- Thread starter Domdom
- Start date
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
- Messages
- 11,577
- Location
- Sevenoaks, UK
I'll pick his brains Saturday morning!
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
- Messages
- 11,577
- Location
- Sevenoaks, UK
Yeah he showed me that!
Apparently alongside the box section he's putting a CEMENT MIXER for you!
Told him he should have bought the estate for a start and not to brake heavy!
And the doors and fuel tank for the XR4. Behold the BMW 640 Transit edition.
Did a bit more today, mostly tidying up welds and cutting out some of the driver’s side sill.
First a bit of grinding and a smear of filler by the driver’s side front turret. Will get that smoothed off tomorrow.
Then I turned my attention to the sill. Carefully cutting off the outer sill only to find the rusty remains of the original outer sill underneath it.
So I removed that as well, just the back part to help figure out how I’m going to tackle this bit.
Which revealed a rotten centre sill and almost non existent inner sill. This all has to be sorted before I can rebuild the back part where the sills join the main floor and the leading edge of the wheel arch. And as I moved forward a bit I just kept finding plates over plates over more plates. I have cut a bit more of the outer sill off just to find this underneath.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings. No more cutting until I have it all braced. I don’t think the centre and inner sills will hold anything straight in that condition. Happy days.
First a bit of grinding and a smear of filler by the driver’s side front turret. Will get that smoothed off tomorrow.
Then I turned my attention to the sill. Carefully cutting off the outer sill only to find the rusty remains of the original outer sill underneath it.
So I removed that as well, just the back part to help figure out how I’m going to tackle this bit.
Which revealed a rotten centre sill and almost non existent inner sill. This all has to be sorted before I can rebuild the back part where the sills join the main floor and the leading edge of the wheel arch. And as I moved forward a bit I just kept finding plates over plates over more plates. I have cut a bit more of the outer sill off just to find this underneath.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings. No more cutting until I have it all braced. I don’t think the centre and inner sills will hold anything straight in that condition. Happy days.
Made a start again this morning, the fuel filler part. I have a repair panel so decided against refitting the original bit I cut out due to the lower edge being pretty bad. The main issue was that the inner part which is where the fuel filler pipe screws to also had a rust hole and it’s spot welded to the original panel.
About an hour and I have the inner part safely off. Took the die grinder to the rust and made a repair section, welded it in, took a die grinder to the welds and smeared a little filler to get the contour right. Will sand it down in a bit.
Amazing how much time these fiddly bits take. Still a bit to do with the filler, maybe grind the welds off just a wee bit more.
About an hour and I have the inner part safely off. Took the die grinder to the rust and made a repair section, welded it in, took a die grinder to the welds and smeared a little filler to get the contour right. Will sand it down in a bit.
Amazing how much time these fiddly bits take. Still a bit to do with the filler, maybe grind the welds off just a wee bit more.
I've done two,on the XR4i and on the my 92 Coupe GT. I've concluded that Ford had made the gearstick hole slightly back than a 2wd,because,on the XR4i,I had cut out the 2wd tunnel,and welded in a 4wd tunnel. I mounted the gearbox in with propshaft to keep everything levelled up. Now,on my 92 Coupe,I just chopped out the sides of the 2wd mounts,and welded in the sides of a 4wd. Once everything was back,the gearstick would not stay in gear. I had to leave out the rubber gearstick bellow under the leather gaiter. Conclusion is,weld in a full tunnel.
Right, last update for a bit, working away this week.
This boot floor section was stopping me from sorting the inner arch at the back so I set about it. The hole.
And the plate I knocked up to fit it.
Used the magic sparky hot glue machine to stick it in. A quick rub off with the pistol grinder and a lick of zinc primer.
Now I have a seam to weld the outer panel to which also means I can finish the back edge of the inner arch.
And in between times I felted the garage fascia as well. Pooped now. Need a shower, scotch and bed.
This boot floor section was stopping me from sorting the inner arch at the back so I set about it. The hole.
And the plate I knocked up to fit it.
Used the magic sparky hot glue machine to stick it in. A quick rub off with the pistol grinder and a lick of zinc primer.
Now I have a seam to weld the outer panel to which also means I can finish the back edge of the inner arch.
And in between times I felted the garage fascia as well. Pooped now. Need a shower, scotch and bed.
Not been an issue so far. One side they are great, the other side is being renovated after the old boy died. He was fine anyway being largely deaf and now it looks like his daughter will move in with her toy boy so I don’t really care, never talk to her.
Did a bit more on Saturday, one I was struggling with if I'm honest. The internal skin by the fuel filler pipe was both a compound shape and also needed the placement of the holes for the fuel filler pipe mounting, which I'm still not sure are correct.
What I can't find is information about the holes needed. I have drilled 3 holes, one for the main filler and 2 for the mounting screws. But what this does is effectively put another 0.8mm piece of steel between the fuller pipe and the round part of the wing which I repaired previously. I don't have the fuel cap so can't test if it will still fit, but my Bro is posting the cap up to me to test this.
Alternatively it might be the case that the inner panel has a large hole cut to accommodate the whole thing but I imagine that will present issues with water spray getting between the panels and starting off the rot again.
Anyway, this is where I go to after much tin bashing, trimming, fettling, tacking in, measuring, and so on. This was also measured against the outer panel and where that has to fit. Chinese puzzles all round. Still plenty to do not least of which is tidying up the welds but the visible progress (to me) lifted the spirits a bit.
On a more serious note I need a welding jacket. I have a good leather apron but it doesn't cover shoulders and arms. Any recommendations? Not too heavy, I need to be able to move in it.
Ta
What I can't find is information about the holes needed. I have drilled 3 holes, one for the main filler and 2 for the mounting screws. But what this does is effectively put another 0.8mm piece of steel between the fuller pipe and the round part of the wing which I repaired previously. I don't have the fuel cap so can't test if it will still fit, but my Bro is posting the cap up to me to test this.
Alternatively it might be the case that the inner panel has a large hole cut to accommodate the whole thing but I imagine that will present issues with water spray getting between the panels and starting off the rot again.
Anyway, this is where I go to after much tin bashing, trimming, fettling, tacking in, measuring, and so on. This was also measured against the outer panel and where that has to fit. Chinese puzzles all round. Still plenty to do not least of which is tidying up the welds but the visible progress (to me) lifted the spirits a bit.
On a more serious note I need a welding jacket. I have a good leather apron but it doesn't cover shoulders and arms. Any recommendations? Not too heavy, I need to be able to move in it.
Ta
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
- Messages
- 11,577
- Location
- Sevenoaks, UK
Don't suppose there's any images here that help?
I do note there's quite a few "not for XR4i" footnotes.
Only tip ref the apron...it's got to be better than the jogging bottoms I favour for working in. They really don't go well with grinding/welding sparks!
I do note there's quite a few "not for XR4i" footnotes.
Only tip ref the apron...it's got to be better than the jogging bottoms I favour for working in. They really don't go well with grinding/welding sparks!
