AE86 booter project

[Dcal]

Couple of posts of similar repairs on my project, not much detail as I thought it was pretty straight forward.
These bits are very light (0.8) on the alfa
Just cut the bit you want to straighten, drill out the spot welds and straighten.
If it’s close after straightening, the holes will match and make alignment easy, then just plug weld and dress.

25 year old Alfa 75 back from the brink (hopefully)

To be fair, I think Alfa at that time were as good as everyone else at rust proofing. Afterall, how many J-reg Fords, Rovers, etc do you see around anymore? Especially as it probably hasn't had any rust-proofing topups ever, and not in the last 10 years when it was just an old car . . .

www.mig-welding.co.uk

25 year old Alfa 75 back from the brink (hopefully)

My mate made about 5 or 6 small different radius wheels for my dad for about 20-30 quid each. I think he has the dimensions and radius's to hand. He did have to fit bearings in them in the end though as they wouldn't turn when under tension. You'd still need the big flat wheel but I don't see...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

25 year old Alfa 75 back from the brink (hopefully)

Thanks @Exuptoy Nearly there with this bit but every time I think I'm finished a I find something else! But it's good to finally say enough is enough and get some paint on. Any job is better than getting underseal off, a bit of welding is quite therapeutic.

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[Myles1970]

Couple of posts of similar repairs on my project, not much detail as I thought it was pretty straight forward.

thanks, but no, you're right, I do tend to overthink everything...

These bits are very light (0.8) on the alfa
Just cut the bit you want to straighten, drill out the spot welds and straighten.
If it’s close after straightening, the holes will match and make alignment easy, then just plug weld and dress.

Yeah, on both sides, these rails just start from nothing (no suspension mounts or outriggers) in the axle well(?), and are about 60cm long. They're top-hat sections, that lie over the next rails, which are overlayed by the front chassis legs. (Am I making any sense here???). In effect, they could be drilled out from inside the car.

 

[Dcal]

thanks, but no, you're right, I do tend to overthink everything...


Yeah, on both sides, these rails just start from nothing (no suspension mounts or outriggers) in the axle well(?), and are about 60cm long. They're top-hat sections, that lie over the next rails, which are overlayed by the front chassis legs. (Am I making any sense here???). In effect, they could be drilled out from inside the car.

Are you going to remake them or straighten them?
If there are not rotten, I'd just remove them, straighten and weld back in.

 

[Myles1970]

The piece is outlined in blue... I'll have to double check tomorrow, but I'm almost certain it stops before the outrigger in green...

 

[Myles1970]

Are you going to remake them or straighten them?
If there are not rotten, I'd just remove them, straighten and weld back in.

Yes, that's what I was thinking too... I just need to be careful as they're in-between the suspension mounts and the shell is on the rotisserie. I'm actually considering installing the bolt-in cage first, just to lend a bit of rigidity.... I can always remove it again before painting the interior...

 

[Dcal]

Sounds like a plan

 

[Myles1970]

I'm just in from spending a couple of hours at it after I got home from work.... Stripped the two crushed rails to have a good look:



This one, the nearside one isn't too bad. Could possibly do something with it using a slide hammer or similar. The offside, on the other hand, is quite bad:



I'm not overly concerned with the inverted 'v' shape, so much as the tear where it bends to follow the contour of the floor. So I think I'll have this one off...

I set the six point bolt-in cage up, I also ground down the welds where someone has plugged holes in the floor; it would appear this car has had a cage before. I'm gonna have some fun drilling holes in mig weld





.....also, the colour green, seen in the rear pillar above, is growing on me

 

[Myles1970]

So I started (or so I thought ) with the worst side. Maybe I'll try using a slide hammer on the not-too-bad side.....only these rotisserie things can confuse a not-too-bright spark like me

...so off came the ok one.....oh well, doesn't look too bad under there.



Hammered it out using my cheapy body hammers and a block of wood for the most part, so as not to stretch the metal...

I've started drilling out the bad side, but I'm going for a cuppa; working nights tonight

 

[Myles1970]

....in work now (Shhhhh!), just to add that most of the spot welds were drilled out from inside the shell save for the few where the piece overlays the main chassis rail. Quite pleased with myself in that I only drilled through both panels on two occasions. I was surprised by the lack of corrosion, although I've yet to wire-wheel the inside of the removed rail, but it seems fairly solid.

I will give some thought to replacing some parts of the rail as I have noticed some pitting, although it's mostly on the edges of the flanges

 

[Myles1970]

The opposite side hasn't fared so well unfortunately:



The floorpan, however, appears flatter. I think I need to spend some time on it getting it more even.



My weapons of choice:



Left: as yet untouched

Right: hammered out

 

[Myles1970]

... some beating and blasting later...

And here you can see the worst of it:

 

[Cosantoir]

What are the 3 bars at the bottom of the last pic?

 

[Myles1970]

What are the 3 bars at the bottom of the last pic?

The spot-weld cutters?

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Very useful...

 

[Cosantoir]

Nice one

 

[Myles1970]

A bit of painting done today... Treated, keyed with a mini DA, masked off the spot welds, I'll hit them with weld-thru tomorrow, but they're sealed with 2k epoxy primer

Also sealed the front panel, I'd already primed it with zinc primer so it's kind of a strange way of doing things but there you go...

 

[Cosantoir]

A tad off topic but need to ask.
How are you applying the epoxy primer?
How much thinners do you use for this method band do you use the thinners for cleaning your gear?

Are you using epoxy primer on body pannels/hidden pannels or such are the shell under wings and engine bay or can it be used on visible surfaces?

 

[Myles1970]

A tad off topic but need to ask.
How are you applying the epoxy primer?

With an old spraygun that I found in the bottom of my tool chest... Silver line, 1.5 nozzle; it's hard work and not really suitable for a high build primer, should be using a 2.0mm nozzle. (I've just this minute ordered one, it will be purely for primers)

How much thinners do you use for this method band do you use the thinners for cleaning your gear?

As the ambient temperature is quite low, I've been giving her a good splash of thinners. 10-15%
Yes. 1st I use some blue roll to soak up as much as possible, then I run some thinners through the gun. If I'm not going to use the gun for a few days I'll disassemble the gun and clean it thoroughly. If I'm using it again say, tomorrow, I'll just leave a drop of thinners in it. I'm not on gear.

Are you using epoxy primer on body pannels/hidden pannels or such are the shell under wings and engine bay or can it be used on visible surfaces?

I had been using etch/wash primer for closed-in sections, with the intention of spraying cavity wax after all painting is done, but following some research and some comments by @Dcal , I've decided to stick to epoxy 2k for everything.

I haven't done any panelwork yet, but I don't see any reason to not use it everywhere.

As soon as I get the two chassis rails welded back on, I'll remove the cage and strip the whole underbody, before coating it in more of the same. I did buy some em121, but it's quite expensive. I think I'll keep it for the axle, subframe, tramp links, anti roll bars etc.

How've you been getting on with the Fto?

 

[Cosantoir]

I guess with the EM121 it so thick that I just that's my only experience with epoxy that I'm like how can you paint over this or put it somewhere where the pannels are perfectly smooth like a wing pannel.

Really bar my arches and 1 section on my passenger door they don't need to be addressed so I'm not worrying too much I guess.

I brought the welder down to the car yesterday and I want to try get some replacement sections fabricated before I start so I can try get a plan instead of just tackling exactly what's in front of me and trapping myself in a hole. (I'm nervous about welding upside down well I'll be on my side but not sure how the material will work but as it's mainly spots I'm hoping I won't get much blow through as I've not got a lot of space to go chasing it.

For patches where you quickly just spot is it wire speed you increase to get the temp for better penetration?

 

[Myles1970]

I guess with the EM121 it so thick that I just that's my only experience with epoxy that I'm like how can you paint over this or put it somewhere where the pannels are perfectly smooth like a wing pannel.

You'd probably need to thin it more, possibly go beyond the manufacturer specs...?

Really bar my arches and 1 section on my passenger door they don't need to be addressed so I'm not worrying too much I guess.

I brought the welder down to the car yesterday and I want to try get some replacement sections fabricated before I start so I can try get a plan instead of just tackling exactly what's in front of me and trapping myself in a hole. (I'm nervous about welding upside down well I'll be on my side but not sure how the material will work but as it's mainly spots I'm hoping I won't get much blow through as I've not got a lot of space to go chasing it.

For patches where you quickly just spot is it wire speed you increase to get the temp for better penetration?

There's lads on here that can explain better than me, but I'd say experiment with different wire speed and power settings on some of the pieces that you've removed from the car. Fitzee's fabrications on YouTube did a good video on finding out the best settings

 

[Cosantoir]

Fitzee's fabrications on YouTube did a good video on finding out the best settings

That lad is just the best....cant make out the accent at all at times I feel like he's even got an Irish twang in there.