LouisW
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Everything posted by LouisW
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Thought i'd have a better look at the heelboard/ rear radius arm bracket rust. It seems when that the bracket had been re-inforced in the past and along with the spot welds were seam welds. Made it interesting to remove in such a tight space but anyway... I set to it with my grinder and got the bracket off. I cut the majority of the rust out just have some more to get to and tidy up. Has anyone done this particular area before? Doesn't look too difficult to form the panels. I also drilled the crusty parts of the windscreen frame until I got to solid metal. I will just put some metal into there and it'll be good. I have put some primer onto it for the time being.
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Well I sanded down the bondo on the rear quarter. As the panel wasn't exactly the right size which was welded in it needs some more bondo to build it up to the correct profile. I am happy with it's positioning however as on both sides it measure the same height for the bumper mount. I also made a sill end plate, which was harder than I thought it would be but got there in the end It still needs some more finishing, but now I will be able to apply bondo over my welds and then put some stonechip onto the bulkhead.
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Cheers Hazen, i'll bear that in mind. After advice on my other thread I set to having another look at the front bulkhead panel. I had made my panels "oversized" as I was unsure on exact measurements and didn't want anything too small. It doesn't look like i've done anything at all from before, but i drilled through and plug welded the bulkhead repair to the a post and trimmed the repair into the proper size. I also re-welded in with a higher power the repair panel on the passengers side and there's no holes now! Just need some more of the welds grinding/ filling but will do that once the sill end plates are in.
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Welded in the curved front panel onto the front of the bulkhead like I had done on the passengers side. Did a much better job this time, and can feel my welds improving! Lot less holes There is a large "dent" in the bulkhead which I didn't do but the metal is really thin. Thinking of just knocking this out from inside or welding in a flat piece of sheet metal. Will see. I also bondoed up the rear quarter from before and will sand it tomorrow. I re-connected the door hinge thing again, but instead of using the rivet I just put a nut and bolt in. Will this be ok?
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Take them off the car and tap the end further into the bore with a mallet. The put it in a vice and try grippingaand pulling. Worked with mine! It'll just be the piston rusted to the bore. Could be salvageable, worth a go
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Thanks very much! Its not on par with most of the restoration threads standard wise on this forum, but as a first resto it'll do for me! Mainly just allowing me to build up my skill level. Now I'm doing the drivers side, as it's mostly the same I completed on the passengers side it makes it easy to compare my work. The quality is much higher, and it's not taking me as long to carry out the tasks whether it be welding, sanding, spraying etc which is nice for me to see I welded in a last "v" plate into my rear quarter repair panel. Just need some bondo in order to bring back the smoother curving profile of the wing. I also sprayed my over-riders up in black and was happy with the finish as it kept the matte plastic look and was fairly similar to the original finish. I was gutted to say the least when the passenger side rider cracked when tightening up the bolts. Ahh well, win some you lose some. It'll do for now, and i'll search for a new on in the future.
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Here's hoping cheers mate.
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Used a soldering with some sacrificial plastic rod, melted it from the inside and teased in some molten plastic. Worked fairly well, but time will tell! I've not lost anything if it cracks again anyway.
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Plastic welded the cracks, filled and primed my overriders. Just need spraying black next.
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I rebuilt my shock absorbers today with the newly cleaned and painted parts. The only thing I did notice however when putting one of the shocks back together the top leaf spring plate was on an angle with the bush inside also not equally compressed. I tried putting in new bushes but they were incredibly tight, and ripped the bush? Any ideas onto these issues? I'm thinking the shocks will "settle" once actually on the car but i'm not sure. I also welded in the sill section back into position and sprayed some zinc phosphate into the middle of the sill. Will be inserting some wax-oil into both sills before welding on end plates. Here's some before and after engine bay pictures. Quite proud of this 😀
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Cleaned and painted up my springs today ready for rebuilding of the shocks. Also painted up the top leaf spring bracket and the front valance brackets. I tried inserting my new bushes into the shocks too, but using the vice and socket method with some wood on the bush they just wouldn't go in. When I got one halfway in, it wouldn't go further and when removed it had a split in it... I had cleaned out the inside of the shock where the bush sits but it was still overly tight. How do you recommend inserting these bushes without damaging them? I also welded in my repair panel on the other side today. My welds were much "flatter" than before and the panel is really strongly in position. Just need the welds grinding back and a skim of bondo. Took me a fair while to get the positioning correct as I wanted it to match the other side so when my bumper is mounted it isn't lop-sided.
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Yeah, got some in the garage. Bought them with the rest of the bushes for the front suspension. 🙂
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They'll do for me When on the road they'll get mucky anyway. The paint was hammered finish anyway so it wont be perfectly smooth but behind the springs, who cares?
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Painted the shocks with some hammerite I found in the garage. Decided on silver in the end, as it's just what I happened to have and will look good with the rest of the silver in the engine bay. I also finished painting the bonnet underside after finding some more black paint. Really windy here today so didn't get much else done...
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Nope still gasless I'm afraid.
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I don't think he made one but I recall seeing a pretty simple guide before. Think there's a blade fusebox on eBay whichfits into the originals hole. It's late, I'm tired and on my phone so sorry for vagueness. I'll have a better look tomorrow for you. This being said, original fuse box isn't all that bad! Connectors just sometimes get loose causing a bad connection (believe it or not!!)
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Many people upgrade to a 'blade' style fuse box (wimpus on the forum did this) as it allows you to have many more fuses with a better connection. Also helps with problem solving as all electricals aren't on 3 fuses. I believe on the triumphspitfire website theres a stock fuse guide so you can see which each fuse operates.
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I have some old hammerite in a tin. Before regulations made it crap! Think I have silver hammered, might use this.
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Received my spring compressors from John today (cheers mate 😉) and set to disassembling them. On both the top spring plates the threads were stripped apart from on one but taking them apart was still as easy, and i never felt like I was going to have my face re-arranged, which was nice 😀 I ground out the studs from both top plates and then inserted new bolts through the holes and welded them in. Much cheaper than buying new spring plates and just as strong, if not stronger than original. Just need some nyloc nuts of the correct size now. Just need tidying up underneath. These were how the springs and shocks looked before I took them apart These are the shocks now after I ground them all down and primed them. How do I go about checking the condition of them? They give me a fair bit of resistance when I compress them which is good? What colour shall i paint them aswell? Had been thinking good old silver to be honest.
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I welded in a new repair panel into the rear quarter on the drivers side the other day with seam welds all the way and some plug welds which i ground back. Just need to line up my repair panel now for fitment and then I can trim this inner one down when the time comes.
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My bonnet from eBay had lots of little "spider" cracks in the gelcoat which I suppose were stress cracks. I hit them all with my grinder and went back to fibreglass in all these areas, thankful to see no cracks in the glass itself (gelcoat must have gotten brittle with age). Anyway, I tried laying fibreglass sheet onto the areas i'd taken back to glass, however once dry it was near impossible for me to hand sand ripping up even 40 grit sandpaper instantly. This has led me to wonder what's the best way to repair these "crevasses" in my bonnet? I was thinking just applying and layering bondo until I got the desired height then sanding flat? I do have some fibreglass filler if this would be any better? I did try filling them up with just resin in some areas and this seems to have taken most of the depth away, so shall I do this on the rest? Any helps appreciated, Regards, Louis.
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Hi mate, No, it wasn't short left to right, unless I got it mounted too high up 😀 I did have to add some metal above however as I had to cut more of the rear quarter away than the repair panel covered. I have pics earlier on in my thread I think. Got a little job done today of cleaning up the bonnet stay and using some new nuts and bolts. The only issue I got into was the fastening on the inner wheel arch. On my old bonnet I used the stock bolt which has a bolt head, then a washer then spacer all welded together which went through a hole in the arch. The only problem I have on the fibreglass one is the hole isn't big enough for the "spacer" to fit into. I am just wondering if how the old bonnet had it was the proper way? No pics of that piece i'm afraid but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Here's a pic of the bonnet up, hasn't been this way in a fair while that's for sure! 😎
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Thats a shame Hazen, whats the delay? How's your daughter doing now? Good I hope. I have tried turning the heat up but then just blow through, I think gas would provide me with a much better weld and I am going to try to source some soon even if it's just a little bottle. I hit a nice milestone today of getting the bonnet on! I cleaned up the other hinge and after scavenging for all the bonnet clamps was able to find them, prime them and put them on. I am really happy with how the bonnet sits considering it's an aftermarket fibreglass one! Could do with a little more fiddling but I am chuffed to bits, almost as good as the old metal one 🙂 Does anyone know of any ways to protect bolts which I cleaned? I was thinking a blob of grease or some wd40? I just don't want them rusting and don't really want to paint them. Pics: Louis.
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Thought I'd compile a list of things to do for MOT: 1. Weld rear quarter repair panel 2. Weld sill end plates 3. Make and weld sill/ rear quarter panels. 4. Weld rear radius arm mount area 5. Fill and bleed brake/clutch master cylinders 6. Check transmission fluid levels/ fill where appropriate 7. Clean/ paint bonnet hinges and mount bonnet. 8. Add clamps to fuel lines 9. Disassemble shocks/ springs and replace top joint/rust removal 10. Reassemble front suspension 11. Replace shoes and drums in rear. I think that's about it. Obviously I have more to do for personal mind, but these are just for my MOT.
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Cheers Wim, It's still not perfect but just a little bit more filler on it and it'll be OK. The join is mainly covered by the bumper anyway I will need to drill yeah! Need some new drill bits first however as mine are all blunt