Xbolx tat blog, Jan 2016 'FLEET UPDATE'

[jrevillug]

May 21, 2012 21:18:21 GMT 900pilot said:

Excellent progress Richard, but I have a question. Is that a choke lever on the gratuitous dash shot? Are these things not running injection?

Certainly looks like one. Wikipedia tells me that the 425 is a carb-fed 2.5 turbo V6 with 200bhp produced from '83 to '89.

The 425i was made from '87 to '90, and featured EFI, a cat, and 188bhp - presumably a US market version.

May 21, 2012 21:18:21 GMT 900pilot said:

Your tat redemption skills remain an inspiration.

+1: brilliant stuff. ;D

[xbo11ox]

Correct, this car uses the always-reliable combo of 2 turbos and 1 carburettor (sealed inside a glorified biscuit tin)

Pics will follow when i've done a bit more...

[jrevillug]

May 22, 2012 11:35:18 GMT xbo11ox said:

Correct, this car uses the always-reliable combo of 2 turbos and 1 carburettor (sealed inside a glorified biscuit tin)

Imagine if it were Italian, too.

[900pilot]

Well the advantage of carbs is less electrical systems so there is always a silver lining. However I would definitely don the flat cap of safety when you are dealing with that 'glorified biscuit tin' or IED as it is known as elsewhere.

[xbo11ox]

Lets have an update. I've done a fair bit and am expecting another mega workfest on sunday so i'd better 'have a dump' on here before doing any more!

Basically it was time to get stuck into the drivers floorpan. it needed a big-ass patch welding in, stretching almost back to the rear edge of the front door. I drilled and chopped out a bit of the crossmember:





Incidentally at this point I cheerfully sliced through the petrol pipes under the floor, what a moron. If the whole lot had gone up I think I would have just climbed inside the Maser and sat there till I died, to punish myself.

Also chopped off the outrigger:




Could do with a new one of these, but they don't exist unfortunately so I will have to make one or something.


This is a view from underneath looking upwards and forwards down the inside of the chassis leg.

As you can see, this has been repaired before, doing it again would entail getting the engine out so i'm not super keen, but theres defo some grot in there. When you look under the wheel arch you can see this:

rust blebbing through from that chassis leg, its all a bit crispy unfortunately. ANYWAY,

There was not a lot left by the time i'd finished hacking:


I went to the bother of marking out where to cut before wading in with the cutting disc. This enabled me to get some nice straight lines and right angles and generally make a neater job than I usually do. Amazing eh?


made a nice big patch and put the shapes in it with a ball-point hammer:



^^^ didn't quite get the curvature of the inner sill right, though I only found out later on.

Next I needed a little triangular bit for the front corner. Decided to make a template out of card. as you know I only like to use Jordans organic country crunch packets for that, but in this case I didn't have any, so I was forced to use an INTENSE BISCUIT packet instead to keep the job sufficiently classy.



A bit lax on the picture front, but theres the outcome:



Now this patch was not big enough, the inner sill was still rusty near the rear bolts of the drivers seat. Had to drill out the spot welds for the seat mount so I could get at the rot:





I was doing this all ar$e about face, I now had two patches welded in and the metal between the two was rotten so now I needed another!

one more patch later I had this:

(I did chop out the metal beneath BTW)

OK the inner sill is sound now at least.

Next I had to make a bridging piece that goes from the floor to the middle sill. Made it in the DIY metal folder:


Never use that machine mart one any more, its rubbish in comparison TBH.

After a fashion I had this:


YES my cheap trainers do have steel toecaps, so don't worry yourselves about that.

Blezzed it in:


Looks OK from above, acceptable penetrationZ:


made a second closing piece for near the rear seat mounting:


In it went:



Incidentally at this point I borrowed my garage marra's automatic welding mask, previously I had only used my oldskool mask, which seemed perfectly OK to me. Anyway, these reactive masks are DA BOMB, its amazing having another arm available for holding stuff or steadying your 'mig hand' when lying on your back or whatever. Verdict: AWESOME, I am getting one next payday.


All looks OK inside:



Just noticed some of these are in the wrong order so it might look a bit odd. sorry about that


Finished off with a bit of zinc primer splashed on here and there.

Obv theres still loads more to do, however the floorpan is now rot-free and the middle sill - floor box section is now super sound so it must be a lot stronger already. Next I suppose I will tackle the chassis leg under the drivers feet and try to reinstate that outrigger thing. Hoping to get a full day in on Sunday so here's hoping!

[Deleted]

I'm glad you ended up with this Maser rather than some turnip starting the job and not seeing it through to the bitter end.

[hairymel]

May 26, 2012 0:56:45 GMT @volksangyl said:

....some turnip...

did someone call?

brill work bolly - you don't mind me calling you bolly do you?

;D

can't believe you got this far without a reactive mask - now you be invincible

[Lopez]

Your fabbing has got a lot more refined since the early days, and it was better than mine to start with.

I know what you mean about auto darkening visors, first time I used one it was a proper revelation.

[xbo11ox]

May 26, 2012 0:56:45 GMT @volksangyl said:

I'm glad you ended up with this Maser rather than some turnip starting the job and not seeing it through to the bitter end.

I havent got to the end yet Volks! I am not looking forward to the point where its all welded up and sanded and that and I have nowt else to do but find a 'proper' sum of money to pay someone to paint it, I hate spending more than pocket-money sums on stuff, specially car stuff. i am going to have to get some sort of bail-out from the joint account, plus maybe flogging something out of my fleet, as I havent got a grand++++ knocking about. Thats gonna hurt.

[scaryoldcortina]

Wilkinsons satin black and a roller?

[mirafioriman]

Great work. Just paint it yourself. It's really not that hard but it's a lot cheaper

[Deleted]

Agreed, DIY paintjobs can be excellent... but they are massively time consuming and easy to get wrong. I can see why farming out painting in metallic blue would be preferable to getting the rollers, glitter and poster paint from Wilkos and the Early Learning Centre. I don't know if I'd be brave enough to paint a Maser myself, I think I'd be looking to save up pennies somehow and get a pro/talented amateur to do it for me.

[davej]

Awesome work as always, the thought of a roller painted Maserati is funny though!

[xbo11ox]

EASY NOW

Been down the garage again today, not achieved as much as I hoped but thats cos i didnt get off my fat ass and get down there till 2pm. Anyway, on with the rust:

decided to have a look at the rusty/battered chassis leg today. I really want to get this footwell area all welded up so I can get onto the more rewarding bit of fitting the new outer sill.


had a clean up with the hot air gun, scraper and wire brush, always enyoy that! The whole floor neads cleaned up properly before I paint under here.


Drilled out the spot welds. Got a new bosch drill for half price oat B+Q the other day, my cordless drill struggles a bit with spot weld drillings, the elec drill has got a bit more RRRRAAARRGGHHH about it. Obv it flicked a bit of hot swarf past my glasses and right into my eye which was a bit upsetting, but i got it out thankfully


Heres the chassis leg:


Its got a bit of a curve to it where it meets the floor, so i had to try to replicate that.


Also its got a bit of a notch on the bottom where the petrol pipes go by, I wasnt sure how to copy that across, so i decided not to bother

Cut out a section of zintec that would fold up into a (more or less) suitable channel section. Also traced the curve on so it could be folded:


Used my awesome CNC digital bluetooth metal folder:


After a load of hammering I had this:


folded it up with the old G-clamps and angle iron:



The channel section was a bit deep at the back end, so i had to abuse it a little to get it to all line up:



OK. There was a bit of a dent in the chassis leg just aft of my new section, I was debating whether to chop it out and replace the dented section, and decided i just couldnt be arsed. However, I did have an idea:


chop an access hole from above!!!

I walloped the dent out as best I could. The metal is really thin and flimsy so it wasnt too hard. By the tieme I packed up at 6.30 this is how it was looking:



Not too bad I suppose. Next I have to make a new outrigger to replace the manky one from a few posts ago, no time to do that today though. Wish I'd got my ass in gear sooner!

[75nut]

Yea!! Have not logged in for a few days and then I get double updates!

Quality! Ul be done in no time at this rate!

[KruJoe]

Going GR8 gunz Bo11ox. Just catching up on this one again.
Someone asked for pornographic evidence of the Argenta at a show?



Check THE HELL OUTTA THAT!

Roll on the long weekend...

[bstardchild]

Brilliant work I'm liking the "tonyBMW" style lessons in fabrication

[barrett]

Is that one of the concours judges underneath the Argenta? Just making sure the tow bar brakcet is all correct and original or whatever

[xbo11ox]

Nah, The exhaust was banging about due to knackered rubbers, so I bought a pair of new ones off a stand and boshed em on!

[Macoli]

Awesome stuff as always!