Thanks Everyone,

redwine300 · Feb 20, 2011

Thanks katbloke, :hug:

Chickenjohn, Praise indeed, thanks, :hug:

With regards to painting her myself, I would love to,

but with the little I know about paint the Mere thought of getting it wrong terrifies me.

but having said that, I thought that about welding, so who knows, :whistle:

with the same degree of help from you guy's anything is possible. :hug:

Sorry to say folks, but no progress this weekend, gutted or what.

The wife has just had major spinal surgery.

(dorsal column stimulator fitted) so I am having to fill in. Ironing or welding? no contest!!! :whistle:

I should be able to have a full weekend to myself next week, :welder:

so I will catch up,

watch this space. :laughing:

redwine300 · Feb 26, 2011

Once the weather had broke,

I was out there like a shot. :laughing:

I have been away from her for too long.

Nothing to show in the way of welding I'm afraid though,

I made a start on all the areas with regards to cutting out the dreaded tin worm prior to the tank coming out.

Not to sure if there is any more I can cut away tomorrow mind,

I might be able to get at one more section directly above. :laughing:

(just forward of the filler pipe) I have bought a second hand reciprocating saw that may be small enough to get in. I'll know more tomorrow. In the mean time, here are some pictures of my tin worm excavations.

redwine300 · Mar 6, 2011

Well I think I have cut out just about all I can get to without the tank coming out. :whistle:

I know now how Houdini felt.

I think it will take me a week to walk upright again. :laughing:

I will spend the next couple of days clearing the garage out, I am hoping there may be just enough room to drop the tank and work on her without moving in and out of the garage.

here's hoping. :clapping:

Sphinx · Mar 12, 2011

God that looks like it was a struggle! lol

redwine300 · Mar 12, 2011

Certainly was Sphinx, and that was the easy part!

Next came the removal of the fuel tank.
Fortunately, once the garage was completely clear. I had more room than I envisaged,

I soon had her on axle stands and set about removing the tank,
Once I had removed the filler neck, the rest was relatively easy. :whistle:

( I did not think I would be saying that a few weeks ago)
Lowered the tank enough to remove fuel lines etc' and heh presto out it came! :clapping:

Now I could see what lurked behind the filler!

This might sound daft, but it was not as bad as I feared. :clapping:

Yes there is a lot to cut out in some very awkward places, but still a lot of sound metal to work with.
Once I had stripped a lot of the surrounding paint and seam sealant away, I set about grinding away all the surface rust so as to get a good idea of what I had to work with. I then set about cutting the dreaded tin worm out.
I even managed to get my first repair tacked into place.
Roll on tomorrow.
By the way guy's, Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with regards to removing the tank. spot on advice yet again. :clapping:

redwine300 · Mar 13, 2011

Made a start seam welding my first of many repairs,

Blew through quite a bit to wards the top.

Just did not get all the tin worm on my first attempt,

so I had to extend the repair a little. :ashamed:

From there on I managed to get a couple of the more trickier pieces in around the filler inlet.

Not a lot to show for what seamed an eternity under the wheel arch! but still, every little helps. :waving:

BlueyZarsoff · Mar 14, 2011

Mate you are doing a sweet job there. If I can ever weld half as good as you with my MIG I will be happy.
It must be a mammoth task you have taken on, but it must also be very rewarding for you, and I can tell that your welds have become a lot neater too.

There certainly was some metal in that rust! :clapping:

tux · Mar 14, 2011

The excellence continues!

schnappi · Mar 15, 2011

Wow, I'm really impressed with the high quality work on show. With all that rust on such a relatively modern car I'd be worried about it coming back and spoiling all the hard work though! I hope you're going to keep it as a fair weather car after all the hard graft has finished?

redwine300 · Mar 18, 2011

Thanks Blindfreddy, :hug:

I am sure with the help of the guy's and girls on this site, you will achieve the same given time.
Schnappi, Big thanks for the praise, :hug:

I also am concerned about the dreaded tin worm returning,

I can only hope that all of the preparation with regards to rust treatment etc' will stave off the inevitable

for some time to come.
As you say, fair weather only from now on, if there is any change of the wet stuff

she's staying indoors.
Certainly glad I removed the tank and was able to get her in the garage,

I have spent some time in the evenings rust treating and priming, even managed to get some welding in. :welder:

redwine300 · Mar 20, 2011

Managed to finish up welding in my last 2 rear arch repairs today, :clapping:

I can't explain why, but I seemed to have struggled with sufficient shielding gas judging by the level of brown soot.

I have checked my gas flow, and it is still at 12ltr per minute, (bearing in mind I am in the garage.) Why the sudden change?

Also, seemed to blow through a bit more than usual as can be seen once I ground back the welds to reveal pot holes.

I suppose I will have to put it down to, "one of those days I guess"

Sphinx · Mar 21, 2011

I can only imagine how awkward it must be to work in that space! So the results look truly fantastic!
The only thing I could suggest about gas flow is maybe the tip/shroud is a bit dirty from all the over-head? But that's just a guess.

drum · Mar 21, 2011

Hi, I've enjoyed reading your thread. Basic question from a newbie - when patching a hole like the one in the picture above, how do you clamp the new piece in place to allow you to get started?
Thanks
John

redwine300 · Mar 22, 2011

Hi Sphinx, yes it was somewhat cramped to say the least.

Appreciate your compliment by the way. :hug:

As for the shroud being blocked, It's a good call, having looked at it a bit more closely it does look a bit restricted with spatter. :whistle:

I think I may need a new tip also. :ashamed:

I Will give the shroud a good clean before I touch up the pot holes and see what happens. :waving:

Hi Drum, Glad you are enjoying the thread,

In answer to your question, Once I have matched the repair section, leaving a small gap for positioning. I hold the repair in place along 1 edge allowing equal clearance at either end. A bit like holding a letter box open.
I then tack it very lightly in 2 places so as to allow me to bend the repair into position, hopefully without interfering at the edges. On average it takes me 2 or 3 attempts to get right prior to adding more tacks. From there I work evenly placing tacks whilst at the same time tapping the edges flush as I go.
I hope I have explained OK, Any other questions just let me know.

drum · Mar 22, 2011

Thanks for the explanation. I wondered if there was some type of magnetic clamp I hadn't seen.

Being a thicko I'm paranoid about electrofrying myself if I was to hold the piece I was welding. I think I need to swot up on the physics of what I'm doing - don't fancy a blast of 160 amps. This is probably not possible but I haven't got my head around it yet. :ashamed:

redwine300 · Mar 22, 2011

I know exactly what you mean, I still can not work out why I do not electrify myself, even when I forget to attach the earth,

still no shock. beats the hell out of me. :whistle:

Something to do with the path of least resistance :whistle:

.
Maybe someone could explain the physics of it, it would be good to understand. :welder:

Chickenjohn · Mar 23, 2011

Yes, it is the path of least resistance! Electricity would much rather pass through the bodywork of the car and back to the earth clamp than it would through your body which is nowhere near a good enough conductor of electricity. You might get a belt though if you held the car with one damp hand and the earth clamp with the other (clamp not attached to car in this example) while someone struck up an arc!

redwine300 · Mar 27, 2011

Spot on Sphinx, :clapping:

The shroud was well blocked, way down at the point where the gas enters.
Changed the tip also while I was at it.
Major difference. :hug:

Also. tweaked the gas flow up to 14lpm just to be sure :whistle:

Tried a slightly different method on this repair,
Left quite a bit of excess material so as to be able to hold the work piece in position and not be in the way of the torch. Worked a treat.
I couldn't believe it, Having looked back at my earlier pictures, I had just put the final piece of the rear arch in. relieved or what.
Sorry if I have over done it with the photo's,
cloud 9 I guess :clapping:

Chickenjohn · Mar 27, 2011

Redwine, repair, as always looks great! The final result is nearly invisible. Another quality job. :-) Put as many pics as you like, I like seeing car restoration done to a high standard!

Welds are very neat considering you have to stick your head inside the wheel arch with welding helmet on in order to see what you are doing and that is never as easy as welding two bits together on the bench. Good job!

keith19 · Mar 27, 2011

Excellent job, Redwine. I'd be real proud of almost invisible repairs like those. Your thread is being pointed out to newbies as the sort of standard that can be attained if it's worked at, and enough attention paid to detail. This thread of your project is a very good example to everyone on here.
Well done, once again! :clapping:

Thanks Everyone,

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