Workshop/Project car thread. Hot snot metalwork action

[JMotor]

Yep. As expected. 

Anyway.

Brake flexi and hard line have been replaced. It's a bit cable tie technician. Not fussed as everything is secure. 

Gravity bleeding both sides has worked out perfectly. Good pedal feel. 

The big 'ole will be dealt with tomorrow. Again looks worse than it is. The rest of the inner tub will get a rub with the wire brush and gooped over. 

Luckily the job hasn't been expensive, just time consuming. Should be worth having this car back on the road. 

[JMotor]

Amazing what a few hours does.

That's much better. Well...

There isn't a muckle big 'ole anymore. Cleaned up enough to get a plate in.

Found another couple of grotty bits further along. Chopped out said grot and few more plates toshed in. Done. 

This isn't a car I'm gonna feel bad about just plating and not tidy up after. Got a feeling I'll be this car's last owner. So I Shall be happy if another couple of years can be had out of this one.

Drivers side will be the same work. On the bloody floor as silly me has dumped a Maestro on the ramp. 

[JMotor]

Drivers side welding done! 

That's a far I was willing to go. Sure as hell not poking about to find more! 

Passenger side will end up looking the same with goop and paint. 

Still a small list of work to do. Then book a test! 

[JMotor]

Today was the day.

Volvo MOT day. 

What if I had missed something!? Or it threw up another problem? 

Well at least I'd have a list to work from. I was happy I got the car to a point it could see at least see the test bay.

Let's check out of curiosity.

Huh!? Wha!? No! You mean it's passed!?

Well. I'll take that!

[warninglight]

Another viking longboat back on the high seas!

Excellent work!

[JMotor]

10 minutes ago, warninglight said:

Another viking longboat back on the high seas!

Excellent work!

Thank you for saving it and then letting me buy it. 

Although my words came back to haunt me 😅. I should of taken up your offer of looking under the car on your lift 🤣. 

To be fair it's a decent car, just the rust caught me out. 

[warninglight]

I didn't even peek under it on the ground - think that Yeti was blocking the lift at the time.

At least you know it's right now!

[JMotor]

Another unexciting tale of working on cars.

Booted the Maestro off the ramp yesterday. I wanted to get the cambelt done on the V70. 

Nothing looked too grim. Could had left it for another while if I wanted too. On the other hand. I know for sure it's been replaced. 

Bought a full INA kit. My go to brand. Only the water pump was a mild inconvenience to replace. The engine was spun over many times to be sure it didn't lock up. 

I'll have another wee spell at it this week to finish putting it back together. 

[JMotor]

Volvo back together. It'll be off the ramp this evening. In time to make use of the heated seats. 

Next victim. 

Good feeling to see it off the ramp. Weird at the same time.

I've still some finishing jobs to do on both inner and outer arches. Have found a few more dodgy scabs as well, nowt horrible. 

Although it looks messy at the moment. Happy to see those arches back to being all metal again. 

[IronStar]

Just caught up with the last two months of this. Great work on saving the Volvo, and amazing seeing Maestro welded up!

[grogee]

Excellent work @JMotor

I'm also enjoying heated seats at the moment and so far have had one morning of Quick Clear smugness, although it still takes a while to scrape those side windows. 

Christ I wonder how many Maestros are on the road and have filler-free rear arches. Mine and yours makes two... @vulgalour did his as well. 

[JMotor]

You should be smug!

That is a very handy feature with the front screen. 

Not a bad looking machine either. 

Huh! I'll be scraping my windas like a sucker! 😆 

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Christ I wonder how many Maestros are on the road and have filler-free rear arches. Mine and yours makes two... @vulgalour did his as well. 

Filler, fibreglass and aluminium strips. Gah! It was a bloody mess on mine! 

Can't remember without looking but were yours full of the pudding too before they were repaired?

If I do remember right the rears on his Maestro were worse than the ones on mine? Did bloody well to repair them with what he could get despite the scarcity of panels.  

[JMotor]

Trying this holiday season to get more bodywork done on the Maestro.

Well that's standard. Excuse the blobs on the arch panel. I'll tidy up those later.

That small hole grew. Oh well. Got a patch welded in now. 

Finished the back half of the inner arch while I was at it. 

 

[JMotor]

On with the wheel arches again. 

Something that bugged me with these arches was this area. 

It's slightly too short to butt up to the step in the sill. Had a bit of a ponder and added some little strips of metal in. 

Fits much nicer now. Silly little detail that wasn't that big of a deal. Still did it as it looked unfinished to me. More so after doing all the work to replace the arches in the first place. 

Have ground down all the plug welds on the passenger arch. Then moved on to another suspect area.

Oh. That's gonna be nasty behind that isn't it!

Welp!

I wasn't wrong! 😆

Once I find where the rot ends the repair should be straight forward.

[grogee]

5 hours ago, JMotor said:

On with the wheel arches again. 

Something that bugged me with these arches was this area. 

It's slightly too short to butt up to the step in the sill. Had a bit of a ponder and added some little strips of metal in. 

Fits much nicer now. Silly little detail that wasn't that big of a deal. Still did it as it looked unfinished to me. More so after doing all the work to replace the arches in the first place. 

Have ground down all the plug welds on the passenger arch. Then moved on to another suspect area.

Oh. That's gonna be nasty behind that isn't it!

Welp!

I wasn't wrong! 😆

Once I find where the rot ends the repair should be straight forward.

How is your boot floor? I have a whole repair panel available... 

[JMotor]

12 minutes ago, grogee said:

How is your boot floor? I have a whole repair panel available... 

So far. 

It's ok.

Like, it's really solid. The rot weirdly hasn't eaten this car that badly. 

Yep....

I opened my big mouth now! 😆 

[JMotor]

Worst thing about rust repair is removing all that scutter.  Glad it didn't go much further than what is seen here. 

The removed section became my pattern. Fitzee taught me that. Wanted to remake a panel that looks close to the original.

Went all fancy, even remade the return lip as well. Fancy kind!

Painted the back side after drilling the plug weld holes.

Welded in. 

Ground down. 

Painted with Bonda primer.

Looks reet proppa that ey!?

I've still to fab up a second layer to go over this one to replicate how it originally looked. 

[Surface Rust]

That's nice work!

[grogee]

Second layer?! 

[JMotor]

The second plate/layer/skin done. 

The only picture I took. I'd like to think this will be the last major area of welding now done. 

Means the car is solid again. Doors need seen to in the future. Those don't affect the structure of the car though.

Next jobs are to clean the inner arch tubs. Grind and sand down welds. Finish welds I've missed. 

More work in reality. Ah well. 

It'll be 'reet.

[JMotor]

On 04/01/2026 at 18:20, JMotor said:

I'd like to think this will be the last major area of welding now done. 

I REALLY shouldn't have picked at that bit!

Found this rather impressive lump of Fibreglass and sealer that was covering this mess in the upper part of the inner arch tub. There is a patch of steel thrown over the hole above inside the car. 

Probably a quick fix to get the car through another MOT. Well it worked.

I will fix it of course. Just need a couple of wobble pops and a while to ponder. 

[jim89]

36 minutes ago, JMotor said:

I REALLY shouldn't have picked at that bit!

That's a rather impressive lump of Fibreglass and sealer that was covering that. With a patch of steel thrown over the hole above inside. 

I will fix it of course. Just need a couple of wobble pops and a while to ponder. 

Where is it? / What are we looking at in pic 2?

 

[JMotor]

Ah yes! 

Didn't add that, sorry. 

I have edited the post to include what area it is. 

[Matty]

@JMotor. Next project pal. 1800 vvc k series id reckon. Lovely stuff 👌

https://ebay.us/m/sTADHo

[JMotor]

8 minutes ago, Matty said:

@JMotor. Next project pal. 1800 vvc k series id reckon. Lovely stuff 👌

https://ebay.us/m/sTADHo

@grogee has already tagged me in the eBay tat thread with this one too.

But it's damn cool. Would be a good one for maybe an L-Series derv swap?

Not for me though. Itching to crack on with my Astra Saloon next. 

So I won't be putting the welding torch down just yet 😆. 

[Matty]

52 minutes ago, JMotor said:

@grogee has already tagged me in the eBay tat thread with this one too.

But it's damn cool. Would be a good one for maybe an L-Series derv swap?

Not for me though. Itching to crack on with my Astra Saloon next. 

So I won't be putting the welding torch down just yet 😆. 

Ah well. It was worth a try. Have a think about it and see how you feel in a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about now?? 🤣

[JMotor]

Started exploring the tub area. 

The rot extends further up the inner quarter. Great. 

Time to rip the interior out.

I'm gonna chop the some of the tub section out. It's a bunch of not very good patches. I'll carefully remove the upper seat catch bracket that's above it. Hopefully that'll get me the access I need to rebuild everything. 

Also discovered via the M&M forum, the rear quarter glass comes out really easily.

Ach, more work. But nothing that hasn't been done before. 

[kevins]

I've got a set of MG Meastro alloys if you want them (or know any body else who does)  I'll be weighing them in for scrap soon otherwise as the lock up has to be cleared  they are in essex.

[grogee]

1 hour ago, kevins said:

I've got a set of MG Meastro alloys if you want them (or know any body else who does)  I'll be weighing them in for scrap soon otherwise as the lock up has to be cleared  they are in essex.

Interested but @JMotor has first dibs. 

Due to a comical mix up I lost my steelies which I'd been using as my winter wheels ( @RetroShite don't forget I'd love these back if you're ever passing by M1 Jct 16).

If the alloys were freebies I could put some part-worns on and use them as 'standing' tyres. 

[JMotor]

Please feel free to take them @grogee.

I'll be lucky if I pass Carlisle again this year let alone head to Essex 😆.