Restoring my P1800E

[Burdekin]

I was hoping to be further along with the sills but a big weekend at the rugby last weekend and cutting out some rust underneath a rear hanger put me a bit behind. But the rugby was a great day and the rust had to be removed.

I made a new bottom section of the A pillar and welded in position. Needed a slight adjustment (about 5mm) with the knockometer and a bit of timber to get just right. It was hard to align it correctly when tacking in position.

I've attached some pics of cutting out the rust underneath the hanger. The first job was to remove the hanger, so more drilling spot welds and grinding welds. Due to the location the welds had to be ground with a rotary burr. Once the spot welds were drilled and welds ground as much as I could I then took to removing the hanger with my chisel and paint scraper. When I got the hanger off I had to straighten it up so I hammered it back into shape. I then ground all the rust off, gave it a good going over with metal ready before applying the zinc primer.

The next bit was to cut out the rusty section. I also had to cut off the tab from the rear chassis rail where it is welded to the crossmember. This was a bit fiddly and had to be ground with the rotary burr again due to access. Once all the rust was cut out I welded in a new piece of metal, ground the welds flush and then welded in a new tab for the chassis rail. I then bolted the panhard rod back into position with the hanger and tacked into position, removed the panhard rod and welded the hanger. A few runs, some tacks and plug welds from the top to hold it in position.

The next job was to replace some of the tabs which the inner sill is welded too. Nothing too taxing but time consuming. I have to grind some metal off one as it's stopping the middle sill locating in the correct position. Late this afternoon I started to play around with getting the sills in position by clamping them in position. The middle sill doesn't quite line up flush all the way along the length of the mating face on the A pillar, I think it is the middle sill that is a bit out. Anyone else found this with fitting the middle sills from Brookhouse?

This week it's time to get the sills in position, I will screw them in place first, trial fit the door and then weld if okay.

[redcar]

mitch, it was a great day's rugby.. you definitely deserved that win... i could see it in the lads when they were lining up to sing the anthems.. great game altogether..

[Burdekin]

Well I wanted to finish the inner and middle sills this weekend but not quite there. I sprayed the the sills with weld through zinc primer and it makes it harder to get a nice weld so when welding the inner sill to the floor from below the car some of the plug welds needed grinding and re-welding which took me all morning to do as I had to use a rotary burr as I can't get in with my grinder.

Anyhow, I started off by fitting up the inner and outer sills into position and measured it to check all was okay. Seemed okay so I screwed the sills into place, double checked my measurements and all seemed okay so I removed the door braces. There didn't appear to be any movement when I took the braces off which was good. I then trial fitted the door. It seems to be sitting a wee bit low on the top left corner (I think it may have been like this before as I can't see how this could have changed). The door was also sitting in on the bottom right corner, ironically I think if I had left the door the way it was previously it would probably have been a reasonable fit. I was reasonably happy and I think I'll be able to improve the fit later on and get it looking okay so I decided I would take the door off, refit the braces and weld the inner sill. I thought it would be best to start at one end and work my way along but I did get a bit of distortion doing this so next time I think I'll space the welding out. When the inner sill is fitted to the middle sill it's nae too bad and if I'm careful with welding the middle sill I think with a few taps here and there it will look okay. I finished the day off by screwing and clamping the middle sill in position ready for welding. The missus was calling me home early so I couldn't finish off the welding, it will still be there when I go back.

Pics below.

[Burdekin]

Back working on the car this weekend after almost two weeks. I had another member DJS and his girlfriend up visiting last weekend and Darren has given me heaps of tips and advice which is great and really appreciated. One that I'm quite excited about is flush bonding in the glass like modern cars do, will look great I think. I'll have to extend the lips to get the correct surface area but no big issue.

I forgot to take my ole camera over yesterday while working on the car so no photos from yesterday's work. It was mainly just welding in the sills. Inner and middle all done now, just a bit of grinding and welding from inside the car but will do that later. One thing I wouldn't recommend is welding through weld through primer, you get a much nicer weld with nicely prepared metal.

Today I made up a new left sill, Darren had given me a original part sill outer repair but it doesn't come with the fitted part at the front. Darren had extended the repair part to where it would meet under the front wing and I could have just then made the fitted part and extended the part repair to where it is welded on to the A pillar. But after looking at the non-original left outer sill that I had I thought I could match the fitted front to the original repair sill, so this is what I did. I cut off the extended part of the original sill and welded on the non-original front. I then had to do a fair bit of fitting to get the curved fitted part correct but I think it is now a pretty good fit. I then made up a new front section as what would have been there originally. This took a wee bit of time as it tapers down so just a bit more tricky to make. After making this I then welded it in position hoping it will clear the new front wing when it is fitted. I think it will but you never know until it is in position. I then gave it a spray with zinc primer to stop any rust until it is fitted proper.

Next job was to remove the windscreen, very easy to remove and took about 10 minutes, I thought it may have been a pain to do as have never done it before but is no problem. There was no sealant so that is probably why there is rust in each bottom corner. This is one reason why my A pillars need attention and have rusted so if you notice rust or water coming through the bottom corners get it fixed asap and you may prevent it finally getting into the A pillars.

Final job was to start removing the left front wing. The inner need a lot of attention but I'm quite looking forward to this part, not lying on my back welding upside down and it looks pretty straight forward and nothing too complex to make. The plan is to fix the A pillar and then inner front wing.

I got some good advice regarding brake discs, calipers and rims so thanks Mattias for the help if you're reading this.

New pics below.

[redcar]

jeez mitch, is there any part of your car that isn't rusty? that is one hell of a project to do on your own..

still the satisfaction of driving out of the garage is going to be fantastic...

[Burdekin]

What rust? ;-)

That's the trouble with the P1800, they are very prone to rust. It's a big job but at least I'll know when it's finished what the actual condition of the car is. Looking forward to the next stage of the car, doing the A pillar and inner wing will be better as I'll no longer be laying on the ground welding upside down. Also they're quite large sections so rusty sections should get done a bit quicker, that's my positive thinking anyway...

[Burdekin]

Well it was one of those weekends working on the car, did lots of work but not really that much to show for it so I'm going to have a couple of lovely cold beers while I update the blog.

The plan for the weekend was to cut out the left A pillar from the parts car and transfer it over to the car I'm rebuilding, simple plan. But and there are always buts, there was rust in the parts car A pillar as well but it was marginally less and luckily no rust in the curved section that goes from the door to the windscreen. So I drilled out the spot welds and cut bits off until all I had left was the unrusty bit that I could use. Can be seen in one of the pics below as I was trail fitting it.

The next step was to cut out the section in the main car, I left the outer section on as a guide and will replace it next. When I cut out the inner section to replace it there is a piece of metal sandwiched in between which runs under the front wing, up the A pillar and also around the scuttle board / bottom of windscreen, this was rusty and also needed to be replaced. I made a new bit and will join it to the A pillar when I cut out the outer section. All a bit hard to explain as it's quite a complicated joint.

When welding in the repair section it was a bit hard to locate but in the end after a lot of checking with the right side, looking from different angles, checking the parts car and taking measurements I'm very happy and think I've located it spot on. Just tacked in place at the moment.

I will keep on fixing the A pillar in sections as I don't want to take too much metal off at a time as otherwise it will be difficult to remake and ensure all is correct and aligned etc.

Cheers,

Mitch

[john h]

That looks tricky. Nice, thorough work you're doing

John

[Burdekin]

Thanks John, I follow your 164 project as well and keep up the great work...

[Alf ista]

You're a brave man Mitch, a brave man.... Its going to be a cracker!