. But fiddly as to use. 

I added the makeshift spacer, as recommended by other P2 owners. 

This made the job less annoying. I did lower the lower wishbone too. The biggest issue was the old broken spring had caught it's self up in the wishbone. Spring compressor, choice swear words and twatting with a hammer got it out.

I had to remind myself this is the joys of cheap cars. 

MOT is booked for Friday. So if it passes, great! If not, then I have a list to work from. 

[warninglight]

Good luck! It'll be great to know it's back on the road!

[JMotor]

Quick Pre-MOT once over from me on the V70 this evening. 

Glad I did. 

Ohhh. Those are fucked. 

Well that's....

Shall be ringing the local motor factors tomorrow to see who has what. 

Means I've had to cancel the tomorrow's MOT. As it's not even worth bothering sending it in.

No biggie, needs done. 

[JMotor]

22 hours ago, warninglight said:

Good luck! It'll be great to know it's back on the road!

I'll be happy too when it has a fresh ticket on it.

It's not been too bad so far. Just need to see it through and it'll provide some decent use again. 

[Matty]

Be an excellent everyday car for winter this.

[JMotor]

5 minutes ago, Matty said:

Be an excellent everyday car for winter this.

At the rate I'm going at. It'll be bloody spring before I get a test on it 😂. 

Joking aside. Yeah you're right it'll be a handy thing to have. 

[Matty]

Nice sensible wheels with plenty of tire on them as well 👍

[JMotor]

Aw fucks sake man! 

I didn't expect this on the V70. 

Another case of looking where I shouldn't have while doing the brake pipe.

Looks worse than it is. The area has a much more substantial metalwork behind. Wire brush and finger file to clean the area, see the extent and go from there.

Another reminder to myself. Don't go expecting stuff that's lower on the price range and pushing over 25 years old to be mint underneath. 

[warninglight]

That's surprising! Albeit the 2007 version I just sold had spent most of its life in the New Forest where this one has spent most of its days north of Carlisle.

Don't think I've come across bad rust on a P2 Volvo that didn't involve strut towers. Hopefully a needle gun and dinitrol will see it right?

[JMotor]

What surprised me about this P2 is the front strut towers. 

They are really clean with not even a hint of grot! 😆 

I've spent today cutting the shitty metal out and got a patch welded in that I can build off of. 

As suspected the area didn't look half as bad the picture shows once cleaned back. Great thing is I don't need to make the welding pretty. One more larger patch will see that area sealed up. 

Even got a new brake pipe fitted. Had to splice a new bit of pipe, there was ZERO chance of the hard line separating from the flexi. So why bother fighting it.