Restoring my P1800E

[Burdekin]

I started welding in the lower scuttle repair tonight and am nearly finished. Before I welded the lower scuttle repair to the inner windscreen aperture repair I made I clamped on the old top scuttle part and trial fitted the windscreen. It all came together fine but I still need to grind the top edge of the inner windscreen aperture to match what will be the lip where the wing meets the windscreen aperture. I made this bit oversize as I didn't as I didn't have anything to go by when I removed the old section so best to be over size then undersize and I can just grind it down later when I get to that section. You can see what I mean in the last attached pic as I roughly drew with marker along the top edge what will require to be removed.

I have a little bit of welding left on my scuttle repair, then I will grind it and then move onto the other smaller lower scuttle areas that need attention. Once that is done I'll fix up the top scuttle section and weld it back into place before moving onto the inner windscreen aperture section that I will need to remake. I have thought of two ways I could make this section so hopefully one of those two ways works out nice and neat.

[Burdekin]

Not been working on the car much as have been very busy at work and was a bit annoyed with the car and myself but I went and did half a day today. I've now fully welded the curved windscreen repair section and cut out all the rust and welded in new sections for this part of the car. But when I fully welded the curved repair section I got a bit of distortion, not a lot but just enough to be annoying. So I spent quite a bit of time today getting the fit correct for the windscreen aperture and the top scuttle. I got the curved section finally to fit the curve of the windscreen but this didn't fully match the curve in the scuttle, so I did quite a bit of head scratching today and adjusting, more head scratching and adjusting etc etc. Finally and after being quite frustrated with myself that it was taking so long I got it all to fit nicely.

Before I left the garage I started on fixing the scuttle, so straightening it out from where I had bent it when splitting the old spot welds and I also finished welding on the section that I had previously cut out when I was checking for rust under the scuttle.

I wasn't in the mood for taking pictures today, was a bit grumpy but will get some more pictures later so it will be clearer what I've been doing.

[irishcarfan]

Keep up the good work

[Daemon2]

I had the same kind of weekend with my project. Some days things seem to fall in place, other days not so much.

[Thom12]

Pretty new to the forums myself. I have always been interested in trying something like this, but i've never really seen/heard of anyone doing it.

The car looks great and it seems like a fabulous project to be working on. Looking forward to seeing the finished article.

Inspiring stuff. Hope all is going well.

[Burdekin]

I did a bit more on the scuttle. Drilling and ground out three rust holes and welded in wee repairs. I also replaced a rusty tab on the scuttle and weld in a new one. I then ground and sanded them flush. I then did some finishing on the welds on top of the scuttle and worked on the fitment. It's coming along and is pretty darn close now, just the right outer edge of the windscreen aperture needs to come up straighter I think. When I get it close I'm going to weld some tabs onto the windscreen aperture so I can properly fit the windscreen fit as it is very precarious doing this by myself and nearly dropped the windscreen on the weekend when trying to see how good the fit was.

The last bit I started before calling it a night was where the front edge of where the scuttle is welded on to the underneath section, this needs straightening from when I separated it. A lot of this scuttle has been done by eye and trial fitting the windscreen and scuttle etc so has been a fidly bit to get right but I feel I'm nearly there now with this bit. The next job is to repair all the holes which I drilled through into the lower section when drilling out the spot welds and there are a couple of metal tears that need fixing and then I'll give it a paint with POR15 before welding the scuttle back on. The good thing is all the rust is now gone in the scuttle / lower windscreen aperture. So very happy I did this as there was plenty of rust hiding away. A few pics of the scuttle, I painted it with zinc primer before calling it a night but didn't take a photo.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I have been looking at your build, and you have alot more work than I do... LOL Dont get frustrated, it only causes more work later.. It looks like you are actually building the car from scratch, I guess we are fairly lucky in the states when it comes to rust. Good work by the way..

[Burdekin]

Thanks Robert, yeah got a lot of work just to bring it up to the standard of where you started. My plan is also to reduce weight where I can so my front section of the car will be fibreglass, trunk lid fibreglass and then welding the P1800 outer body onto an extended Miata chassis. Like you going for the LS engine and have a LS2 and T56 and running a getrag diff. Suspension will be aftermarket Miata coilovers and a AP racing big brake upgrade. So lots and lots of work left. I had never welded on a car or done any bodywork bodywork before I started so it's a learning curve for me.

After I wrote my thread last night it clicked why the right hand side of the cars rusts more than the left as both mine have done. It's the fit of the lower outer windscreen aperture and it is worse on the right side so that allows moisture in and they rot from there! That is why my scuttle didn't fit correct with the windscreen middle aperture when I got it spot on. So all the P1800 owners out there get those windscreens out check the fit of the windscreen to the aperture and if there is a gap which there most likely will be get out the sealant and get it sorted. :-)

[JIH]

At about 80-90mph the standard steel 1800 gets pretty light up front. With fibreglass I suppose it would be even lighter at speed. What are you going to do to keep it on the ground?

[Burdekin]

Weight wise it will have a LS engine bolted in so that is about 190kg I think but I’ll be saving weight with the fibreglass front and tubular crossmember etc. I will be lowering the car and the most significant area that will be lowered is the front nose area as the original sticks up like a Lords Cricket member. ;-) The front nose hopefully will be more like a modern car and I’m planning to style it a bit like the Ferrari Calafornia and the Masseratti Gran Turismo. So aerodynamically it will be better and also I have an idea for the bonnet shape which may help as well. Overall weight I’m hoping for 1000 to 1100kg so about the weight of my MX5 which handles great and my thinking is with a stiffened MX5 platform, aerodynamically improved front and lowered suspension, I’m not anticipating problems due to weight loss and realistically with the LS in the front it probably won’t be that much lighter in the end if lighter at all, but it will definitely handle and ride significantly better than original.

I may also look at putting on a rear spoiler but not sure about this yet.