THAT Lada Samara - It's now FOAD's

[KruJoe]

Aye, you're making good progress. I hope you've plenty more gas and wire in stock.

[explosive-cabbage]

That's some neat weldage there but what are you doing with that metal after you weld it on as it looks like its been out in the rain for some time. Shirley its a bit like servicing a car with some used oil and an old filter unless you sort that out?

 

 

The rust has set in there well. Its needs taking back and treating. I have left metal outside and its gone like that and its rotted through in no time. I always grind it back completely before welding and then treat it with Hydrate80 and then paint. I am sure just painting over that will let the rust spread underneath. 

 

Its 16 guage steel so very thick, no chance you can bend it without heat or a vice. The steel has been kept garaged since new and its only very light surface rust, never left out in the rain.

I will paint it with 2 coats of antirust primer then a gallon of tetroseal, and shove as much as I can in the cavities.

[STUNO]

Don't worry about the surface rust on the new panels. isn't that Factory Standard.

[explosive-cabbage]

Couple more days off work ahead.
 
So this afternoon I continued pecking away at the rust on the Lada.
 

 
This nearside corner was the worst of the lot but I thought a couple small patches would have it bossed.


 
These holes are bumper mounting holes, and will have to be saved or replaced accurately.


 
And this exhaust mount will have to be saved.
 

 
Other than those two reference points I can patch it up how I like.
 
So lets get to work!
 
A few bangs with a toffee hammer and the problem gets quite daunting...
 

 
Here is another bumper support that will have to be saved.


 
Looking backwards from underneath.
 

 
Looking backwards from under the wheel arch. The holes are into the box section of the chassis rail. Quite messy in there. It will all have to come out!
 
 

 
Looking forward towards the wheel arch from the back corner. This hole goes into the chassis rail again.
 

 
Joe's welding on the front of the wheel arch has lasted quite well again, could do with a bit more underseal though!
 

 
Cleaning up and trimming out for the first patch.
It took me a good half an hour sitting around to figure out which order to do all the patches in, to make it as strong as possible and with the least amount of bending and awkward shapes to make.
 

 
Had to cut out some massive bits of rust...
 

 
Looking up at the underside of the rotten chassis rail
 

 

 
 
It is really smokey stuff, grinding this underseal off with a sanding disk!
 



 
All chopped out!
 

 
The largest and most complex patch of the day.
 

 
Tacked up
 

 
Welded in.
 



 
Next patch, to fill the boot floor.
 

 
Cardboard cut-out viewed from the inside.
 

 
Its a big hole to fill!
 

 

 

Nice tidy patch. Sorry for the upside down pictures!

 

 

Viewed from the front.

 

 

From the back.

Just a small patch on the rear valance to zip up.

 

 

Rear valance patch went on no bother

 

 

Then I climbed in and zipped from the inside!

 

 

Re-built the bumper mount...

 

 

All done for the night - In 5 and a half hours

 

 

That's all from me till next time!

Will

[Felly Magic]

Bloody hell fire, the car will weigh about 5 hundredweight more now with all that fresh metal where there was once air

[Bucketeer]

Look at you, all la-de-dah with your actual real life jacks and axle stands made of metal. Too good for a wooden pallet inspection ramp now are we?

 

 

If anybody else is interested . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hey Will, I'm sure* I baggsied first dibs on this at SF14.

That's what it means when someone gives you an animal skull for a bonnet ornament. Didn't you know that?

[dollywobbler]

Marvellous. My best friend when getting the XM welded up was a flapper wheel on an angle grinder. Munched very nicely through underseal, paint and flaky rust. I just need to learn how to do the weldy bit now. 

[KruJoe]

Even a Lancia Beta cannot rust faster than Will can mig it back together. Therefore he should have one.

[John F]

KruJoe, on 09 Dec 2014 - 11:00 AM, said:

Even a Lancia Beta cannot rust faster than Will can mig it back together. Therefore he should have one.

 

I think Joe might have just invented a perpetual motion machine...!

[vulgalour]

Those holes are incredible, as are the patches and the speed you're sorting this.  It's shocking how bad it's got, I would have expected even this forum to have binned that.

[jonny69]

Incredible dedication. I would doff my hat if I had one.

[explosive-cabbage]

Wow, thanks guys!

 

More to come tonight, watch this space. I think that is the worst corner done though.

 

I have last winter's 205 build thread stored up on Skydrive and that is even more balls deep than this!

 

Hey Will, I'm sure* I baggsied first dibs on this at SF14.

That's what it means when someone gives you an animal skull for a bonnet ornament. Didn't you know that?

 

 

Sorry, I really can't remember, I had so many propositions for it!

 

Are you still living in a tent in Greece?

 

In fairness it is much more preferable to a Golf! It will need constant fettleing its whole life and plenty of space to store the spare parts, but it did make an excellent bed with the seats out!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Fantastic work Cabbage. Oh how I miss the days where I could do a days work at the office, cycle 20 miles home again then work in the garage till midnight

[cort16]

That counts as hero welding. Looks very neat too.

[hairnet]

blx hes 15 years younger than you

[skattrd]

Even a Lancia Beta cannot rust faster than Will can mig it back together. Therefore he should have one.

I was just thinking that at the rate he's getting through this he should* have the Beta koop welded up in a weekend.

Top work Will.

[SambaS]

Love a good welding thread, cant wait to start on my Alpine. 19th I get paid and am off straight t'shop f'gas

[HMC]

Great work will

 

Impressive fabrications, theres more Malhamdale steel and less VAZ Tolyatti oxide with each page!

[explosive-cabbage]

Urgh, what a shit day.

 

It turns out yesterday I did not find the worst of the rust.

 

On the YouTube video I described the driver's side sill as ''nothing too bad''

 

How wrong was I.

 

To start with I finished of cleaning up and filling holes in the passenger side rear sill-

 

As it was:

 

 

Making a patch

 

 

Welded up and blended in...

Took about half an hour start to finish.

 

 

So onto the driver's side sill.

 

Here is the problem corner -

 

 

From underneath

 

 

So I went to work with the pliers and a small hammer, tugging and twisting to clean out the crud.

 

First thing I found was a damp patch or water under a thin layer of metal (the dark patch, centre on this photo)

Not a good start...

 

 

Soon I had a pile of this:

 

 

And could do this:

 

Not good.

 

It was soon opening up like a bean can.

 

 

From underneath:

 

 

So I went to work with the cutting disk.

 

 

 

But soon became clear I had run out of arm.

 

 

''What the fuck?''    I hear you say!    ''Run out of arm?!?''

 

 

Scroll down and see...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could fit my whole arm into the sill!

 

 

 

 

 

Twas a fairly large hole...

 

 

 

First ever selfie from inside a rotten sill?

 

 

 

(Notice from my face at this point the I was still in good spirits!)

 

Its going to be a long day.

 

So off to get a can of Coke and some more cardboard for templates!

 

 

Don't try this at home kids!

 

 

This patch was so large I had to hold it up with two limbs! -

 

 

I'll be glad when I get it Finished...

 

(Sorry for the pun - I just had to do it. I've been chuckling about it all day)

 

Took a while to get this one cut and propped up.

 

 

Not particularly complicated, just very large.

 

 

 

Then the rear needed patching to cover the end of the sill.

 

It wasn't a precise patch just due to the size and number of curves, it was more a case of 'tack it on and then bray it into position when it gets hot'

 

 

Didn't do too bad.

 

 

But it was only now I realised my welder was on half power - I had turned it down half way to do the outer sill on the other side this morning.

 

BOLLOCKS.

 

I should have known!!

 

See in the picture above, the red knob on the welder? It isn't obvious that it is on a low setting as the knob looks like it has two arrows, one at each oppostie side.

 

So penetration hasn't been great and the welds are obviously more 'pidgeon shitty'.

 

Never mind. Live and learn. The patches were stuck on quite well but I turned it up to full and filled over any weak spots.

 

Another patch to cover a weak patch near the seatbelt mounting point...

 

 

 

And next I welded on a piece of angle iron to do as a jacking point and sill edge.

 

Very strong

 

 

 

Cleaning up the outer wheel arch edge to repair it.

 

 

So this is how I left it - I pinned one more patch on the inside of the wheel arch to cover a small hole and support the outer wing but you cant see it from here.

 

I was just beginning to cut up a long patch to re-create the outer wing.

More on that next time.

 

It was getting late and I had done 7 hours, and the Fish and Chip shop 5 miles away closes in 20 mins.

 

 

 

I set off for Fish and Chips, and on the way over and on the way back a very loud grinding/rumpling started coming from the N/S front on the 205, to the point where it was scarey and the steering started going all wonky.

 

I was completely exhausted, I got home at 9pm and had my dinner and then went back out in the rain to check for the problem...

 

 

The hub nuts on both sides had come loose and this one on the passenger side had nearly wound itself completely off, separating the bearing in the process.

 

The brake disks alone were holding the wheel on and the bearing was completely ruined.

 

I have been wondering why this last week or so my brake pedal has been going a long way down before being effective - it's obviously the run-out caused by the wobbly brake disk and wheel.

 

But I didn't have another hub to fit as i only have 306 bits and the 306's use a different size drive shaft!

 

That'll teach me to bang in the locking tabs on the hub nut!

 

This side is completely knackered - the wheel has loads of play when the hub nut is tight and there was a load of crunching noises when I was tightening it up.

 

I had to tighten them up as much as possible and I'll get another ordered for this side. This is the second time this has happened to me in the last 6 months!

 

I don't have a lot of mileage to work and will be able to get a spare to fit on Friday!

 

Live and learn.

 

Over and out - Will

[trigger]

Mentalist.

[John F]

Bummer about that bearing, Will.

[cort16]

Awzum

[gdhaydock]

 

I have beaten a Calibra in a timetrial up Hardknott Pass

 

 

 

Erm, just catching up on this one .....but wasn't the Lada already abandoned in a layby at Kirkby Lonsdale in a mass of hairy yellow string with a barbed wire towrope wrapped around its wheel at this point?

[John F]

gdhaydock, on 11 Dec 2014 - 09:09 AM, said:

Erm, just catching up on this one .....but wasn't the Lada already abandoned in a layby at Kirkby Lonsdale in a mass of hairy yellow string with a barbed wire towrope wrapped around its wheel at this point?

 

Yes it was.

 

IIRC Will was co-pilot in Joe's Monsieur Merde

[vulgalour]

That's the first time I've seen someone demonstrate the size of a rust hole by climbing inside it.

[Rocket88]

That's the first time I've seen someone demonstrate the size of a rust hole by climbing inside it.

 

You've obviously never owned a Fiat..............!

[brickwall]

I think I mentioned my Jack Russell climbed through the hole in the floor of the RR.

[cort16]

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 .

[explosive-cabbage]

Erm, just catching up on this one .....but wasn't the Lada already abandoned in a layby at Kirkby Lonsdale in a mass of hairy yellow string with a barbed wire towrope wrapped around its wheel at this point?

God, your right! Must have been thinking about Edd's Samba!

 

I have been over the Hardknott pass in this, a scarey experience it was!

[gdhaydock]

God, your right! Must have been thinking about Edd's Samba!

 

I have been over the Hardknott pass in this, a scarey experience it was!

At least you made it to the top