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Great to see updates on this! It seems you have been on welding training. Good luck with the project!
Thank you, it’s a long way I need to go yet but I will have a lot of practice on this one.
I have started to clean up each area. This seam was flapping around open so needed attaching to the new floor. These circles were put in from above and you can see the welds have penetrated through fine but I wanted to go over from below before I l dress them back and paint over. I cut back the overhang as I welded, it isn’t perfect as was hard not to blow through, I will seal over them anyway and it is stronger than it was. Welds starting to flow better, just need to tighten my technique, these have not been dressed at all, just cleaned with a wire brush.
The whole underside is being stripped bare, rust treated then sealed with epoxy. I will fill some sections to make it presentable then paint body colour.
Put the drivers side door on to try it. Started mocking up the exhaust going through the boot space. The pipe won’t be poking out that far, needs another 90. At this point it might go oval. Here the exhaust snakes over the cradle. I re-used the old pipe which already had a join in it. Tacked a bit of thread in place to hold the pipe whilst I tack it.
Last edited by Caddyshack; 15-05-2022 at 05:11 PM.
I found a few more welds that have not been completed. These are where the cage passes through the floor and connects to the cradle mounts. I will need to go round and clean up the metal and then weld the floor to the tubes.
A bit of fun with a bender after work….bit of cad and then mock up. The case to create the tunnel over the pipe will contain some anti vibration mounts, vents to the underside and heat proofing. The pipe will either be zircotec coated like the down pipe or just wrapped in heat tape. Insides will be heat proofed too then an air tight lid to stop any fumes coming back in to the car.
Must be good to get back to it after it was away and out of your control for a while!
Keep the updates coming
The lost years really did me no good at all and I was almost ready to crush it when I finally rescued it. That is why I just left it in the corner of the garage until a few months had passed.
Now I am in love with it again and just happy to be working on it. The wasted time still makes my blood boil at times and the bits that have gone missing really piss me off when I have to search and buy them all over again but I am trying to make peace with that.
Had a go with the soda blaster and really happy with the results but it did show that my compressor was on its last legs so have bought a new one and pick it up this week…nice powerful one this time.
Getting a big new compressor tomorrow so will strip the boot floor.
i have dollied back the dents and bumps in the boot floor skin now.
managed to grab a few hours out of the office so continued with the boot floor exhaust tunnel. I have joined the 4 pieces together and will now fine tune the shape before making a bolt down lid for it.
The void in the curved end will have an extra exhaust hanger to make sure the pipe doesn’t knock. I may have to weld on a 1mm thick strip all the way around the top to give a better seal for the gasket?
the boot floor will be rhino linered in white with a non slip additive. I will also cover the exhaust tunnel but it won’t go up the wings or on the cage. I haven’t decided if I will rhino the suspension turrets. The benefits are noise deadening and it covers over seam sealer over the welds.
I might fold the lid so it bolts through the sides and still have a gasket on top, this would allow me to use riv nuts and bolts. I have not decided yet.
Above the turrets at the rear were open so whilst I am blocking off holes I thought I would see to the turrets too. I have welded in metal to the holes and then ground back Skim of fine filler to make it flush when I sand back. The blue tape over cardboard is how I am making templates then transfer to metal and cut out with my new r tech plasma cutter. More holes to fill and grind back There is a return curve behind the top mount and a lid too.
These are very much work in progress pics. I still need to decide if the raptor liner will go up the sides of not. If not the body shop will sort the finer points.
I can't believe how bad this thing is. I said all those years ago not to send it to that clown. The time it was away and this shoddy horrific work quality is exactly why.
But, the past is just that, it's good to see you cracking on with it, lessons learned and get it finished. I really feel for you. So many have gone before you in the same situation.
I can't believe how bad this thing is. I said all those years ago not to send it to that clown. The time it was away and this shoddy horrific work quality is exactly why.
But, the past is just that, it's good to see you cracking on with it, lessons learned and get it finished. I really feel for you. So many have gone before you in the same situation.
Yes, you and others did try to tell me.
I have been doing a lot more today.
I had to re-order some engine mounts as mine were lost up there. They should arrive on Monday so I can offer up the engine and box to make sure everything lines up…assuming it does I can really crack on completing the floor welds, seal that up and get the exhaust mounted properly.
Last edited by Caddyshack; 21-05-2022 at 05:01 PM.
You saying about motorbike world. I ride a super bike and I couldn’t think of anything more worrying than having one of that clowns bits under you at over a 100mph fook that lol
Something has been troubling me on this car, the turrets (that were not big enough for the shocks they supplied) seem a long way back in the shell. As previously mentioned I had to cut 1.5 inch recessed either side to allow the suspension to actually move up and down.
Problem 1) even with the supplied suspension on its bump stops the rear wheel is a clear 2 inches above the wheel arch.
Here is the suspension at full droop…it has more ground clearance than my Range Rover. On its bump stops Full compression, notice 2 things…centre line of the wheel vertically and then horizontally.
So, bigger issue is the fact that the suspension turrets seem so far back.
Here the wheel is not even central to the body shell but the shock is canted really far forward. Even with 1.5 inches taken out of the turrets the remote reservoir is touching the chassis rail….
So, I need new suspension and to cut even more out of the car and then accept the the suspension needs to be canted over to centre the wheel in the well. Surely you would measure the wheel centrally before you weld in a cage and turret?….or do you just weld them in where they land as you chuck them at the car?, as said I am not an F1 engineer.
I noticed that as I wound in the linkage bar trying to work out why my 4x4 was a proper off roader and why the wheel was poking out the back of the car the linkage rod was going up and down about 3-5mm each rotation….these are the very rare WRC banana arms!!!!
Yes, lots of sarcasm today as totally pissed off that I either need to scrap the whole cage and put in a new one and new turrets or sort out a compromise…..I have already had to resign myself to getting inferior Shox until I can justify brand new bespoke ones as I have picked up some off a car that MK built at the same time as mine which is now being broken.
I had a nagging worry that something was out when I measure the car for being square (it was) the rear connecting rods were would all the way out as far as they would go and still didn’t really allow the wheel to sit centrally……if I just accept the compromise I guess I can gain 10-15mm by machining brand new top mounts to allow the suspension to move forward in the turret., it would have been nice to have had the shock moving up and down in the actual turret centrally.
Last edited by Caddyshack; 22-05-2022 at 08:35 AM.
Whilst I am having a moan….some will notice the hubs don’t have bearing caps….those were lost whilst it was away, I had to order new ones form another company (they arrived next day). Also the actual out put flanges are not in the hubs….those were lost whilst the car was away, I have had to order new ones…it’s okay though as I had to order new top mounts for the front as those were lost too….did I mention that the strut tops at the front were 2 inches too high to allow the bonnet to close?
i did have a spare output flange to try the wheel on the car…luckily.
This pic demonstrates how far back the turret is compared to the centre of the wheel arch…excuse the filler on the wing….it was damaged whilst away having the turrets and cage put in the wrong place for 3 years.
Despite having spent hours and hours sorting out the inner arches I think I am going to get the plasma and grinder out and cut the cage, struts and floor and do it again where it should have been done….it will annoy me and remind me too much if I work around it….another waste of fucking time….a bit like foreplay….(waste of fucking time)
Can anyone suggest any reason at all why the middle of the turret would not be central to the exact middle of the 2 mounts for the cradle? That seems the obvious answer to me but I may be missing something? This pic shows the hub in what looks to be the centre of the arch and the shock is just hanging naturally from the top mount.
Good luck with the project!
13-05-2022, 04:00 PM
