19?? chrysler sunbeam no 2 (+½ )

[hairymel]

after a wasted morning/early afternoon 'shopping' i had a couple of hours free before 'babysitting' started .


rusty bit cut out and repair welded into inner arch.






rusty bit of outer arch cut out.







vaguely similar bit of scrap wing





chopped out





offered up and adjusted for some sort of fit





tacked cuts to fix profile






i am not too happy as the lip is a bit short, but at least it gives me something to make a template from





that's all for today



total time spent (family+christmas=no time for bodging ) 212 hours


total spend £1505ish (family+christmas=no money for bodging ;D)

[hairymel]

Dec 16, 2010 3:18:02 GMT @volksangyl said:

....break from the welding and the grinding and the cold.....play with the shiny stuff you've been getting off eBay.....time of year .....copious amounts of Port and Mince Pies...open fire...cosy pub.

i enjoy the welding and grinding (when it goes to plan ;D)

i only seem to buy rusty s**t

port and stilton surely

Dec 16, 2010 7:56:03 GMT tonybmw said:

...most people would have just plated it over..

most people would have made a better job of it than i did
(but thanks for your kind words of encouragement, they are appreciated )

Dec 19, 2010 8:52:45 GMT gurnersimps1963 said:

...hope you enjoyed yer ruby....
love the Exacton alloys...i'll get my anorak........ ;D

homemade chicken curry was v. good

exactons ftw missed out on a set before i bought the compomotives

Dec 19, 2010 10:23:07 GMT mk2polobloke said:

Who would take on such a poor base car that is not only badly rusted but bashed, abused and welded/plated.....TBH, the base car was utter wibblepoo, ......sidestepped it as a possible project.
....working in far from ideal freezing conditions

it was bought as a parts donor but i got bored of waiting for a better base vehicle .

possibly for the best as i wanted a 'challenge' and it means i don't lose much sleep over the standard of my repairs ;D

i'm actually over the moon with the working conditions, drier than outside, power, lights, loads of room and a kettle what more could i ask for

other than calling my car wibblepoo, thanks for you kind words ;D

[tonybmw]

Fantastic effort as always, you've got my vote in the voting booth

[hairymel]

thanks Tony

even if i might deserve a vote for shed of the year, you should have waited 'til 2013

[hairymel]

using yesterdays shoddy fabrication as a template i cut out new lip and clamped it in position.






same wing another profile






roughly marked out





roughly chopped out





after several attempts i used a bit of mdf and a hammer to put some shape in for the arch








i bashed the curve you can see above flat and then tacked the two peices together in situ

notice the perfect fit in the first pic and the rapidly expanding gap in the next few (i didn't ;D)







i then tacked the outside, ran a few beads on the inside to keep it stable, seam welded the outside and ground it flush.

on refitting i became apparent i had made a bit of an error somewhere .

the vertical joins had gone from flush to 5mm in places






area cleaned off with a wire wheel and weld/zinc primer liberally applied to the insides.










i had intended to stop here but i faffed about for so long the paint was touch dry (ish)

so i offered it up and marked the arch lip using the inner panel as a reference and chopped it to size.





i had come this far so tacked the repair in place and started seam welding it.





looks curse word in the pic but was quite pleased with this bit





bridging the huge gap meant huge lumpy welds.

this looks rubbish in the pic because it is.





the least said about this bit, the better






i started grinding back the welds.

the huge blobs of weld made progress very slow.

about 3 hours later this was as far as i got






deaf, dusty and with frozen feet i gave up and went home

not the greatest in fabrication techniques but it looks to be a bit better than the repair to the other side




total time spent (i really need to go christmas shopping ) 215.5 hours


total spend £1505ish (i really need to go christmas shopping )

[bstardchild]

Have you got a scrap yard near you and they throw the stuff they don't want over the fence

[hairymel]

mechanics with a small bodyshop 2 doors down.

they chuck everything in the communal metal 'skip', an old water tank the local 'travelling recyclers' empty once a week if i don't get there first

my rummaging has been noticed , as the bodyman has started offering me the larger offcuts from new panels

[bstardchild]

Dec 21, 2010 11:44:43 GMT hairymel said:

mechanics with a small bodyshop 2 doors down.

they chuck everything in the communal metal 'skip', an old water tank the local 'travelling recyclers' empty once a week if I don't get there first

That's handy

Dec 21, 2010 11:44:43 GMT hairymel said:

my rummaging has been noticed , as the bodyman has started offering me the larger offcuts from new panels

See with you, oldbus and tonyBMW on the forum I get a how to do it

- with metal forming and profiling on nice clean steel - attention to detail so you really can't tell where the repair was

- with random bits of scrap matched due to the suitability of the contours or shapes - cleaned up and stuck in solid - fit for purpose

Place for both in this world and I'm hapy to see both

(PS Oldbus you have a foot in both camps - *ducks* ;D)

[tonybmw]

I think the using of other panels, is really resourceful, at the end of the day the repair will be just as good and it takes less time to fabricate, and it is recycling to, so everyone is a winner

Perhaps you should start a thread showing which wings etc offer the most useful patch panels

[eternaloptimist]

This continues to be my favourite thread on RR

[gernster]

mine too

[swollen]

mine three. ;D

[hairymel]

yesterdays update was delayed due to the pub ;D

I haven't been able to do the update until now because of the wine after the pub. I feel a bit unwell


yesterday a few christmas treats arrived, mostly for the braking system.




I gave the repair a bit more grinding and welded a patch into the last hole.






doesn't look too bad here. a bit of a low spot near the bottom of the arch a I have somehow left a step in the join between the large and small repairs


all extra material trimmed of , all ground to size and holes drilled for puddle welding








welding finished ,ground back then primer thrown at it (to see what it looks like)









not great really, but should be salvageable with filler.

but its a lot better than the other side , and it looks perfect from 5m (in low light conditions ;D )





thats all for now, I will update time/money and replies later (last minute shopping )


edit/

back from shopping, xmas eve curry, pub, xmas breakfast, helping cook lunch for 11 and then helping eat it ;D


total time spent (left it a bit late for xmas shopping : 218.5 hours


total spend £1535ish (not including exessive amounts of epoxy primer)

/edit

[mirafioriman]

Good progress. A skim of filler can make a world of differnce, I should know!

[Deleted]

I was a bit unsure about the recent repair, but as you went along it got better, The end result is not too shabby at all and a sensible application of filler and probably stonechip paint because of where it is should see it become an invisible repair.

Besides, the end plan is to drive this, not put it in on a pedestal and polish it every day.

[gurnersimps1963]

Great work Mel,any updates?

[stealthstylz]

Repair looks good, nowt wrong with a skim of filler aslong as its over solid metal.

Matt

[Saskatoon]

Oct 9, 2010 1:43:06 GMT tenman said:

holy curse word... if I had a tenth of your enthusiasm I'd have a concours Alfasud by now, a 2ltr turbo'd Skoda Rapid and quite probably a really nice Datsun 240z... hats off to you sir... keep it up and it WILL be worth it...

I love it!

Appart from the Datsun 240z which I don't have (until Dave the Icecream man sell it to me - it is on a list of cars I want strangely) I have the other two on your ironic and mindful list

1984 Alfasud Gta - 1700cc 8v twin 40 dells


Skoda 120 RS - VW Polo Gti twincam with Honda CBR 600 carbs



Cool Sunbeam project!

[hairymel]

sorry for not updating/replying sooner guys:-/

family orders at christmas meant no time for play.

then my daughter got a fairly extreme dose of chicken pox (and I got the night shifts )

what little time I had spare was used up playing catchup with work I should have done before xmas

I hope to get started again soon

only progress made is via online/local shopping

job lot of exhausts parts including enough stainless to hopefully build something for the 'beam (£20 from tcs performance, nice chaps )




4 litres of jotamastic epoxy mastic primer from shepherdmarine £90
great service, sent overnight to get to me on xmas eve + free mouse mat ;D

[hairymel]

bstardchild

i wish i could even get close to oldbus and tony's standards

but thanks



tony

are you really suggesting i start a thread entitled 'what i stole rescued from of a skip today'




eternaloptimist,gernster,swollen

thanks




mirafioriman

i think i may need a shovel to put filler on my car though ;D




@angyl

i was a little sad that the first attempt failed and the second is far from perfect .
but ultimately its a step up from the other side (i would be very cross if i had paid someone to repair it to this standard though )

a pedestal is likely to appear before driving though (see page 23ish )




neil

not really ;D




stealthstylz

thanks, hopefully it will turn out ok




@breeze

liking the engine conversion in the skoda
had a 136 rapid for a while, like a budget 911

never felt a tingle for a sud but have a 75 twinspark in stock

maybe my welding skills (and budget) will stretch to a 240 one day