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Sept 29, 2012 18:06:01 GMT
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driver side wheel arch... sigh... more bodge patches over the top of the old rust this one is the worst, behind the headlight again. the entire side arrowed in orange is not even welded to the wheel arch, its about 10mm proud of the wheel arch, yet it has crappy blobs of weld along the edge of the patch. it hasnt popped off or anything, theyve just tried to weld the patch to thin air because the patch wasnt pushed up to touch the parent metal this is the engine bay side, the shiney bit is the underside of the patch, and the mess is filler ive pinged off which was flush to the line of the old rot. this is viewed looking from the front of the car, below the headlight apeture, and ive stuck a screw driver under the patch and pinged it off with hand pressure. 100% bodge artist
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Sept 30, 2012 17:37:37 GMT
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if you have any requests shout them out!... play that same song...alright! same song, here we go.... today i carefully scythed the bumper mounting off hacked out the entire inner wing behind the headlight (note the non welded side of the bodge patch i was moaning about) flintstones wheel arch heres the patch made up and rudimentary folds added (i did the fine adjustments with land rover tool number 1 when it was partially welded) seam welded in and underneath to show the penetration. looks better than the welded side of the old bodge patch ! now onto the next bodge to redo, on the chasis rail not that i feel i have to prove how bad they are, but heres the evidence. its just like time team, the old chassis rail and rust holes perfectly preserved ! now onto the A pillar and rear wheel arch bodge, not to dissapoint its another patch over the old rust !! so i hacked it all off found a hole on the inner sill, surprise surprise it had a rust accelerating bodge patch over it, so i cut that out, wire brushed everywhere then slathered the granville rust killer on thats all for today, i wrapped it up in the tarp i bought about 2 years ago (and only just opened!) and to end the thread a big thankyou to BenH and Steve Heley for the manual steering rack which has done a bit of pony express and ended up at me ! its a 4 turns lock-to-lock rack (standard power steering is 3.5) which should end up about the same at the arms as i have a little sparco steering wheel to go on. I did this "downgrade" to my first gte and loved the direct feel compared to over assisted standard, and it will save 10kilos like for like.
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Love it! Another bit of the pineapple is alive and well. I didnt know Gary ever changed the front wings on it. As for the GTE, impressive levels of detail as ever. Ive just read all of the updates and its bloody nice work! Those diagrams of the strengthening plates are new to me, great bit of info to have. What are the plans for the rear beam? Did anyone ever get to the bottom on the MK2 cav estate rear beam on the BTCC cars story? I remember buying one for the pineapple, then finding out it didnt fit without mods! Ive also recently lucked out and found one of the manual quick racks and fitted that to my MK2 Cav - ever since Ive been on the attack against the front steering arm angles as the bump steer is so pronounced! I inhertied a solution from Gary when I bought the yellow GTE, cant remember who I sold it too but I regret it now. I was thinking Mk1 Astra front legs because the TRE bolts up through rather than down through, and that would have reduced the angle slightly. Instead I might have to rob that idea on the front legs....
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Last Edit: Oct 1, 2012 21:33:57 GMT by brettsri
87 Mk2 Cavalier SRi Turbo
89 Mk3 Cavalier SRi V6
90 Cartlon GSi3000 24v (Lotus Rep)
90 Senator CD 24v
99 Omega 3.0 MV6
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thanks brett i did think about the upside down track rod ends, ben used a hole saw and bored the actual tapered insert out of his arms, then welded them back in upside down. perfect solution appart from when the suspension is at full droop the track rods hit the bottom of 'oles through the wheel arch theres only seem welding mentioned in the group A manual regards the rear beam, and reinforcements for the spring perches. but i have pictures of malcom wilsons rally car which show a more mk2 estate setup. as you know cav estates had pneumatic dampers which required load bearing pickups on the beam (much more suited to coilover conversion) also got CCC articles from the 1990s which say they homologated trailing arms for the btcc cars, dunno how, you ever seen a mk2 astra with IRS ? some folk have also been messing with two rose jointed tie bars from the middle of the beam out to the point where the damper mounts.
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Hadn't thought of the track rods hitting the hole. Saved me a lot of hassle there!
Never seen a Mk2 with IRS that wasn't Calibra based, and Ive only seen one of those. The Mk2 Cav Estate beam does probably have strong enough mounts, and its slightly wider but when I tried it, the mounts sat to much further in and you couldnt bolt the shock up. I had to cut the mounts of and have them welded on further out. Made the whole effort of getting one kind of pointless as I could have modified the original, and I never ended up fitting the coilovers either!
Anything that fits the Mk2 Astra also goes straight on a MK2 Cav at the back so if people are trying new things its good to hear about them. Any pics of the tie bars? Has it come from the Nova boys?
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Last Edit: Oct 2, 2012 22:15:55 GMT by brettsri
87 Mk2 Cavalier SRi Turbo
89 Mk3 Cavalier SRi V6
90 Cartlon GSi3000 24v (Lotus Rep)
90 Senator CD 24v
99 Omega 3.0 MV6
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heres the group A rally car beam and modern idea for triangulating the beam, the little pyramid turrets would be underneath, roadside of the beam. picture is a golf gti, but you get the idea.
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Last Edit: Oct 2, 2012 23:39:42 GMT by darrenh
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I actually envisaged something correctly for once! Makes sense in theory, would be interesting to know if anyone has any experience of driving with it. Looking at that set up clearance for road use might proove a headache!
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87 Mk2 Cavalier SRi Turbo
89 Mk3 Cavalier SRi V6
90 Cartlon GSi3000 24v (Lotus Rep)
90 Senator CD 24v
99 Omega 3.0 MV6
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not too bad, the turret and rose joint will be inside the dish of the wheel rim, almost like the balljoint/wishbone on the front suspension
i think main concern would be the exhaust packaging, the hump over the beam on the passenger side.
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Last Edit: Oct 3, 2012 10:03:58 GMT by darrenh
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weathers been crud mon+tues, but did a small bit today. welded a patch into the inner sill (2mm steel) then closed off the chassis rail same as the drivers side. got caught out with several layers of thin panels which overlap along the top edge (like vinci warned) so the weld ended up way wider and messier than i wouldve liked
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finished closing off the A pillar today
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,837
Club RR Member Number: 174
Member is Online
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Some great work going into this, those bodges are amazing. Was it the previous owners work?
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Some great work going into this, those bodges are amazing. Was it the previous owners work? thanks mate, it was the owner before the previous owner, he was an MOT tester by trade!... as the saying goes, its always the plumbers taps that drip!
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,328
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Great to see a rusty old Vauxhall being welded to last longer than the next MOT test; lovely fab work. I still can't comprehend how or why some people don't bother cutting out the grot, but then proceed to stick a piece of tatty bean tin over it with something which resembles fly curse word. I'm all for giving things a go, but when safety of my family is involved, I would only want things done properly. Hats off to you for doing it right! . Can't wait to see the finished article.
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thanks to you too i am 99% sure the same guy replaced the sills, whilst they arent rusty (as i can see down the inside) they appear to have been seam welded along the lower lip same as these crud patches. migh aswell have used a wet flannel for all the rigidity that will give. hoping i can rectify this in situe with a spot weld drill through the sill skin, then puddle to the inner sill.
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the morninng was spent procrastinating with this 110 year old safe, kind of cool in an old lump of cast iron kind of way. interestingly its not solid, but cast iron box inside another cast iron box, with saw dust/hardwood filling mixed with allum. this was an old fashioned way of fire proofing as the allum melted dampening the saw dust to make a heat insulation for the inner box. made by samuel withers & co in west bromwhich, which ive read is a bit "asda value" in the safe fraternity, its spent the last century in the back of an old post office. i thought i'd just use it as a posh cupboard for value tools/talking point. better than weighing it in. so that only delayed horrible car jobs for a little while, begrudginly i got on my knees and started the mind numbingly boring job of stripping the rubber underseal from wheel arch number 2, then gave it a whisp of something rattle can to stop the bare bits rusting mr wire wheel uncovered another curse word sandwhich bodge patch, YAWN
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Siert
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,104
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Great job, keep at it!
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thanks siert made a start on the rotisserie/spit still in the packaging from 18 months ago, oops ! then laid out then started welding the sleeves on top of the 4 legs, theres 1 odd one with an overhang which holds the locking ring + pin so i welded all 4 sleeves, then mocked up one of the A frames (one with locking ring) this kit is slightly more special as it has adjustable height drop plate, so you can get the car COG exactly in line with the rotisserie, and they claim you can rotate the car with 1 finger ! pictures are missing the feet rails at the bottom which run perpendicular to the car/frame for maximum stability this is just with the drop plate moved up near its top adjustment (all temporary clamps mind you)
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Best thing going for underfloor repairs and painting etc. Get it on the spit and be happy. no more sizzling weld down your sleeves for starters
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epic weld a athon dude fair play! its suprising how much rot was in it! it looked pretty good on page 1!!
looking forward to seeing it on the Spit!
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Oct 10, 2012 10:36:28 GMT
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Best thing going for underfloor repairs and painting etc. Get it on the spit and be happy. no more sizzling weld down your sleeves for starters yeah! or welding spatter up my nose like on saturday, despite having a full face mask on? bizarre ! epic weld a athon dude fair play! its suprising how much rot was in it! it looked pretty good on page 1!! looking forward to seeing it on the Spit! thanks mate. will hopefully give a bit more motivation too, i'm sure i'm not alone but sometimes when faced with the work + enduring whatever to actually do it, i cant even be bothered to even set up some days !
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Last Edit: Oct 10, 2012 10:37:15 GMT by darrenh
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