Carlton Diamond

[Blobber]

Been a bit of a drag with me 98 year old dad in the hospital so havent done much but that changed this weekend, lots of stripping still, steering box, steering column, pedal box, heater box and sound deadening to get here

Floor pan cleaned up and spotwelds drilled out to get the chassis rail and wing assembly off

and leg off!

With the body cuts I have "installation is reversal of removal"

 

[Blobber]

Not had a lot of time on this but managed to get a few hours in so chopy chopy

Yep thats rusty

The repair panel from the body cuts I got still need work but its better than what came out

Which will fit here with a bit of fettling, I will trim it back so the vertical join sits on top of the chassis rail flange which is one of the rows of spot weld holes, also needs extending up the top for the wiring harness grommet

 

[Paulbarrett]

Don’t need a door and bonnet do you?

 

[Paulbarrett]

Got these left of my Carlton stuff

 

[Blobber]

Got these left of my Carlton stuff

View attachment 442464

Ill send you a PM

 

[Blobber]

Managed a little bit more today, carrying on with arch It needs the top extending so a bit of practice with a piece of scrap, MDF off cuts, hole saws of various sizes including one hole saw as the punch!!

That got me this, well pleased as its perfect!

A bit more bashing and I now have something that resembles the required patch to extend the repair panel, just needs
all the edges sizing/tidying and then blobbing on to the other panel

 

[Blobber]

Gradually getting my mojo back, managed another hour today, thats the repair welded to the donor panel

and a test fit, just got to sort the flange area down the right hand side now

Quite pleased how its going so far as ive not done any tin work since this full resto which was about 15 years ago!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Quite pleased how its going so far as ive not done any tin work since this full resto which was about 15 years ago!

HB Viva?

 

[Blobber]

HB Viva?

Yep HB GT, was a Vauxhall press car back in the day

 

[Blobber]

Bit more done, still on the drivers side inner arch, lots of panels converge so it all fiddly little bits but hey its progress!

 

[Blobber]

Slow going but managed a bit today, the "replacement" chassis leg had been chopped off the donor vehicle 4 inches short but luckily the bit on my old leg was good so choppy choppy

A bit of weldy grindy action takes place

and a bit of concealing primer I will call that done, just got to clean the rest of the leg up now

 

[Blobber]

Slowly slowly, still tidying up the OS chassis leg/wing assembly but its hard going scraping/cleaning the underseal and other goo off, there seems to have been some creepage under the coating so it looks like the lot will have to come off to be sure

Ahh thats better!

Lets do the other side while im on a roll

and the cross member

Ok so I cheated and got them dipped but burger that for a game of soldiers, any time I can save scraping/sanding/wiping seems good to me!

Sparkly clean inside the chassis leg as well

 

[Paulbarrett]

I hate the plan coating wise?
Can I ask what it set you back to have them stripped?

 

[Blobber]

I hate the plan coating wise?
Can I ask what it set you back to have them stripped?

I dont really have a plan coating wise it will be a case of trawling the net to get various conflicting ideas and then do something else!
Probably what I will do is Hydrate 80 and 2k epoxy which I think as the leg is off I can stand it up and run some down the inside unless any one has any better Ideas

It cost 220 for the 3 chunks, considering the state of them with all the nooks and crannies Im happy, doubt lots of others would be as they could have got a mate to do it for 50 bucks

 

[Paulbarrett]

Hydrate 80 has worked for me on the manta A

 

[Paulbarrett]

200 quid sounds right to me. Nasty chemicals not many places do it now

 

[Blobber]

Been dragging me feet with this a bit but getting there, lots of little bits to do before the leg goes back on,
Inner sill just at the front needed a small patch, the rest cleaned up nicely and the outer sill is good this end

A little patch made up

and stuck in, didnt hit it too hard with the grinder as its all hidden

which means this bit can go in to close up the big hole, but it needs this flangy bit adding first

and done, not the neatest job but again its all well hidden so thatl do dog

 

[Blobber]

Bit more done today, taped all the holes up in the leg to try and pour some 2k primer down the inside, lots of wiggling/turning in different directions and catching the drips and ive manged to get a decent coat inside the box section, sloshed a bit on the open end of the leg, the flanges will get cleaned off and a coat of weld through primer

To help line up the assembly I need the crossmember back on, this is held on by 2no M14 bolts on each leg, only problem I could see is the holes in the crossmember are 18.5mm which gives a fair bit of wiggle room, I assume from the factory it all goes together with jigs so alignment wouldnt be an issue, just to be sure I turned up some top hat washer to remove the slack when fitting up, the top hat washers will go the other side when fitting

Which goes like this, nearly ready for the leg assembly once the 2k dries, it will be a big mojo boost to get this side looking whole again!

 

[Blobber]

Ok I couldnt resist

 

[Blobber]

Doesnt look much different but its welded, thats not coming off again!