Tuesday 30 October 2012

Strengthening the body...or not (quite yet)

Now the body is on the chassis I want to get some strength back in it.

With no front clip or rear cross members the body is free to move around once the bracing I added is removed. Unfortunately I've found I can't fit the new rear cross members due to the repairs that had previously been done to the heater channels. I've also noticed that all the weight of the body is on the outside edge of the pan halves, pulling them downwards slightly.

All of this needs needs sorting out before anything is finally welded into place, and after a lot of thinking if decided that, to move forwards, I needs to go backwards slightly. The only way I can get the new rear cross members in place, and also take the load off the pan edges is to start by replacing the heater channels. I didn't want to take more strength out of the body at this stage but it seems to be the only way forwards. So I will remove and replace each heater channel, tacking them to the body and bolting them to the pan. This will add the strength and allow fitting of the rear cross members before I then tackle the rear quarter repairs...or at least that's the theory.


Door removed so I can see what I'm up against.



Heater channel opened up. Note the rust already taking hold inside the "new" pattern heater channel.



Front end opened up...



...and the centre section removed.



Using an angle grinder with a cutting disc the rest of the heater chanel was removed and wood blocks used to support the body. I'm glad I took this step as it confirms the previous repairs were not to the standard I want.



Sunday 14 October 2012

At last!

After work, the house and a few other things taking priority I finally managed some time on the car today. Out came the and grinder and I finished separating the second inner rear quarter panel.



Sunday 7 October 2012

Still no progress!

I've been in Portugal & Spain all week, which was planned. What wasn't planned was a minor disaster with the hot water boiler in the house!

Woke up to a cold house and a damp ceiling so had to get the leak sorted and the hot water back on. Wouldn't have minded if it was an old boiler but we only had it fitted 6 months ago. We've got a temporary repair done and an engineer coming some time tomorrow to fix it properly.