Any interest in another Amazonian rescue? Head off

[Ronkey]

Now this was fun. Don't worry: I haven't set fire to it. Yet. The sound deadening was not for moving heat wasn't working so I thought I try cold from a CO2 fire extinguisher. It worked a treat!!

[warninglight]

6 minutes ago, Ronkey said:

They are fabulous. What colour code is that red?

I think it's this code. However it was restored and painted in the 1980s, and I had the scuttle and sills done to match in 2017, so it may be a bit different.

sadly I've decided today that it's time to sell up! Already had the blue one for sale, but I need to make room to finish my Laplander and get my Austin 1100 back on the road.

[Ronkey]

I'm definitely getting better at this. Although the welder does have a major splatter occasionally for no reason I can determine. I dropped on a broken Clarke 151 and have repaired it: the extra power makes a big difference when plug welding. I also find it is more controllable on the lower setting. Not bad for £50 and £25 of parts. 

This corner of the car is in by far the best condition. Which means it needs loads of welding. Lip to bottom of rear wing was shot, but only where out of sight. That means the rest is salvageable. The rear of the outer wing and the inner look manky, but nowhere near as bad as the other side. See for yourselves:

On bit of luck: a lower valance repair panel had been spot welded on as a past repair. Wonder if it will clean up?

Nice. After this photo was taken I attacked it with the phosphoric acid and a wire brush. Looked nearly new. 

New lip welded on and ground back. I hate welding upside down and it doesn't matter how well you protect yourself there is always a bit of splatter that find bare skin and leaves a crater. 

Well happy with this little fabrication. It is part of the boot floor and has a vertical curve in it with a lip. I cut the lip to suit and welded it back together to get this:

And now with it in the car. That'll do. 

Started chopping out the inner wing and boot floor to repair that nightmare lip. 

 

 

Tell me to keep going: is there any end to the welding on this thing??

 

[juular]

2 hours ago, Ronkey said:

I'm definitely getting better at this. Although the welder does have a major splatter occasionally for no reason I can determine. I dropped on a broken Clarke 151 and have repaired it: the extra power makes a big difference when plug welding. I also find it is more controllable on the lower setting. Not bad for £50 and £25 of parts. 

This corner of the car is in by far the best condition. Which means it needs loads of welding. Lip to bottom of rear wing was shot, but only where out of sight. That means the rest is salvageable. The rear of the outer wing and the inner look manky, but nowhere near as bad as the other side. See for yourselves:

On bit of luck: a lower valance repair panel had been spot welded on as a past repair. Wonder if it will clean up?

Nice. After this photo was taken I attacked it with the phosphoric acid and a wire brush. Looked nearly new. 

New lip welded on and ground back. I hate welding upside down and it doesn't matter how well you protect yourself there is always a bit of splatter that find bare skin and leaves a crater. 

Well happy with this little fabrication. It is part of the boot floor and has a vertical curve in it with a lip. I cut the lip to suit and welded it back together to get this:

And now with it in the car. That'll do. 

Started chopping out the inner wing and boot floor to repair that nightmare lip. 

 

 

Tell me to keep going: is there any end to the welding on this thing??

 

You're knocking this into a different postcode. Really good to see it being done properly. I must admit when I got to this point I'd lost a lot of motivation and large gaps got filled with mig wire. Your fabrication is spot on and that is going to last forever.

It will be worth it.

[Ronkey]

Whoomph! There it is.

Inner arch now reconnected to the rest of the car: that feels like a massive milestone achieved. I made the lip continuous on floor repair by putting some copper behind and filling the gaps with mig wire and then grinding back. Gives a neat result. 

Getting nearer to the oily bits with every hour now  

 

 

 

[DSdriver]

You can be proud of what you have achieved so far, it looks magnificent. Onward and upward.

[rm36house]

On 19/02/2024 at 12:10, warninglight said:

Fantastic! Nice to see another one saved properly. My own red 4 door (121) had all the same rot in all the same places when I got it in 2015.

Looking forward to seeing this progress!

Amazone estate looks so good Sir.   Well done. 

[Ronkey]

Last post in March? Whow – where has that gone. Work on this has slowed due to life but am now getting chance to do bits and pieces.

I’m currently fitting rear seatbelts using a Securon kit so that sprogs will be allowed to ride in the back.  Some fixing points are provided already but are 5/8 UNC rather then 7/16 UNF which has meant some modification is required to the kit. Kit was great because you can mount the reel at any angle.

Welding nearly done – repair panels needed to both front doors, some patching to the wings and perhaps to the boot lid. 

Thought I'd have a look at some of the mechanicals before I remove the engine.  Started with a compression test. This engine hasn’t really been run since 1993 other than for a few minutes at idle  to get it ready for sale. Made on hell of a racket – yup, that would do it.

Meant to be between 175-200psi for a B18D. Close enough? No idea what the oil is in it. 

The gold paint is over the original red on the head and the chrome is definitely a retrofit. Looks odd to me but that is the least of my worries.

Worked out a great trick for removing hammerite: celly thinners on a cloth laid on the hammerite then cling film over. Wait a bit then remove a scrape off. There is acres on it on the underside of the bonnet and in the engine bay so well pleased with that.

What about this for a pile of rusty stuff? 

Now thinking about painting the inside of the boot and the floor inside the car. Anyone used Paintman products?

[bunglebus]

Missed this thread before, so I'll have a proper read later - just a couple of things;

I have a very similar 100amp Clark (a converted gasless unit) and it welds car stuff brilliantly, but you mentioned CO2 - try Argon/CO2 mix if you can, I found it really helped. 

Secondly please be very careful with that galvanized steel, I'm sure you know but it gives off very nasty fumes if it's not 100% removed.

Other than that, great work and I'll be watching with interest, love an Amazonian

[Surface Rust]

Not sure how I missed this, but a lovely car and lovely work. 

What was the securon kit you used out of interest? I need to fit rear belts to my P4.

[Ronkey]

Good shout @bunglebus, I should have been clearer about this. I had some suitable pregalv steel but I ground the galv off before welding. The odd time I missed a bit and I did get some weird smoke to remind me! Noted re Argon/CO2 - ta. 

@Surface Rust  The Securon kit is this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250396274489. I can take photos or provide a copy of the instructions if you want. Just let me know.

[Ronkey]

Started on the driver's door this evening. The bottom of the door skin is manky together with the door inner. Someone has had a go with a pile of bog in the past which lasted well enough. 

But get this: someone had been adding oil/waxoyl afterwards and this has saved the inner door bottom. So it does work after all! 

First door repair I've done. Wish me luck

[Ronkey]

I've got the skin repair on now and generally it has gone well. The door panel repair panel was pretty poor and I ended up making the lower corners by hand, very slowly and carefully using the original frame as a former. The photo below shows the repair panel. Hmmm.

Half hour later - that is better. It welded on nicely and yes - I removed the galv first . The door bottom repair panel is for a 2 door so I had plenty of length (oh-er missus) and could cut out the rusty bits all the way along and still have plenty left.  

Once welded I cleaned it up and primed with rust-anode. After the photo I finished the welds up with seam sealer.  

I offered up the repair panel, beat over the edges and am happy with the panel gaps, other than on the lock side. The gap is wider than I would like but looks right against the remaining part of the door skin. Looking back at the photos when I picked it up it has always been something similar so I guess that is as close as it gets. I've managed to get it a bit better but I have definitely hit the limit of my skills now. 

The welded seam at the top is causing me a headache. The panel has curved, partly because the repair panel is slightly out and partly due to the heat of welding. I have been loaned a bigger welder and have used that and I think that is part of the problem. The smaller welder is much better for this type of work. I'm slowly bringing it back using a horizontal flat bar inside the door braced against a longer bar on the outside. Any better ideas anyone?

 

 

[somewhatfoolish]

16 hours ago, Ronkey said:

I've got the skin repair on now and generally it has gone well. The door panel repair panel was pretty poor and I ended up making the lower corners by hand, very slowly and carefully using the original frame as a former. The photo below shows the repair panel. Hmmm.

Half hour later - that is better. It welded on nicely and yes - I removed the galv first . The door bottom repair panel is for a 2 door so I had plenty of length (oh-er missus) and could cut out the rusty bits all the way along and still have plenty left.  

WTF? Repair panels by Ray Charles?

[comfortablynumb]

There's some good door repair videos on YouTube by fitzees fabrication, he makes his own inner and outer sections, and swears by using the car as a jig, to get panel gaps and fitment right.

I know there's quite a few people who diss him ( he welds without a mask 😱) but I've learned quite a lot from those vids.

Having said that, doesn't look like you need much advice to me🤠

Wish I could get the time/motorvation to get on with some of my projects 

[Ronkey]

Thanks @comfortablynumb I'll look into that. Just because 'elf and safety ain't his thing doesn't mean he can't fab I guess 

[juular]

Top work. This is motivating me to fix my Amazon doors which are probably really similar to yours.

[Ronkey]

Man, that trim strip hides some sins!

An evening pulling at it has pretty much sorted it. That is the best I can do. I'm pretty happy with the result as this was a job I was dreading.

[warninglight]

That's a great result! My red saloon had some lower skin repairs in the 80s, and as such there are straight line cracks in the paint.

Having a panel to hide the join behind the trim is just the ticket! 

 

[artdjones]

On 28/08/2024 at 15:46, comfortablynumb said:

there's quite a few people who diss him ( he welds without a mask 😱) but I've learned quite a lot from those vids

I asked him how he's able to do that, and he said that he keeps the arc behind the gas shield on the tip of the torch. As he looks about 65-70 and doesn't seem to have impaired vision it obviously works for him.

 

[somewhatfoolish]

The problem with that is you can't see the arc or most of the weld pool; he might as well be doing it with his eyes shut. If he's getting functional or consistent results ponder how much better his welding would be if he actually did as most welders do and was looking at the weld while it's being laid.

[jim89]

4 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

The problem with that is you can't see the arc or most of the weld pool; he might as well be doing it with his eyes shut. If he's getting functional or consistent results ponder how much better his welding would be if he actually did as most welders do and was looking at the weld while it's being laid.

I've only done a bit of mig (railings, gates, bits of car panel work ) but in a dark* garage there always seemed to be a bit of hit & hope & regularly miss my target even with an adjustable auto darkening helmet ... 

Later on I saw on yt etc, folk using led floodlights to illuminate their work - which I will try one day hopefully.

I do wonder how much arc eye the guy suffered with whilst learning his technique*... 

[artdjones]

14 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

The problem with that is you can't see the arc or most of the weld pool; he might as well be doing it with his eyes shut. If he's getting functional or consistent results ponder how much better his welding would be if he actually did as most welders do and was looking at the weld while it's being laid.

People are sending him cars from all over Canada, and he lives in Newfoundland, which is pretty remote.

[St.Jude]

How have I missed this thread? Loving the work. Watching the door repair with interest as it's something I need to do with my Lada.

15 minutes ago, jim89 said:

I've only done a bit of mig (railings, gates, bits of car panel work ) but in a dark* garage there always seemed to be a bit of hit & hope & regularly miss my target even with an adjustable auto darkening helmet ... 

Later on I saw on yt etc, folk using led floodlights to illuminate their work - which I will try one day hopefully.

I do wonder how much arc eye the guy suffered with whilst learning his technique*... 

The portable floodlights (which are nearly all LED now) make such a difference to seeing what you're doing. I've got an Ebaurerererer one and the cheapo Diall one from B&Q. The Diall one is OK for general illumination, the Ebaurerererer one is better as I can hang it on things, but both can be cumbersome as you need to get the right spot for lighting which doesn't stop your head getting in to a good position to see the weld. Not found a good alternative to this, other than I have wired an LED floodlight to the mains which is small and I use that if the space is tight. Would love a recommendation on a nimble bright light though.

I will say though that a few times with my old helmet it was set to Grind and I set off welding with it. Once it was a good few seconds before I twigged why it was so bright. It's not pleasant at all. But I'm sure if a welding mask is expensive for you to buy you'd make do without using one. Tight people are always gonna be tight.

[somewhatfoolish]

Given auto masks are now the price of a round of drinks in a pub I don't see any reason to not do it safely. You only get one pair of eyes and it's fucking hard to drive shite if yours stop working.

[captain_70s]

I recently picked up a cheapo Parkside branded auto-dimming helmet from Lidl - Mostly as my old helmet was mega scuffed up and didn't have a grinding mode.

It also has a single little LED light, which I though would be a useless gimmick, but is actually surprisingly handy once you get used to having to point your head at the bit you're trying to weld.

[comfortablynumb]

On a couple of his videos, he explains the theory of why he welds like that. He's been taken to task about it several times, both on the programme and elsewhere online.

His attitude is ' don't do as I do'

If I could replicate some of the work he's doing, half as good, I'd be well happy.

Each to their own. I'll keep wearing the mask, thanks.

Unless I'm tacking, when it's quite often a 'close my eyes and look away' technique, but then who hasn't done that?

 

Edit-With apologies to @Ronkeyfor the thread drift

 

Edited August 30, 2024 by comfortablynumb
Additional

[Ronkey]

First - the reason for the delay in posting. I have a Dtec accord which developed a sense of humour a couple of weeks ago. Going over Thelwall viaduct I was flashed by a truck in the inside line. What's up with him then? A quick look in the rear view mirror showed what: a thickening cloud of white smoke. Damn it. Then hesitation and loss of power. Do I breakdown here or try to get to the next junction? Sod it, let's try. Off in a mile then into a housing estate engine off to a cloud of white from the engine bay. Opened the bonnet expecting oil everywhere to find...nothing. At least nothing obvious. Oil? Yup. Coolant? Yup. Strange. Let's start it again - shit, let's not. Loads of white smoke coming into the cabin this time too.

AutoAid recovery to the rescue in precisely 45mins. Can't complain at that. Lady on the phone: do you want our technician to try and repair it? Err, don't bother: send the wagon. 

Right, better start stripping it down. Cover off first and found this:

That isn't bloody right, what has happened here?

Where the hell is the nut??? The bolt had failed just under the nut. The face of the failure was dull suggesting a fatigue issue to me. These are preloaded bolts so that shouldn't be possible. 

Unless they were loose. The injector was numbered in marker so these have been out before. So for it to fail it must be loose right? Check the others: 3 and 4 are loose too. New bolt ordered for 2 with 3 and 4 retightened to somewhere near spec (says 90 degrees after nominal torque).

Question is now do I replace the remaining bolts too? Bare in mind the injector needs to be removed to do it. 

Now, back to the Amazon

[Ronkey]

I've two passenger doors. One which is on the car with a rusty bottom and some accident damage and the other which is straight but with more rust. 

The damage is in majority below the catch and to the skin - you can pick it out above. I decided to cut the part I needed from the undamaged but rusty door (this bit wasn't so bad) and make a jig to keep things square. I cut out the lower section and knocked out the remaining dent. I'll take that - should have taken a before picture.

Chop, chop. Never done this before so was pretty nervous: could end up with two doors that are no bloody use.

That is actually a bloody good fit

Then on the fixing the base like the driver's side, welding in a new channel for the seal on the replacement section of door (it didn't have one for some reason) and repairing some other corroded bits. I got to here:

Door skin tomorrow with a bit of luck. Hopefully I won't have the same problem with the panel pulling, but I have an idea to hopefully prevent that.

@juular - if you decide to have a go the outer door repair panels from Brookhouse are good, the inners not so. I couldn't get the outers to align until I worked out that they are not rectangular. You have to cut the existing at an angle to suit. Why? I have no bloody idea. 

[bangernomics]

Heat from the opposite side to the bow, then a wet none flammable cloth on the outside if its bowing out. You risk causing wobbles if you do too much at once but small areas at a time will pull in.

Done it old dents in panels using a map torch many times with a wet chamois or the like.

The repairs look really good and repair panels have been getting steadily worse for years so what you have achieved is really impressive.