THAT Lada Samara - It's now FOAD's

[KruJoe]

There's a great picture of I think Pete m's old Peugeot with a kitten sticking it's head through a rust hole. I can't find it though .

 

It was in one of the calendars; 2012 I think. My AS calendars are still on the wall several thousand miles away, so I can't check for you now.

[explosive-cabbage]

So, its been a few weeks since my last update, there is a few reasons for this - Christmas, lazyness and the fact that during my last weld-a-thon I got a peice of slag in my left eye.
It was in there for maybe 4 or 5 days - under the top eyelid at the back, I was unable to look at any bright light, it was weeping constantly and agonisingly sore.

I dreaded getting up in the morning because during the night my eyes had been in a dark room and closed, and that was they were more comfortable.

It took almost a week before all the bits worked themselves out during sleep, and I was lucky enough to regain comfort in my eye - and it has sorted itself out completely now.
There was also a small burn mark on my cornea (lens) from a peice of hot metal, but the optician the other day said that it was so hot it probably cautorised the wound, and has completely healed now, bar a tiny scar.
 
Anyway, this is how we left it - the rear O/S corner had been patched up and the bottom of the sill repaired - leaving a metal edge to build a new arch edge onto.
 

 
Cleaning back a bit
 

 
Template - I prefer to work in large patches and shape whilst I am welding.
 

 
Patch cut out and tacked in.
 

 

 
Listen and Learn!
I found a particularly effective way of mastering new arch edges -
 

 
Tack the large patch on, to match where you want the underside of the lip to be.
Leave a large flap haging outwards.
Cut slots into the flap every inch., making sure the cuts are the same depth all along - and to the point where you want the outer edge of the lip to be.
Run the cutting disk over the small flap to weaken it at the point where you want to fold it to define the depth of the flat lip edge.
 

 
Bend the outside of the flap towards the car with pliers, slighty more than neccesary.
Bend the flap up with a small hammer, tap it into shape and make it line up with the one next to it.
 
Tack on!
 


Repeat.
 

 
I was well impressed with the profile of this lip!
 

 

 
A lot of holes? Turn the power down, the wire speed up and weld them up!
 

 
Grind it down!
 

 

 
And blend it in!
 

 
Quite happy with that!
 

 

Now, onto the front of the O/S A post, where I had a nice big hole opened up.

 

 

 

The front of the sill didn't look very nice either

 

 

Trimming out and cleaning up.

 

 

 

At this point, I got a bit carried away and put my phone down whilst I welded....

It was ugly going, nasty and sparky, rusty and shitty, but it eventually went on.

 

 

Then I noticed the inside....OOOPS, Im lucky it didn't go up in smoke!

 

 

 

Patch number 7! Just covering up a weak patch

 

 

Cleaning up and triming out the lower A post.

 

 

Fill with home-made underseal

 

 

Tacking on the patch...

 

 

Shaped and welded in as we go!

 

 

Then I started pecking away at the underneath of the sill...

 

 

Then the holes got larger...

 

 

And larger!

 

 

 

Its getting quite nasty again

Thats all from me till next time!

[DS20]

Nah, those holes on the sills aren't bad - you can't climb into them

 

Impressed with the results - particularly the arch edge

[Jim Bell]

Flabbergasted.

 

Supreme effort.

[Parky]

Supreme work. Like the rear arch dressing method!

[Inspector Morose]

Welding God.

 

That is all.

[SambaS]

See you tomorrow if your about? Moving some cars around ))

[explosive-cabbage]

Yeh!

I'l be about till 2pm.

You can have a ride in the new Niva

See you then!

[vulgalour]

Very nice work on that arch, I've been wondering how to go about a similar repair on the Princess if the spare half a wing I've got hasn't got a bit that's good enough to use, this would be a good technique to try out I reckon.

[Station]

That front arch bit reminds me of the discovery I found on my MR2:

 

 

This bit is three layers - what do I weld to???

 

[lisbon_road]

Never seen anyone make an arch like that.  Interesting idea especially for somewhere you just can't find a panel for. 

[outlaw118]

As usual, i bow to your weldery and general inventiveness.

[Craig the Princess]

Wowzers, you are Autoshite's BA Baracus

 

[Squire_Dawson]

Great stuff.

[explosive-cabbage]

I'm brewing up a fat one.

 

Possible semi-MOT achieved...

[sierraman]

Excellent stuff there. Worth doing as its a rare car now. I've scrapped stuff with much less rot so I admire your commitment to the cause, but then they were ten a penny old fiestas.

[skattrd]

Samaratat returns with weldathon 2

 

I'm looking forward to seeing this live again, and am having naughty thoughts of how I could obtain it.

[KruJoe]

This has been the third in our hands, perhaps the fourth weldathon since we've had it!

 

Oh, and as per Will's sig, it may be obtainable in the near future, though it'll need a special* type of shite-loving mentalist to take it on, and love it for the way it is.

I'll tell you this for nowt: She's not got any prettier!

[Squire_Dawson]

They are good cars if transport is the main objective!

[explosive-cabbage]

It has been a while, apologies to keep you waiting.

 

Unfortunately I lost some of the pictures of the remaining welding... suffice to say it was a bit messy.

 

When I suspended the project last spring I had a nasty welding injury to my eye and had lost interest in laying on my back whilst on fire, plus I had the Cleland 205 to tinker with so was a bit distracted.

 

I left the car in a state of 95% solidity- I belived there was a couple small patches to do under the passenger side, and then to throw it all together for an MOT.

I was so put off welding that the longer I left it the more I convinced myself there was loads of welding left to do, building the problem in my head, until a year on, I realised that I had to start making a move on this project; as I am going backpacking semi-permanently in September.

 

One of the major problems I had to overcome before I leave is to sort this Samara out, it has been parked in the shed gathering clutter and dust, and taking up the prime position, completely immobile on blocks.

 

In the last post I had opened up a big hole in the drivers side sill, I cannot remember much as it was so long ago, but the hole is miraculously not there anymore, plugged by fire and brimstone.

 

A couple months ago I faced my unrational fear and realised the remaining welding wasn't really as bad as I had thought.... and that is where we pick up the story.

 

 

The soft spot under the passenger side sill was softer and larger than I remember, and it soon opened up like a bean can.

 

 

 

It needed quite a big patch, larger than any singular piece of clean steel I had left - lets make a patch, literally.

 

Some bits of offcuts, trimmed and shaped then welded together.

 

 

 

And finally, cut to size!

 

 

This patch went on without too much fuss. I was very wary of cleaning it up well and cutting back to clean metal, as I had learned my lesson from spitting welding slag in the past.

 

***

 

I'm going to leave you with this as a taster, as it is currently 2am and I was up at 7am this morning for an MOT on this very car. The story is nearly complete... I just have to fill in the gaps in the next post!

[explosive-cabbage]

Thinking that the welding was finished I started on with the rust proofing, red oxide primer followed by CarplanTetraseal.

 

 

This was the car around the time I started, as you can tell it was buried in a pile of clutter.

 

 

I used a wire wheel to blast off the rust, then plastered on the red oxide. It was all going really well until I got round to the back corner around the fuel cap- I wanted to ignore and paint over it but it was so rotten it just had to be tackled. I had previously tried to ignore the rust behind the fuel neck, but it turned out removing it was a lot easier than I was expecting!

 

 

But it was a big hole, and I had to get some more 16 guage from the scrapyard to weld it up.

 

 

 

The whole corner of the car and chassis rail was rotten and it took half a day to sort it out.

 

 

Cleaned up, wax oiled and rust proofed.

 

 

Then the inside of the welds, in the boot.

 

 

Followed by the remainder of the rear of the car.

 

 

 

[explosive-cabbage]

The front wings were completely rotten, but cleaned up with a wire wheel I found they could be made passable with a lot of protective paint.

 

Here is my brother Dan helping me out.

 

 

 

A bit of underseal under the lip and on the mounting surfaces and they were ready to go!

 

 

Unfortunately, the amount of welding that was done on the A pillars meant that the perfectly restored wings no longer fitted as tightly. Understatement of the year!

 

 

 

 

Panel gaps that could swallow and unsuspecting Horsey Horseless.

 

 

 

The tops of the wings were so rotten that the best I could do was to protect them. Luckily, when they are on the car they create and interesting and unusual feature. Check tyre wear and brake fluid level in one glance!

 

 

What with the novelty panel gaps and the wing tops you could have mud from the wheel spraying up through the holes right onto the windcreen- Rally style!

 

 

Various other body parts went on with relative ease - the fuel filler neck, the front and rear bumpers, the novelty ariel, headlights and indicators.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave_Q]

Strong dedication to a cause many wouldn't consider worthwhile.

 

Are you just going to paint an all-round tidemark of underseal up to approx window level, or are the bits I can see mainly going to be hidden when it's all together?

[explosive-cabbage]

You will have to wait and see! I am going to keep as much of the orignial paint as possible, whilst protecting the body from rust as best I can.

[explosive-cabbage]

Then, this happened!

 

 

[cms206]

That Samara is literally the best car I have ever driven flat out on a Welsh mountain road. Awesome little car.

[spartacus]

What a great read, this is why I don't have to buy car magazines anymore.

[vulgalour]

In another five years some SambaS style mental is going to come along and restore this to concourse with brand new panels.  For now we can revel in it's unique aesthetic and your efforts to save a car that probably isn't worth it.  It's horrible, but in the best possible way and I commend your monumental weldathon efforts.

[explosive-cabbage]

[DodgyBastard]

Awesome!