Project #2...Nissan Figaro

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers rtbcomp....I hadn't thought of scissor jacks. With all the cars I have lying about I can easily rustle up half a dozen I reckon!!

Using your mouth to fill the tube definitely worked better than the funnel....plus no wastage....well none on the floor at least!

 

[Ton-up]

Just saw this pic on RR - here - http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/20301/abandoned?page=471

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Ton-up...I bet that one is full of filler too

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Ton-up...I bet that one is full of filler too

You mean the bits that aren't brown?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

This might sound ridiculous but apparently the cup holders are worth well over £100 on their own....there are several hard to find bits which are also worth big money. Just a couple of bits could make any rust bucket worth a tidy sum!

I just can't get over the chrome bumpers...around £350-£400 for replacements!!

 

[Wallace]

I just can't get over the chrome bumpers...around £350-£400 for replacements!!

Cheap for a vehicle only made for one year compared to others.

 

[jpmillermatic]

I would say, if you are apprehensive about cutting too much out at once, do the repairs in sections. Then you can rest assured that you will not be affecting the integrity.

Great job. its a neat little car...


JP

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers JP....yea I'm still chewing over how to brace the shell to be honest. From what I can tell the rear of the shell is very strong as it has a bunch of additional reinforcements for the seat belt anchors which I can use to brace the rear. The front seems pretty weak to me so I need to figure a way of keeping things stable at the front. It looks like I will need to cut bits out of the outer sill, the middle reinforcement and the inner sills too....thats a lot of cutting I think.

I'm working on a plan where I brace the inside then get it in the air once it's braced...I can have a set of very strong hydraulic ramps at the front and maybe some axle stands at the rear. Then it's a case of cutting and just monitoring that everything is where it should be.

There doesn't seem to be much internal structure at the front to tie into...I'm toying with the idea of removing the doors and bracing into the door bolt holes....that should be nice and strong I think. But it's also very very handy leaving the doors on to check the gaps of course!

Maybe I need another bottle of that Italian red...If I make another level gauge and get the car level side to side and front to back then I should be able to monitor if there is any movement.

What do you think...bracing I'm thinking would be across the rear (it's an open top car) and then from the rear bottoms to the (opposite) door bolt area plus maybe a brace across the door for good measure.

Another advantage of using bolt on braces of course is that they can be reused for the second restoration :-)

Any suggestions much appreciated....don't hold back!

 

[jpmillermatic]

Ive seen bracing between the door openings,front to back, then tying them in together side to side. you may also want to brace lower in the door openings too...

maybe do one side at a time?....

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers JP...i will have a think and come up with something interesting I'm sure. Going to be busy the next few weeks with other stuff so I'll have to come back to it unfortunately. Definitely only doing one section at a time...my worry is that cutting through all 3 layers of the sill will allow the chassis to twist so I'll definitely need some sort of cross bracing to prevent that.

In true Pigeon style it would also be much better if I can scavenge the materials from what I have lying around too...I'll probably have to buy in a few bits but free stuff is always better in my opinion

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Materials arrived in the form of lengths of square tubing (square tubing sounds very odd). I'll be having a go at sorting out the bracing next week...have been away travelling hence the lack of updates. I did the most amazing drive yesterday....around 30 hair pin bends! Sadly it was in a rental car....wished I had the mr2...would have been fantastic!

Not my pic...I was too scared to stop on the edge. Bloke who designed this should be very proud of his achievement!!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Argentina?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Very very good guess...it's on the other side of the Andes in Chile...at the top is the boarder between the two so you were spot on with the mountain range.

Was alot of fun indeed....

 

[jpmillermatic]

now that is dramatic!


JP

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Am finally home and back on the horse so to speak...although 14hrs of flying has taken its toll.

Had plenty of time while away to formulate a plan for the bracing.

Stage 1 consists of making brackets that will be bolted to the car...at the front into the door hinge holes...at the rear the seatbelt mounts and then joining the brackets to make a frame. Made a start by pulling the door off....I also gave the door a quick sand and to me it looks reasonable so not sure why there was filler all over it!

The brace needs to be reusable so I need to make sure it can be removed in one piece. I will be spot welding the brace together using the arc buzz box that I borrowed from my neighbour...this will save a heap of gas and it doesn't need to be neat....just needs to work.

Like the door brace at the front I'll make something similar in the rear of the car....I'll then add in a couple of diagonals and then a few braces across the door opening.

While I was at it I used my laser measure to assess the shell....the measurement came back spot on across the diagonals so I think I'm happy that the shell hasn't got any existing twist (last thing I want to do is make any existing twisting permanent). I'll be using the laser to check for twist as I work on the sills...the doors are off so it will be a gamble but I'm hoping the bracing will hold....there will be a moment of truth at the end of course so I've taken some pics of the existing door gaps to cross compare!

 

[Robotstar5]

I saw a nice one at a vintage rally on Sunday.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Thats a very nice colour...I've seen a couple now in the original colour but with some metallic added...it seems to suit the car ver well. Hopefully that one isn't full of filler too!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Still working on stage1 of the bracing...here is the rear part. I've tied into the seatbelt mounts... almost managed to do it in one piece but not quite. Will weld everything up once the rest of the brace is built. I'll need to do the same for the passenger side then I'll work on the diagonals plus an inner brace for the sill on the side I'm removing....

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Bit more progress on the bracing....I welded up the 2 pieces that I already made and added a brace across the door opening. The door brace is adjustable via some 25mm threaded bar (left over from my mr2 project!) and the whole lot can be unbolted and disassembled when I'm finished. The cross brace looks a bit silly because I'm using up scrap steel...not finished yet! The next job is to repeat on the drivers side and then to add in corner braces...it kind of feels like the brace is a separate project on its own at the moment!!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Brace yourselves.....sorry couldn't resist. Project "brace" is getting there...I have the cross braces tacked in fairly well to each of the corners but they will need going over in places...in particular some of the angle pieces I've used from the scrap bin will need triangulating. Am planning 1 more lower brace along the inner sill and some bolts to tie the centres of the braces together but thats really about it.

In case anyone was wondering...I had some acrow props going spare so would have been rude not to make use of them. I used the inner parts from the props for the cross braces....I have a cunning plan to make use of the remnants from the props!

Apologies for the mess in the garage...I went all out today so no tidying as I went along!