AE86 booter project

[Myles1970]

It interesting looking at your sill my outer sill actually has a tiny 90 degree lip on the edge that covers the seam where the 3 pieces join I assume to prevent moisture flicking up into the gaps that I thought was a neat touch.

Yea, i'm not sure whether or not to seam seal it, as it may provide an exit for any moisture run-off from inside the sills/pillars etc......although I will be spraying wax into all the cavities anyway ....

 

[Cosantoir]

although I will be spraying wax into all the cavities anyway ....

Yea the more I open up the more I'm learning the importance of wax

 

[Myles1970]

Ever onwards.....

 

[Myles1970]

Half way through the second of my two weeks off and as of this morning I had done nothing on this.....life gets in the way.

Anyway, having been away from it for a week or so I was at a loss as to where to start. I know I have the floor/underside to paint, but I've noticed a few bits that need attention so I've elected to complete them before coating.

Example: the inner wheel wells. They have been "repaired" before...



...a few seconds with the wire-wheel revealed this....



This i believe is the rear seat belt mounting point. Out with the spot-weld cutter...





I'm beginning to wonder if the last guy was adding weight in strategic positions in the form of mig wire.... Or he was averse to fabricating repair sections instead opting to fill whole swathes of repairs purely with the welder....

 

[Myles1970]

..... and that's the good side

 

[Myles1970]

Apologies for the poor pic, but this is the flange removed using an air saw.



.... and the first repair section...



....needs a bit more work

 

[Myles1970]

I hate leaving my baby hanging like this...




So far, so good.... The wee Clarke 160te welder seems to be performing well...

View attachment 299428View attachment 299429

And the little Black &Decker power file made short work of the welds...



...I suppose I could have hammer formed the flange, maybe I will on the other side

 

[Ttothe4]

A new bottle of gas and we're back at it again. I also readjusted the wire feed tension (it was very tight )

View attachment 296686

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...a bridge too far? There's a bit of a gap there.....may need a little persuasion later...

View attachment 296687

And that's all for tonight....

Incredible work. Just came across this thread. The "Twin Cam" as they are known here in the Rep of Ireland, are exchanging hands for anything between 25-40k. Market has gone bananas. I'll follow this with interest, well done.

 

[Myles1970]

Incredible work. Just came across this thread. The "Twin Cam" as they are known here in the Rep of Ireland, are exchanging hands for anything between 25-40k. Market has gone bananas. I'll follow this with interest, well done.

Thanks! (Note my location )

 

[Ttothe4]

Thanks! (Note my location )

Lol you are just up the road

 

[Myles1970]

I thought I'd try this method for fabbing the repair section since the piece I removed more or less disintegrated

 

[Myles1970]

And that's that side ready to have the seatbelt anchor plate plug welded back on....

 

[Myles1970]

I thought I'd have a quick look at the passenger side before I finished up for the day....

This one is a bit more involved since there's been a lot more mig-blobbing around the plate, and the pitted area is bigger. I'd been considering drilling the spot welds from the other side, but I don't think I could get the drill in at 90°... But as I'm replacing the thin metal I might just grind them off instead...

 

[Myles1970]

As it turned out I decided to cut the complete section out. This meant I could access the spot-welds from the thinner side, and split the seam without damaging the pieces so much.


I decided to hammer from this one instead of welding the flange on...





I'm quite happy with how it turned out .... Ok it needed a little (?) fettling when welding it on....

 

[Myles1970]

I thought I'd make a start on the bigger piece before finishing up. I was in two minds about how to go about it. Some people seem to break complicated pieces down into simpler sections before welding them together to make a complete repair section. However, this piece is full of waves and ridges and is quite curvy.....so I thought sod that and plastered it in masking tape, marking as many features on it as I could before beating up on it with a hammer:



....ok, I know I've left the seatbelt anchor on there, but it's helping the thinner sheet metal retain it's shape.
I know it's far from perfect, but I thought I'd offer it up to the hole:



... that pic might be a little deceptive, but I don't think it's a million miles away from where it should be.

All in all I'm happy with that 4hour stint in the garage after work.... I seem to get more done when everyone else is (trying to ) sleep

 

[conor1n]

This really is some fantastic work.

Now that I have started to tinker with a few body repairs myself I have a newfound admiration for all you guys who have a lot to do.

 

[Cosantoir]

I have to say I'm well impressed with getting those shapes made.
Plenty of curves and angles to deal with.

Is this piece two straight pieces welded together or did you manage to do a 90 degree bend and then curve it?

 

[Myles1970]

Is this piece two straight pieces welded together or did you manage to do a 90 degree bend and then curve it?

Thanks..

Yeah, I bent it over first, then stretched the flange to form a curve. I started using a crosspein hammer... but soon got bored with that so I switched over to the air-hammer.

 

[Dcal]

When you have a foot operated sprinkler stretcher those little jobs become a doddle.

 

[Myles1970]

When you have a foot operated sprinkler stretcher those little jobs become a doddle.

I bet they do ..... It's on a list of things I'd like