garmer's Photobucket media

Turntime

garmer — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:09:01 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Turntime - 090814Frame.jpg

090814 - Few updates this summer. Apart from what's mentioned earlier, I have mounted a new front crossmember, after a fair bit of modification, welded nuts for the fuel pump, made a hole for the battery cutoff switch, lead loaded the joins between the rear wings and the rear valance and welded up some small "to-dos" here and there. Finally I made a wooden frame supported on top of the front and rear bulkheads, turned the body upside down and strapped the frame to a wheeled steel frame, making the body easy to shift when I then drove it off to be blasted. Oh, and I bought a new auto-darkening welding helmet! The best gift I've given myself in forever. I really should make myself deserve gifts more often...

Front wing

garmer — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:32:17 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Front wing - 090711LFWing.jpg

090712 This weekend I had planned to blast the boot floor in a party tent outside the workshop, but I reconsidered and will have it done professionally. It would have been too dusty and sweaty, and with a poor result/time ratio. Instead I spent part of the weekend sorting through stuff to find small projects I can do during the weekday evenings, when I'm too tired after work to get welding or doing more serious work. I will try to focus on what is needed to get the car rolling, like brackets for the rear spring, but sometimes it's fun to finish less crucial things as well. Another project for another time is the left front wing, which needed some work to get to the "another time" stage. To be able to work on it during winter break the lower half has to be correctly aligned with the main part of the wing, and this can only be achieved with the body at hand and the door mounted. I welded the two pieces together after alignment to each other, the rear inner part and the door. Later, with the body in winter storage, I can prepare surfaces to be hidden and weld the pieces together without further need to align stuff.

Battery boxes

garmer — Sun, 5 Jul 2009 15:26:08 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Battery boxes - 090705-BttryWld.jpg

090705 The first update in some time, I keep forgetting to bring my camera to the workshop. Plus I got a dayjob keeping me away from the car. My plan was to spend all summer in the workshop, before school starts again in September, but now i repair cell phones all day long instead. Well, well... This weekend has seen me welding up the battery boxes, which was the last of the welding that needed to be done inside the cockpit. I replaced both outer halves of the boxes as they were pretty rotten, and will need to patch up the bottom of the inner right one. I made the patch, realizing it is probably the last fabrication work I need on the car. Almost a bit sad, as it's the part of restoration work I like best. I have found myself wanting to start cutting up and make repairs to dad´s 1971 Citroën DS 21, but I probably should stay focused on my own car. Next weekend I hope to be able to sandblast the underside from the rear firewall backwards, as the blaster who did the car obviously forgot it. I'll see if I get hold of what's needed until then.

FuseFix

garmer — Sat, 6 Jun 2009 11:23:57 MDT

garmer posted a photo

FuseFix - FuseFix.jpg

My fix for a Canon PowerShot A530 being stone dead with the lens extended was to replace the fuse block (marked 2.3) closest to the battery cables, bottom left in the picture, with the crappy soldering visible beside it. The fuse was put back for the picture and is of course removed altogether.

Engine work

garmer — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:42:04 MST

garmer posted a photo

Engine work - 090228EngHalf.jpg

090228 - I finally took the time to do some work on the engine. After thorough de-rusting of the head and the sides of the block by wire brush, cleaning took a lot more time than I had thought...but I finally got it clean enough to paint it with epoxy etch-primer. This stuff dries quickly, so I was able to bolt some stuff back on in stead of leaving holes plugged with rags. Left to do is removing the front- and endplates to treat them, the sump, the timing chain cover and what's left on the block. I'll replace the chain and tensioner, but other than that and an examination of the oil pump, the mechanics will be left alone for now; it ran well and does not have too many kms in it since a factory rebuild. The rocker cover will be replaced by an alloy one I got for christmas some years ago. It will look fantabulous when it's done!

In storage

garmer — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:16:47 MST

garmer posted a photo

In storage - 081015Storage.jpg

081015 - In storage after a summer of welding. Just the front crossmember and outer battery box sides left to get in place, and all welding to the main tub is done! Then I have to finish up the front wings and replace the door skins before paint prep.

Pepparkaksanka!

garmer — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:55:39 MST

garmer posted a photo

Pepparkaksanka! - Pepparkaksanka.jpg

Resultatet av lite böjande och punktsvetsande på sovrumsgolvet blev en någorlunda anklik pepparkaksform. Vad tycks?

Dog clamps

garmer — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 17:59:44 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Dog clamps - 080806-DglgRep.jpg

080806 - I got to use the clamps I made some time ago when fixing the filler piece for the left wing in place, after welding a wire loop to the last of their nuts not being turnable by hand. I'm satisfied with the shape of the filler piece I made up, but my welding today was terrible. The metal got distorted even though I cooled it after each weld, but only where I did short bursts. The longest welds didn't distort at all. Weird. I'll have to use more filler than I hoped, I never managed to get the panel flat enough to be satisfied. It's hard to get a dolly in position inside the wing, my arms are too big. Well, at least it won't show when it's done and it's as strong as new so it'll have to do.

Dogleg

garmer — Tue, 5 Aug 2008 16:34:09 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Dogleg - 080805-Dogleg.jpg

080805 - I got the left dogleg partly welded in place along the B-post and made up a filler piece to cover the hole between it and the rest of the wing. I also drilled out the spot-welds holding the inner and the outer wings together to get at some rust and prevent it from developing further. The plan is to glue the flanges with the same glue as on the other side, wich will seal the joint from water better than spot welds and sealer. I guess I'll have to use filler on the holes afterwards, unless they get filled by glue.

Rear panel

garmer — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 17:34:18 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Rear panel - 080804-RPaint.jpg

080804 - After finishing the last spotwelds fixing the rear panel in place I lead-loaded the joints between it and the rear wings above the bumper. As these surfaces are near vertical this my second attempt at loading was a bit harder than the first one; the scuttle panel in front of the windscreen. The right one cuts the hole for the fuel filler tube in half and the edges of this had to be made up of solder. I think this one went ok, but I'm not entirely happy with the left one. A problem is that I have to weld a bit more just below these areas and the solder might run of. The reason I didn't do this before the loading is my lack of skills at welding upwards, I'm putting the finishing welding on hold until I can tilt the body. I'll have to control the heat build-up as much as possible and just hope it works. Or re-do the loading...

Preparations

garmer — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 16:55:28 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Preparations - 080728-RPrep.jpg

080728 - The rear panel and its mounting flanges are being prepared for welding. This is a part which will take some time aligning with the surrounding bodywork to get the gap around the bootlid looking good. The old one had been seriously banged up some time in the past and had been crudely covered in filler. At the bottom edge it was more than 1 cm thick, only beaten by the amount put into the dents in the bootlid itself. I'm glad I won't be spending time trying to get the old panels straight, it would never have been satisfactory done.

Floor done!

garmer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:11:00 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Floor done! - 080721-LFloorDone.jpg

080721 - Finally the floor is finished, wehey! My plan was to take care of all the surface rust in at least this side of the cockpit with angle-grinder and wire brush and prime it, but I found a bit more than expected where I thought the metal was blasted so I'll treat it to more intense sessions of the same with addition of rust-eater and stuff. At least what shows here looks good!

Halfway

garmer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:05:32 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Halfway - 080720-HalfGrind.jpg

080720 - Two hours non-stop grinding after finishing welding of the floor and I'm about halfway done. Then I gave up for the day, bored, with dust everywhere and with fingers tired from the vibrations. Not as bored as after the drilling, though. I seam-welded the rear edge and three portions of the edge towards the transmission tunnel; front, rear and above the crossmember.

Wiring

garmer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:49:05 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Wiring - 080719-RWires.jpg

080719 - I replaced all of the red wires in the part of the loom that runs from the engine bay along the underside of the car to supply fuel pump, rear lights and so on, in front of a couple of movies. To be able to cover everything with shrink-wrap tubing, I cut all the bullet connectors in the front end and used some washing-up liquid. All junctions were wrapped with self-amalgamating tape, before and after shrink-wrapping, to get maximum water resistance. A bit too late, I realized the four cables ending up below the boot floor were somewhat corroded at that end and should really have been replaced. Instead I acid-dipped the stripped wire ends to remove oxide then soldered them up, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. The picture is taken the morning after when I did the actual dipping-soldering of the last wires and the shrinking, but as I did the rest of the work before going to bed, I count it as being done on the 19th. ;)

MoreFloor

garmer — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:58:48 MDT

garmer posted a photo

MoreFloor - 080718-LFWeld.jpg

080718 - Today I got all the boring drilling done. A couple of hundred holes drilled in two steps, then de-burred with a large drill-bit. In all, a bit too many steps for the process to be entertaining. Then I started filling the holes with weld, which got almost as boring after the first twenty or so welds to get the floorpan fixed in place were done. I think I got a bit past half-way before I gave up and decided to call it a night and go watch a film or something. I can't say I'm too eager to get back to it tomorrow. Grinding the lot down afterwards will feel more rewarding I guess, as it will be the last step before primer.

Preparations

garmer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:22:49 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Preparations - 080716-LFloorCont.jpg

080716 - After getting a new wire brush for the angle grinder to replace the totally worn out old one, I could start preparing the flanges on the bodyshell for the new floorpan. Before I can mount it I have to drill a silly amount of holes though, I really don't feel like it... Oh, and I have a shiny new bottle of Ar all full and ready for a weldathon!

Left floor

garmer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:36:48 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Left floor - 080715-LFloor.jpg

080715 - The left floorpan pre-welding is complete. With the nuts for the seat and the drain covers welded on, what remains to do is drilling a lot of holes for plug-welds along the edges and for the frame members below the pan. I also got the inside welding of the bulkhead repair from last Juli done, I left this for when the main floor pan was removed. The gas for the MIG was running out, so to empty the bottle completely I did some welds that won't show up much when the car is finished, as some seams along the top of the sills, the inside of the rear inner quarter panels to the sill and so on. After grinding them all smooth my arms felt like abrasive paper... Some days showering feels even better than usual!

B-welding done

garmer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:24:33 MDT

garmer posted a photo

B-welding done - 080714-BDogPFin.jpg

080714 - I really took my time shaping the small patch to the B-post and getting it lined up as, although it's invisible when the car is parked and when it's on the road, I will se it every time I get in the car. The dogleg repair panel is clamped on after a lot of trimming and shaping, getting it lined up with the B-post, the sill, the door and the inner wing. This is very much visible from the outside, so it's also very important to get right. Also: My parents came home with my 'new' boot lid today! With one large dent and a couple of small ones it was maybe a bit too expensive at 1250 SEK, but as the frame of it is straight, the seal mounting channel is in fine shape and the lock mechanism was excellent, I'm satisfied. I could possibly have found one cheaper in the UK, but now I didn't risk anything as my father could check it out before any money changed hands and he deemed the dents to be no match for my skills. :)

B-patch revisited

garmer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:12:42 MDT

garmer posted a photo

B-patch revisited - 080711-BDogPtch.jpg

080711 - After finishing welding the patch to the inner wing on this side, I started making up this small patch to the B-post. In actuallity it's a patch to the outer wing, as this is originally mounted with a flange behind the B-post. In this area though, the only thing remaining of the old outer wing is the tatty strip at the edge of the B-post, a repair panel to cover the rest will come on later.

L inner wing

garmer — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 18:05:04 MDT

garmer posted a photo

L inner wing - 080709-InrLftPtch.jpg

080709 - A patch made to the left rear inner wing. It took some time making this, with curves in all directions, but I think it went pretty well. Once this is on I can start working on the lower front part of the outer wing; trim the repair panel and make up a patch between this and the rest of the wing. I also made some calls trying to get hold of a better boot lid than the one I got, will have to see how that turns out. Fortunately my parents are on a trip not far from a pair of possibly suitable ones, so hopefully I won't have to pay for shipping.

Rear end

garmer — Tue, 8 Jul 2008 17:35:23 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Rear end - 080708-RearEnd.jpg

080708 - Today I removed the rear panel completely for replacement. I have borowed a bootlid to get the aperture right as I can't trust mine to be of the right shape after finding deep filler-repaired dents to the lower edge. Unfortunately the "new" one might have had a minor impact at the lower left corner, the seal channel seems bent. Anyway, if I get the aperture right I might be able to shape the lid to fit, but hopefully I can get a straight one at a reasonable price instead. Note the awesome On-Car entertainment system! ;) A pair of computer speakers connected to my iPod, as simple as it gets.

Bonded!

garmer — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:34:42 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Bonded! - 080627WngRear.jpg

080627 - I got the rear wing on! The glue got everywhere, but it came off with thinner. First I glued and spotwelded the beading along the top of the wing and the outer shell toghether, then I glued these to the rest of the car. That way I got all the messy gluing done in one go and I could use the beading to get the outer and inner panels correctly located to each other. The only visible differences from the earlier photo of trial-fitting is the number of clamps present and the fact that the beading is there this time. Something not showing is that one of the clamps got unstuck and fell down inside the front part, behind the B-post. I hope I can get it out... This and the front wings are nice parts of the project because other people than me can actually see something has happened since last time. :)

Wing remodeling - the sequel

garmer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:22:28 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Wing remodeling - the sequel - 080622WngFrnt.jpg

080622 - The front of the wing is welded up and the lamp bucket with chrome ring is trial-fitted to make sure the aperture has the right shape. Some alterations were necessary before finalizing it, no surprise there. I also tried beating the rear lower part to shape and although it's now much better than before, I'm far from satisfied. Maybe I should just replace it with the better one I got from the original wing, but I hate drilling out spotwelds. Besides, I obviously need to practice my getting-metal-flat-skills more.

Wing remodeling

garmer — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:12:54 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Wing remodeling - 080618-WngCrnr.jpg

080616 - The former GT wing is now a Roadster wing, but still from the wrong year. There is yet some cut-and-paste to do on the front and lower edges. Also showing are some of the paper and metal patterns I used to get everything to line up correctly. Amazingly, it worked!

2 to 1

garmer — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:50:24 MDT

garmer posted a photo

2 to 1 - 080617-Wings.jpg

080617 - The closer of the two wings is from an MGB GT, but as it's almost totally rust-free it's far better to work with than the poorly repaired original. Apart from the obvious rear corner, since it differs between roadster and GT, I'll transfer everything below the trim line from the old one. These parts are both pretty banged up, and the front part has the sidelight hole in the wrong place.

Inlet manifold

garmer — Sun, 6 Apr 2008 18:59:47 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Inlet manifold - 080406Inlet.jpg

040806 - The inlet manifold had some rough spots which I felt like grinding smooth, so I got a kit of grinding stones and dug in. A bit funny is that the last project carried out on this desk was the chipping of a Nintendo Wii.

Horns in black

garmer — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:11:44 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Horns in black - 080327HornsDone.jpg

070327 - The horns with a coat of shiny black, ready to go into the engine bay. After cleaning the cable connections of course, I forgot the tape when I brought the rest of the stuff needed to paint to where I did the work and I didn't feel like making a second run.

First start

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:56:11 MDT

garmer posted a photo

First start - 040608MotorStart.jpg

040608 - I got it to run, it really only needed new points and a spare A-series engine for my dad's Frogeye had a nice pair to lend. Too bad I had already stripped the rear brakes completely, otherwise my first drive could have been 2.5 years earlier than it was. Oh well...

The main problem. At first.

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:55:52 MDT

garmer posted a photo

The main problem. At first. - 040814RSillFront.jpg

040814 - The worst hidden part of the right sill. It competes with the rear of the same sill for being the worst rust spot on the car, the castle section was almost all gone. The middle section, below the door, had been covered at some point, making it look almost good.

Removing the right sill

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:54:46 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Removing the right sill - 040918SillOff.jpg

040918 - The old sill is gone, I'm dressing the flanges upp. Somehow, the inner sill has nothing but surface rust and only at the front. Amazing, when the rest of the structure was as bad as it was.

Repairs to the right inner wing

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:53:41 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Repairs to the right inner wing - 050719RInrWngTop.jpg

050719 - A spotwelder comes in handy when doing up the visible edges. Got to buy me one of these some day, this one is only lent to me by a friend. Thanks Mike!

Right inner wing finished

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:52:37 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Right inner wing finished - 050719RInrWnSde.jpg

050719 - Not as much work needed here as on the other side, "only" the front, top and bottom had to be replaced. Paint and seam-sealer to go. A repair section has been welded to the scuttle, it will get some lead on it later.

Leadloading, my first try

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:51:39 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Leadloading, my first try - 060415FirstLead.jpg

060415 - My first go at lead-loading. I started to get the hang of it after a while - to some extent. Needs a LOT of practise, though. A lot.

Rear dampers were in a bad state

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:51:22 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Rear dampers were in a bad state - 060728Damper.jpg

060728 - This is what the rear dampers looked like inside. I cleaned it thoroughly , made a new seal for the lid and put an O-ring around the valve, filled it up with damper oil and only then realized it leaked like a sieve. Money ... spent?

Interruptions...

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:51:03 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Interruptions... - 061226Drill.jpg

061226 - Sometimes you get interrupted by things out of your control, like when the cable to the drill gives up from to much abuse. Easy to fix, though.

Celebrations of the first drive

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:50:23 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Celebrations of the first drive - 070106FirstDrive.jpg

070106 - After my first drive my sister and our parents came out with a bottle of the sparkly stuff for us. It was nice to show some progress, appearantly they shared my joy!

Really poorly repaired B-post

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:47:49 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Really poorly repaired B-post - 070625OldRep.jpg

070625 - This was what the B-post looked like after a previous sill replacement. And look at the repairs to the middle sill! I bet they charged the PO good for this. Bastards.

The weather is not encouraging

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:45:03 MDT

garmer posted a photo

The weather is not encouraging - 070705Rain.jpg

070705 - When the weather is like this you don't mind having the car in the garage...

Horns after blasting and priming

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:55:37 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Horns after blasting and priming - 080322Horns2After.jpg

080322 - An hour spent with a blasting cabinet and a can of zinc-rich primer, and the horns look nice. A coat of black paint and they're good to go. If I got all the sand out, that is. A tip: put a rag or something i the hole to keep sand out, otherwise you have to turn and shake the horn a lot. The spiraling tube seems to go on forever...

Horns before

garmer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:55:27 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Horns before - 080322Horns1Before.jpg

080322 - The horns looks a bit tatty, but at lest only dust and surface rust make them look this way. I'm really fed up with removing underseal with hot air and scraper.

Rear view of the shell

garmer — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:57:02 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Rear view of the shell - 070807Back.jpg

070807 - The rear part of the shell underside. A lot of time has been put into removing underseal, oil and dirt. Apart from the obvious patches to the inner wing on the right only localized repairs to the battery cages needs to be remedied. I'll replace the horizontal sections of these with a bit longer items to carefully widen them in order to make better room for one 12 V battery. For the sake of symmetry I'll widen them both equally, no reason not to as the metal has to be replaced anyway .

Finished?

garmer — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:20:34 MST

garmer posted a photo

Finished? - 000WhenFinished.jpg

This is what Daisy is supposed to look like when she's done. Minus headrests and club badge, with the steering wheel on the other side and probably with another shade of white paintwork, that is. I can go on and on about details, but even I will get bored...

071215 - iPod funkar. Nästan.

garmer — Mon, 7 Jan 2008 04:46:11 MST

garmer posted a photo

071215 - iPod funkar. Nästan. - 071215iPodDelar.jpg

Propshaft finished.

garmer — Mon, 7 Jan 2008 04:16:20 MST

garmer posted a photo

Propshaft finished. - 080107Kardan.jpg

080107 - The things you can have waiting for you on your bed, when you come home from school! Some more progress during the holidays include thorough cleaning of the carbs and (almost) finishing refurb of cooling fan and pulley. One more layer of paint needed, and the shiny yellow bits are ready to be mounted! They will have to wait quite a while for the engine to be ready for them, though.

Innan

garmer — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:30:06 MST

garmer posted a photo

Innan - 1Innan1.jpg

Slipat och klart

garmer — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:30:05 MST

garmer posted a photo

Slipat och klart - 2Halft1.jpg

Färdiglött. Rätt mycket snyggare än på min egen...

garmer — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:30:04 MST

garmer posted a photo

Färdiglött. Rätt mycket snyggare än på min egen... - 3Klart1.jpg

071203 - WiiKeyinstallation klar. Lödningarna är inte de vackraste i världen och TP-kabel är inge vidare att löda med, men det funkar!

garmer — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:30:03 MST

garmer posted a photo

071203 - WiiKeyinstallation klar. Lödningarna är inte de vackraste i världen och TP-kabel är inge vidare att löda med, men det funkar! - Hyfsat.jpg

New wheels

garmer — Tue, 2 Oct 2007 17:08:32 MDT

garmer posted a photo

New wheels - 060625Wheels.jpg

060625 - Buying four wheels from a Triumph TR6 cost just a little more than blasting and painting one of the MG ones, and I got two almost new TR6 hubs and two old ones with these. I will see if they might fit dad's Sprite, otherwise I might be able to sell them. Unfortunately the tires are not legal all across the thread, but there are other things to do before I have to worry about that. These rims are 15 in, which means I can go for lower profile tires and thus better handling without affecting the outer diameter.

The state of the car at the moment.

garmer — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:16:54 MDT

garmer posted a photo

The state of the car at the moment. - 070912State.jpg

070912 - A step back from the engine bay, this is what the car looks like. It feels good knowing it is solid and that the most crucial parts are done. Still lots of time needs to be put in though, it is still far from "Some assembly required"... It's dad's Frogeye Sprite to the left, a project for the future. It got a push recently, when I stumbled upon a mildly damaged original bonnet on an Internet marketplace. When he bought the car, it had an Ashley fibreglass bonnet wich, although "sportier", he never seemed to like much.

Engine bay blasted and primed.

garmer — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:14:49 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Engine bay blasted and primed. - 070912EngBay.jpg

070912 - The engine bay after blasting and priming. It is a bit dusty, unfortunately so also at the time of painting; the surface is a bit rugged. I prefer flattening down a rugged surface to removing rust from it by means of wire-brush, though.

070908 - Nollelördag

garmer — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:38:23 MDT

garmer posted a photo

070908 - Nollelördag - 070908Nollelordag.jpg

070826 - iPod i fler delar

garmer — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:35:00 MDT

garmer posted a photo

070826 - iPod i fler delar - 070826iPodFragmented.jpg

070826 - Ipodservice på g

garmer — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:08:54 MDT

garmer posted a photo

070826 - Ipodservice på g - 070826iPodService.jpg

Empty shell, upside down

garmer — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:08:35 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Empty shell, upside down - 070806USideDown.jpg

070806 - I almost forgot to remove the front crossmember before taking the shell to the blaster's. It would be pretty stupid to have to cut away blasted and epoxy-primed metal to have a go at this kind of rust covered by it. Another part I originally intended to replace as a later project, actually.

Cruising winding countryside roads in the sunlight feels a bit distant at the moment...

garmer — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 15:43:01 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Cruising winding countryside roads in the sunlight feels a bit distant at the moment... - 070801LEmptyCockpit.jpg

070801 - Looking at this I almost feel I bit of more than I can chew, but I will get there eventually!

Engine out. Now off to the blaster's!

garmer — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 15:42:47 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Engine out. Now off to the blaster's! - 070801EngineOut.jpg

070801 - The engine is out. Actually, almost everything is out. I just have to unhook the doors and remove the last of the underseal and oil, and it's off to the blaster's! I have poked the boot floor and battery compartments enough to be sure of avoiding bad surprises, but it is kind of sad seeing her stripped this way. At least it can only get better from this point on. Unless I decide on stripping the engine to. If I start to consider it, please stop me! The plan is to remove rust and grime to make it look good, and to replace seals and gaskets for the easily-removed parts. Plus a timing chain change, and a look at the clutch. It is probably best replaced, considering the work involved in changing it later, but if it looks new enough I guess I can buy something nicer for the car instead.

This really wasn't supposed to happen...

garmer — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:02:47 MDT

garmer posted a photo

This really wasn't supposed to happen... - 070725-EngBay.jpg

070725 - I guess the project has slided into the engine-out-stage. Next I'll sandblast the underside and engine bay; the plan was to get the car on the road and do this part as a later summer-project. At least this way the car will really be finished when it is finished, but the first drive in the car looking good from the outside will be longer into the future. She will, actually. Look good, that is. Really good!

I think I have to replace some wiring.

garmer — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:01:35 MDT

garmer posted a photo

I think I have to replace some wiring. - 070719-Cable.jpg

070719 - When I removed the cabling from the rear of the car there were a lot of cracking noises, which I supposed came fron the rather tired textile cover. When I cut this of I realized the cracking was from melted cables, a frightening discovery. It may be the result of a short cirquit when the cables for the number plate lights touched the boot floor during my test-drive, but oxide on the copper suggests it has been exposed since before this. Luckily only the red cables are affected, 4.5 meters of one-coloured cable is easy enough to come by.

Repair patches fitted to A-post and inner wing

garmer — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 17:28:34 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Repair patches fitted to A-post and inner wing - 050714BPost.jpg

050714 - Repairs to the lower inner wing and A-post. Fairly complex shapes made up with the help of angle iron and hammer. Great fun!

Outer sill almost finished

garmer — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 16:13:00 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Outer sill almost finished - 070707-OutSill.jpg

070707 - I had to cut out an almost new rustfree outer sill to get to covered rust. The repairs to this side of the main body is almost complete, save the floor board and spring hanger plate. Then I have to make up a double-curved section to repair the front of the inner rear wing, that will be interesting. Plus, of course, I have to decide how to repair the rear outer wing. I look forward to getting to work on the car again!

B-post repair

garmer — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 16:12:14 MDT

garmer posted a photo

B-post repair - 070707-BPost.jpg

070707 - The left sill had been replaced before, and really lousy work had been done. This part of the B-post had to be rebuilt to recreate the indent between it and the sill. It took some effort to get right, with the help of a lot of paper patterns taken from the other side. The dog leg on this side had been replaced to the full extent of the repair panel, which means I have to make up a strip between the new one and the rest of the wing. I try to avoid welds to large flat metal areas, I am to inpatient to be good at avoiding distortion. I'd rather replace the front part of the wing up to the brightwork, but that means buying a complete wing and cut it down. Expensive. :(

Crossmember and jacking point almost finished

garmer — Thu, 5 Jul 2007 16:34:52 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Crossmember and jacking point almost finished - 070705Xmbr2Aft.jpg

070705 - Close-up of the crossmember end, with the jacking point welded in place. All this time spent measuring and shaping things, it's almost a shame it will be out of sight when I'm finished. Well, at least I know it's properly made!

Not much left of old floorpans and sills

garmer — Thu, 5 Jul 2007 16:34:11 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Not much left of old floorpans and sills - 070705Xmbr1Bef.jpg

070705 - When I am done with this all that will be left are inner sills and the transmission tunnel, plus the chassis rails and most of the crossmember.

New metal prepared to be put to use

garmer — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 15:30:24 MDT

garmer posted a photo

New metal prepared to be put to use - 070704-NewMetal.jpg

070704 - A new outer sill, sill membrane, sill end filler, outer crossmember and jacking point have been prepared for mounting. The blue paint is weld-through paint bought from the local Volvo dealer.

Left castle section halfway there

garmer — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 15:28:09 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Left castle section halfway there - 070704-LCastleOn.jpg

070704 - The castle section is partly welded in place. I seam-welded it in place, together with two extra jacking point reinforcements it will be a lot stronger than the original.

Left bulkhead finished

garmer — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 15:26:01 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Left bulkhead finished - 070704-BulkhFin.jpg

070704 - The bulkhead section finished and primed. A spotwelder is handy when recreating the looks of the old castle section end plate.

1981 - Johan är ett år och har hittat världens häftigaste bil hemma hos kusinerna!

garmer — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 17:56:25 MDT

garmer posted a photo

1981 - Johan är ett år och har hittat världens häftigaste bil hemma hos kusinerna! - 008108-JohanBil.jpg

070306 - Efter cykelvurpa, akutenbesök, spex och bastu: Hemma! Ja, jag var nykter...när en bil körde ut framför mig i en korsning.

garmer — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 17:56:24 MDT

garmer posted a photo

070306 - Efter cykelvurpa, akutenbesök, spex och bastu: Hemma! Ja, jag var nykter...när en bil körde ut framför mig i en korsning. - 070306-Hemmaigen4.jpg

Right floorpan modified

garmer — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 17:30:52 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Right floorpan modified - 051016-FloorpanMod.jpg

051016 - As three syncro floorboards only come as repair panels and not as "original pattern" I had to cut down the edges and make a flange tool to shape them. Then I had to make tools to press the drain hole covers and weld these, plus nuts for the seats and studs for the cable and pipe brackets, to the floor. The front of the pressing closest to the transmission tunnel had to be remade to clear the flange, as well as the rear of the one closest to the sill to admit correct enough placement of the rear right seat nut.

New left bulkhead section welded in place

garmer — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 17:27:53 MDT

garmer posted a photo

New left bulkhead section welded in place - 070703-BulkhWelded.jpg

070703 - What the new section in the previous picture looks like welded in place. A small patch is yet to be made, where I was to optimistic about metal thickness.

Step by step construction of new drivers side bulkhead section

garmer — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 17:27:10 MDT

garmer posted a photo

Step by step construction of new drivers side bulkhead section - 070702-3part.jpg

070703 - This is what I like most of all when working on cars! Disassembling something, making new parts and putting them all together again. Most of all I like shaping metal to replace rust.

"New" left front wing

garmer — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:58:20 MST

garmer posted a photo

"New" left front wing - 070207-Nyskrm_s.jpg

070207 - After closer examination this wing actually turned out worse than it looked. Lead loading over rust is better than body filler though, right? Still better than my old in places. A bit of cut and paste ahead.

More metalworking, cutting to shape

garmer — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 16:36:57 MST

garmer posted a photo

More metalworking, cutting to shape - 060508-LFwingStruct.jpg

060508 - Cutting the new panel to shape. It came out well, but after cutting up a couple of wings for fixing other parts of the outer wing, I had a better one of these reinforcement sections as well.

Metalworking, before and after

garmer — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 16:33:26 MST

garmer posted a photo

Metalworking, before and after - 060508-beforeAfter.jpg

060508 - The left front outer wing was "repaired" at some point, so I had to make up a section to fix the rear reinforcement part of it. This is what it looked like, before and after. What you can do with a hammer, a steel pipe and a vice... Cut the sheet and add violence!

Right front wing, small repair needed to rear edge.

garmer — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 16:29:39 MST

garmer posted a photo

Right front wing, small repair needed to rear edge. - 060625-RFwingpatch.jpg

060625 - A small patch had to be made up for the rear of the front wing. It will need some light filler when done, but it is way better than what had been done to the other wing. Lots of work to be done there.

Done!

garmer — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:15:52 MST

garmer posted a photo

Done! - 050715BHAfter.jpg

050715 - Repairs to the inner wing are finished. Some holes are left to drill and a few nuts for the outer wing are to be welded to the top rail. This leaves grinding of the lower A-post welds and painting of the lot. The sill was to be replaced later in the project, so flanges were not fully welded up.

Front suspension. Blasted and painted, fitted with all new bushes and bolts

garmer — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:04:05 MST

garmer posted a photo

Front suspension. Blasted and painted, fitted with all new bushes and bolts - 050613-FrontSuspension.jpg

050613 - All nice and shiny! I had to replace one kingpin and the bushes on the other, one A-arm pivot and two A-arms. Both of these were from the same side, but as I plan on fitting a sway bar I bought front arms for both sides and used the old good ones as rears. Springs and dampers were fit for use after cleaning and painting, but all bushes and bolts were replaced.

Seats: before and after cleaning

garmer — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:05:03 MST

garmer posted a photo

Seats: before and after cleaning - 050114-Seats.jpg

050114 - Both seats need work, they both have cracks in their outer upright sections of the backrests and the passenger cushion need some stitching.

As bought

garmer — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:42:51 MST

garmer posted a photo

As bought - 040523-asbought.jpg

040523 - This is how she looked when I came to get pick her up. The previous owner got the wheels and badges stolen during winter storage and due to this she had been standing for six years. She looked OK, apart from the right sill being totally rotten. Of course there was plenty more rot hidden everywhere.

Front wings and bonnet on just for show

garmer — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 14:18:19 MST

garmer posted a photo

Front wings and bonnet on just for show - 070110-showTime.jpg

070110 - I had to put the wings and bonnet on and take a picture before laying her up for the semester, to have something to look forward to. The wings are without the inner structural sections, front and rear. The vice grips visible behind the left wheel fell off when I drove to the neighbour garage where I parked her, oups...

Scuttle, left side

garmer — Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:37:43 MST

garmer posted a photo

Scuttle, left side - 050715ScuttleLH.jpg

050715 - This is the left side of the so called scuttle panel, with a repair panel shaped from sheet metal yet to be welded on. The welds were lead-loaded after grinding down, as the metal flexes too much for filler to be useable.

First patch!

garmer — Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:32:39 MST

garmer posted a photo

First patch! - 040705-innerLFtop.jpg

040705 - I guess this was the first repair I made up. I should have replaced more, but I shied from making the somewhat complex shape of the hole edge.

Driven for the first time

garmer — Sat, 6 Jan 2007 17:56:11 MST

garmer posted a photo

Driven for the first time - 070106-Driven.jpg

070106 - I have just driven it for the first time, as I stripped out the rear brakes before getting the engine to run. From here on the car has been less and less in one piece. This was actually my first drive behind the wheel of an MG ever.

In progress

garmer — Fri, 5 Jan 2007 20:51:29 MST

garmer posted a photo

In progress - 050712During.jpg

050712 - Inner wing halfway there. The top of the triangular section was bought as a repair panel, so is the part covering the large hole in this picture. The rest were made out of sheet steel with the help of some angle iron and hammerwork. The panel in the background will partly go behind the A-post.

Lots of rust

garmer — Fri, 5 Jan 2007 20:50:59 MST

garmer posted a photo

Lots of rust - 040703Before.jpg

040703 - This is what the left hand inner wing looked like when I got started on it, as first part of the bodywork undertaking.

Without rear wing, legs and lots of bare metal showing

garmer — Fri, 5 Jan 2007 20:43:32 MST

garmer posted a photo

Without rear wing, legs and lots of bare metal showing - 051127-NoRearWing.jpg

051127 - How the right rear quarter looks like with the wing off. I have no idea of what I am doing under there, though...

Trial fitting of rear wing

garmer — Fri, 5 Jan 2007 20:40:43 MST

garmer posted a photo

Trial fitting of rear wing - 051030-TrialFitting.jpg

051030 - This is what the rear wing should look like once fitted. The inner wing will be welded, but the outer will be bonded on due to lack of access behind panels. It will be interesting to do this, with all the tight-space-clamping involved. After this is fitted the rear valance and, hopefully, the boot lid will be replaced.