Project #2...Nissan Figaro

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Got the wire wheel on the underseal...I just dont understand this. They've patched over the holes and then ended up filling the whole car....butt weld would have saved alot of time filling!

There is mastic over filler....there is filler over mastic....it's just such a botch job it's unbelievable.

 

[Onoff]

I more impressed you found a wire coathanger!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Hunted round the garage high and low....then I remembered the missus always uses the dry cleaners and they supply those shoddy wire hangers!

I'm hoping under those sill patches is lovely shiny metal and I won't have to cut them out like the other side!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Did a bit of poking around...initially I thought about just cleaning it up...

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Also found another little hidden patch...looked ok from the outside...but...

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Managed to get the original patches cut out and new steel butt welded in.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Finally the last bit of sill reinforcement went in...that's where I'm going to leave it until the outer sill goes on.

Next I'm going to sort out the rot in the rear end I think...I bet it's full of filler too!! The plan is to sort the rear out and then to work around the arches then finally to fit the outer sills. The reason I'm not fitting the outer sills yet is that the arches are far more prominent on this car than the sills which get somewhat hidden by chrome trims....so I would rather have the flexibility to get the arches aligned the way I want and then will fit the sills to close up to the arches.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Made a start on the rear end...to be honest I wasn't in the mood for the figgy but figured I'd better just get on with it.

First up was the boot...yep true to form that was also stuffed full of filler. The boot has never fitted properly... getting the filler off revealed a bunch of parking dents. I took a card template of the boot on Chung Lee and sure enough the boot was obviously pancaked at some point in its life.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Haven't decided yet whether to fix the boot or to just buy a replacement. Second hand is about £100...new about £250...that's a serious chunk of cash to spend on one panel for a daily driver!! But confirming that the boot itself is at fault means I can get on with the rest of the rear repairs without worrying about alignment issues.

So on with some "minor" repairs to the rear Valence....or so I thought...well the Valence kind of looked ok to begin with. I was thinking just a couple of patches in the corners and some making good!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Yes you've guessed....it was also full of filler....under the filler was a bunch of rot that went straight through the back....this car just doesn't seem to stop giving!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Problem is the rear Valence was fitted straight after they fitted the cross member. Then they fitted a bunch of other stuff including the rear lights and the rear wings! So basically if I want to fix it properly I'm going to have to do some cutting. First up was the rear wings....glad I didn't fit those new arches yet as now I'd be slicing them up!!

The roof drains into this part of the boot....there appears to be some additional drainage holes!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Next up was to pull the bottom of the lights off...I will need to refit these panels so it's important they come off intact....or in other words spend hours hunting for the spot welds and teasing them apart!!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Got into a panic about the boot hinge mounts moving if I cut out the rears from both quarters so I decided to make myself a little mini jig to tie everything in place. Not engineered with the loads in mind....that was the smallest scrap I had available. Again the brace bolts onto the car into the boot hinge holes and the boot catch holes. Basically its reusable for when I come to restore Chung Lee.

The welds are pretty pants on the jig...I'm still trying to get the hang of my borrowed stick welder. I prefer the stick welder for this stuff as it saves getting the mig gear out and setup. With the stick you just flick a switch as away you go!!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

With the other side removed I could finally get the Valence off!!! Again more hidden spot welds but I needed the panel to come off in one piece so I could make a copy of it.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Finally it was off...bit of a tough session to get to this point. Plenty of tricky repairs to do but I think this was really the only way to get proper access. I did start looking at doing the repair from underneath but the cross member is in the way so really the only access is from above.

All in all not alot of fun I think....on the plus side I should now be able to finally gets those dents out of the rear quarter....now I have a nice big access hole for the hammer and dolly!

 

[jpmillermatic]

well you certainly dont hesitate to do things the right way....Im inspired to get to work on the other side of the truck once the bed repairs are finished.

JP

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Cheers JP...I feel like a man on a mission at the moment. I definitely wasn't feeling the rust and rot today but I just wanted to make some good progress. I was hoping to get her MOTed (thats the UK road safety test) by a special date in December hence the brisk progress. Sadly I think I'm going to miss my deadline unless by some miracle this is the last of the major rot (which I know for a fact it isn't!)

 

[steveo3002]

will you paint this yourself?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Good question steve...we haven't yet decided what to do on the paint front. We're aiming for a "good" driver which can be enjoyed in the summer months and then "improved" in the winter months. The aim is to get every bit of rust cut out and replaced to a good standard as my friend intends long term ownership.

I'm toying with the idea of buying an HVLP system but will wait until I need it....I may use rattle cans just for the MOT with the intention of coming back and sorting it out properly. I'd quite like a paint system that is easy to repair....these cars a magnet for dents and scraped. With my MR2 it looks OK....not so good that someone will take an interest + they'll never know the work that has been done underneath on it

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Worked on the rear Valence today...luckily most of the rot was confined to the moisture traps under the rear lights.

Began by cutting some access by removing the lower part of the light housing....cleaned everything up and then coated it with weld thru primer. I'm going to think about how to redesign this area as the original design just didn't work. The problem is those light housings create a perfect trap for water where they meet the boot floor and then they just rot out!