chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
|
With Christmas around the corner work on the Midget has been a little less focused recently. We finished replacing all the suspension bushes which took longer than expected. The car was lowered and its weight compressed the spring enough to allow the damper to be bolted in place. Once reassembled the front suspension was lubricated with a grease gun. The whole job would have been easier with a transmission stand like this..... .....but I am so tight I made one out of a spare wheel and an Acrow prop. Today I continued working on the back of the car making up small panels were the old had rusted out. Not much fun this. Upside down welding and a padded shirt are a dangerous combination but at least I was warm as my shirt went up in flames. Last weekend was fun as I was asked to take a look at a possible future project. A 1996 Rover Mini. The plan for this is to strip it out, roll cage and fibreglass flip front. This is booked in after the Midget so should start in summer 2017. John the owner has already started the strip down in anticipation. Hopefully I will be able to crack on with the midget build during the christmas holidays.
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
|
A bit of a short break from the Midget yesterday. A friend was given this trailer which has been very overloaded at some point. The previous owner had botched it by bolting ‘splints’ either side of the damaged frame. Scary stuff! To repair this I cut off the damaged steel and spliced in a length of steel scaffolding pipe. Quite a satisfying job to blow away the Christmas cobwebs.
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
|
With the welding complete at the rear I moved up to the front of the car. Remember this? Well after I ground off the rivets and bolt heads holding the ‘repair’ on this was revealed. I made a patch up and as well as seam welding it I plug welded onto the chassis leg. The Midget is going to be bumperless and the owner wants a clean look so the 1500 vents were filled in with steel. This will have a skim of filler over the top to profile it. Next up will be to strip the underseal off then paint and stone chip the underside.
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
|
|
|
Solid looking work there mate. really not surprising why they rusted out so quick when they were new with all of those watertraps
|
|
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
|
A bit of a mile stone was reached yesterday with the welding on the floor finished. This was the last bit that needed doing which was at the trailing edge of the right rear wheel arch. After this all the underseal was removed using a hot air gun and scraper. After this I went over the whole floor pan and wheel arches with a knotted wire wheel in the angle grinder. This most be the most dangerous tool I own but it does such a good job of removing rust, paint and underseal. After the underseal was removed I seam sealed and the joints and weld repairs with polyurethane sealer. And then coated everything in plenty of Dinitrol 447 stone chip. Next job is to repair and make the front wings fit (they are miles out at the moment).
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
shandylegs
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 116
Member is Online
|
|
|
Really good progress!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2017 20:13:06 GMT
|
Great work, that looks like it's going to lovely when done.
|
|
Currently driving a 1972 BMW 1602 as my daily. Don't ask about previous cars - there have been way too many and I stopped counting at 160!
|
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2017 21:17:45 GMT
|
Nice work and well detailed thread. Now that the heavy "Rubber" (Well steel girder!) bumpers are removed, you may find the car sits a bit too high because the front and rear springs are stronger and higher (more curved rears, longer fronts) on the 1500 cars than on the 1275 types.
|
|
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
|
Thanks Phil.
The car has been lowered to chrome bumper spec using one of the cheap lowering kits. We shall see how we get on with those
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,251
|
|
|
Thanks Phil. The car has been lowered to chrome bumper spec using one of the cheap lowering kits. We shall see how we get on with those You can also easily swap in 1275 front springs. I did this and had my rear springs dearched an inch or so. I kind of regret the rear dearching as, in retrosect, the springs had I think settled enough in 30 years and if not, I am big enough to settle them the rest of the way!
|
|
|
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
Jan 21, 2017 20:37:13 GMT
|
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
Jan 23, 2017 17:58:38 GMT
|
I took a half day off work today and to relax at home. After half an hour of day time TV I grew restless and decided to spend a couple of hours on the Midget. I have repaired both A pillars but the right hand one needed work as the panel gap got larger towards the bottom. I could have built it up with filler or fibreglass but used 3mm steel rod instead. I have done this before on other cars and it seems to work well. This was then ground back... ...and the whole area leveled with filler. This side of the car is pretty close to being done. Ill do the same to the other side, the back and front then it will be time for epoxy primer. The aim is to get the car done by early summer
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
|
When the rubber bumpers are removed there is a large hole were the indicator needs to be. This is not on the earlier midgets so needs to be filled in. A piece of steel is shaped to fit… …welded in and ground back. This is welded slightly back from the front surface so filler can be used for final profiling. The same was done on the other side. Filler was used to smooth out the contours and a location hole measured out for the front indicators. More sanding and profiling of filler was used to cover the repair work on the other side of the car… …and attention given to the door gaps and levelness of the panels. I find this work tedious but satisfying at the same time. Hopefully the first few coats of epoxy primer will be going on in a couple of weeks.
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
Feb 26, 2017 18:13:55 GMT
|
Not a massive amount to report this post, I managed to source some nice front indicator lights. I decided to get these with a clear lens and use an orange bulb or LED. If I decide to go the LED route I will have to change the flasher unit which is not much of a problem. The lights are similar to early Morris Minor units and are flatter in profile than the similar Land Rover type. One problem with them is they have 2 contacts inside so I will have to bridge them together with a soldered strip of copper to make then fit a single contact indicator bulb. I smoothed off the back side and it is as smooth as a babys bum. In fact it is as smooth as a Midgets bum. mmm... The left hand side of the car is now getting there and soon I will be hand blocking the whole car ready for primer.
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
Feb 26, 2017 18:23:00 GMT
|
So finally after several weeks of welding, panel beating filling and sanding the Midget was ready for it’s first couple of coats of primer. The primer used was two pack Epoxy primer. Two coats were applied. The primer was applied on Friday and was ready for initial flatting on Sunday. Over all I was pleased with the result. A few issues became apparent now the car was one uniform colour. This revealed a couple of low spots but nothing a skim of knifing putty and 320 grit in a block couldn’t solve. A guide coat was applied to show any low spots. I have managed to flat one side of the car today and hopefully with a bit of help flat the rest tomorrow. After this I will apply several more coats of the primer and do a final flatting hopefully next weekend. The owner came around and brought the grill he wants to fit. It is an original Austin Healey Sprite item for a pre ’70 car. I think this is a great choice and ,in my opinion, is the most attractive of all the grills.
|
|
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2017 22:18:49 GMT
|
Looking great and I do like the Sprite grill.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 27, 2017 13:29:21 GMT
|
The owner is a lucky man. I see far too many cases where people hand over their car to a body shop and it sits in the corner for years with little if any work getting done. You on the other hand seem to have his best interest in mind.
|
|
|
|
chrismc
Yorkshire and The Humber
www.redhouseclassics.com
Posts: 51
|
|
Feb 27, 2017 16:19:09 GMT
|
The owner is a lucky man. I see far too many cases where people hand over their car to a body shop and it sits in the corner for years with little if any work getting done. You on the other hand seem to have his best interest in mind. Thanks. I have restored cars for my own use over the years but I am slowly moving towards doing this for others. I don't do this as a full time job (got one of those already 😏). I do it for fun and earn a small amount which in reality only covers my costs. I am driven to get the projects done as I only have space for one car at a time and hate having stuff hanging around. Not relying on the income is a good situation to be in as I only do what interests me. I am already looking forward to the next project which will be starting this summer.😎 If you are interested check out my blog site below. Www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
Last Edit: Feb 27, 2017 16:20:01 GMT by chrismc
Have a look at my restoration blog...www.redhouseclassics.com
|
|
|
|
Feb 27, 2017 18:46:02 GMT
|
Had a nosey at your blog. Loving the Fkrenza and Magnum. Cracking pieces of kit.
|
|
|
|
|