1988 Mk2 Cavalier 1.8GLi

[sleag40]

Aug 23, 2019 21:48:00 GMT VW said:

I'm really enjoying seeing this progress. Even though at this stage its 'more of the same' but in a different area, its great to see whats going into this.

Just the nearside inner wing to strip back before I can get on with something different.

All remaining bare metal now treated.





Started preparing the front valance for going on, first stripping it back to bare metal.



Then giving it a couple of coats of electrox primer.



It was a bit too hot for comfort in the shed today, so may not be back for a while. It'll give me a bit of time to think of a way to attach the front end of the rollover jig once the front valance goes on.

[sleag40]

I snaffled a bit of time this evening to make a start on the passenger side of the engine bay - once the shed had cooler down a bit. The battery tray was hit first. 



There was still plenty of time left, so I just carried on until hunger got the better of me. (about an hour!) 



Not sure If I'm gonna finish the engine bay or stick the front valance on next, stay tuned!

[skodacious]

This will have to be the best MK2 out there once finished. I continue to be in awe of your skills and attention to detail 😎

[darrenh]

worth detaching the battery tray from the body ? the reason i say this is that its not painted between them, add a little acid spill or two in the last 30 years and it makes mincemeat due to close proximity.

[sleag40]

Aug 27, 2019 19:03:44 GMT darrenh said:

worth detaching the battery tray from the body ? the reason i say this is that its not painted between them, add a little acid spill or two in the last 30 years and it makes mincemeat due to close proximity.

I had though about that, but it looks like the majority of the engine bay had been waxed - some parts better than others! It seems to have done the job well as far as the battery tray is concerned - theres no rust anywhere around the perimeter where it meets the inner wing, and theres no sign of any "blowing" of the tray or underside of the inner wing where it sits.

[VW]

Will the hidden wax cause issues when it comes to paint though?

[sleag40]

Aug 28, 2019 18:11:40 GMT VW said:

Will the hidden wax cause issues when it comes to paint though?

Should be fine, all the little crevices containing wax have been cleaned with thinners several times until the cloths used stay white. It was pretty tedious, but I'm confident it's clean.

[sleag40]

A few short sessions during the week sees this side mostly stripped now. 



I have a decent amount of time to get this finished off tomorrow - and it'll probably take most of the day as this side is by far the fiddliest area of the whole car. Major milestone imminent!

[sleag40]

Finished stripping this side on Saturday - seen here just before the underside of the battery tray was done. 



Ready to clean and treat. 





Treated on Sunday evening. 



Today I took the front end off the spit and propped it up on large axle stands in preparation for welding the front valance on. Quick trial fit. 



Painted both sides of the front valance strengthener plug weld areas with weld through primer, then removed the rollover spit upright to make the job of welding it on easier. 



Should hopefully be welding the valance on some time this week.

[Mercdan68]

Nice work again!

[darrenh]

i know this is going to sound backwards, possibly insulting as you have spent hundreds of hours in it and done fair share of welded repairs. buuuuut the more i see you bare metalling stuff, where i would expect a knotted wheel to find daylight, and it actually coming up bright good metal, the more i think (in general) that the car is actually relatively "goodun"

[sleag40]

Sept 4, 2019 12:47:35 GMT darrenh said:

i know this is going to sound backwards, possibly insulting as you have spent hundreds of hours in it and done fair share of welded repairs. buuuuut the more i see you bare metalling stuff, where i would expect a knotted wheel to find daylight, and it actually coming up bright good metal, the more i think (in general) that the car is actually relatively "goodun"

It certainly could have been worse! There is a thread somewhere on mk2cav.com featuring the work done on a LX that had rusty holes EVERYWHERE!

Most of the available time this afternoon (not a lot!) was spent getting the valance in the correct position relative to the wings. It was then plug welded on. 



Next time I'll get that tidied up, then efforts will be made to get it reattached to the spit.

[sleag40]

Got the front valance tidied up a bit this afternoon. 



No time for this for a couple of days now, but a selection of bits of metal have been rounded up to enable the spit to be attached next time.

[sleag40]

Somehow I've mislaid the box section I intended to use, but I did find some larger diameter stuff. Unfortunately it didn't fit, but after a bit of adjustment, it became a perfectly sized solution. 



After a load of faffing about measuring and drilling holes, its back on there again. 



I've ordered up some epoxy mastic to coat the underside - a quick measure up + calculation suggests that the amount ordered should be enough. 



The lower section of the bulkhead was then treated with Hydrate 80.



With that done, I spent the rest of the day excersising my other cars.

[sleag40]

You may have noticed that one part of the engine bay has not received much attention yet - this afternoon that has changed! 



There's no rust on the upper part of the bulkhead, so the plan is to clean it back to the e-coat with thinners, then it can be epoxy primed with the rest of the engine bay at some point in the future.

[sleag40]

Time is in short supply for this at the moment - it got really busy at work recently! This week I've managed to finish up the cleaning of the bulkhead. 



While I wait for my paint for the underside to turn up, attention has been turned to the wings. They looked pretty decent when I collected them some monrhs ago, but on closer inspection a little work was required to the drivers side one. The arch lip at the very top of the arch was a little thin and frilly - it was built back up with weld and then ground roughly to shape. I'll finish shaping it when it gets prepared for paint. 



Lower down near where the wing meets the front valance, I noticed a couple of random holes that had been wobbled up at some point in history. The filler was wire wheeled off, and the holes welded up and ground back. 



Little jobs, but two less to do now.

[sleag40]

After my chores were done this morning, I got the underside scotched in preparation for some paint. 





This preparation was prompted by a parcel arriving on Friday. 



Epoxy mastic for the underside, Deox gel for rusty bodywork, and more Hydrate80 as there's pretty much nowt left the bottle I've been using.

[sleag40]

Got the back end and underside of the floor coated today. 



Due to its inky blackness, it doesn't make a good picture! Once the front inner wings/chassis legs are painted, I can get the seam sealer out.

[jmsheahan]

Looking great! Some real graft going in to this! Did you spray or roller/brush the Epoxy on?

BH Epoxy is really good. Using it on the underside of my Golf.

[sleag40]

Sept 16, 2019 13:56:52 GMT jmsheahan said:

Looking great! Some real graft going in to this! Did you spray or roller/brush the Epoxy on?

BH Epoxy is really good. Using it on the underside of my Golf.

Cheers! I've brushed it on - it's very difficult to get a nice finish with a brush, but it doesn't really matter much as it'll be getting a good layer of stone chip over it, and finished off with a layer of underbody wax.