1986 Porsche 911 - with added E46 M3

[teaboy]

As I mentioned the other day, circumstances conspired to keep me out of the tent yesterday, which was unfortunate because it was dry and bright and it would have been perfect to get this patch fitted.

Anyway, that didn't happen.

After 11 hours at work I didn't expect to get it completed tonight but I wanted to at least get it tacked into place.

Whilst I thought this piece was ok.




It turns out that it was a bit rubbish because when I got one corner tacked in, the diagonally opposite corner was a mile out.

The whole piece was twisted.

I couldn't be bothered to cut it back off to rework it so I tacked a bit, tweaked a bit and worked my way round it.

It is sometimes easier to do it that way because you have a fixed end and you also have a target to aim at with the rest of it.

I also had quite a large gap to bridge around the edges because I had repaired the cut out original piece instead of making a complete new one, which is perhaps what I should have done.

I do now have it tacked in, the tacks are roughly ground back so they they don't get in the way of fully welding it and it will probably work.

I didn't take any pictures of the process because it was a pain in the behind to do.

This is where I am at, after two hours work, which includes the tame to bring down all the equipment from the shed and to pack it away afterwards.



Hopefully It won't fall off before I get the chance to fully weld it in.


Cheers.

[gazzam]

Oct 7, 2024 22:14:09 GMT teaboy said:

“Hopefully It won't fall off before I get the chance to fully weld it in.”






It doesn’t look like it’s about to fall off to me…

Have you found any Gapcrafts yet? They'd be be just the ticket there.

[teaboy]

Oct 8, 2024 5:48:20 GMT gazzam said:

Have you found any Gapcrafts yet? They'd be be just the ticket there.

As it happens, I found some in the shed.


I'm pretty sure someone has got it in for me.

This was on the wall at a place where I had a job yesterday.




It was quite appropriate, because the job went to ****!

I got my jack point piece tacked in on Monday, so really, it should have been finished on Tuesday, except when I got home On Tuesday it was hammering down, although the weather had been nice all day, and I didn't feel like carting all my stuff down from the shed in that.

Wednesday was similar, job at work didn't go entirely to plan but the weather was quite nice, until I got close to home and then it wasn't nice at all.

Today looked like it was going to be the same, apart from the jobs at work going ok for a change.

The weather was nice but as soon as I was heading home the rain started lashing down, again.

However, it eased off and had actually stopped when I arrived home and the sun even came out, albeit only briefly.

This meant that I could get on with the job at hand.

Except, I think I am coming down with the man-flu and I feel rubbish.

But, the Doc is working late tonight and it won't do itself so I will just have to struggle on regardless.

Because I made an amateur job of the repair section, I had a massive gap to fill.

Rather than trying to weld to thin air, I got a 'Gapcraft' (TM) welding rod and stuck it over the hole to give me something to go at.




It did make things a bit easier.




When I started cleaning up the front there were a few gaps leftover which needed filling up and I made a start on the bottom edge.




I got to that point and the welding wire ran out.

I have got some more but as I feel rhubarb it seemed to be a sign to pack up for the night.

On my way home I had stopped off to get some lemon fancies, to keep me going, but they didn't have any.

They did have some seasonal ones instead.




They are orange flavoured and are quite nice, but the lemon ones are better.


Cheers.

[jamesd1972]

Orange fancies are just wrong.

I'd be writing a strongly worded letter to the purveyors.*

Progress despite the man flu good.

James

*or perhaps an e-mail at £1.65 for a first class stamp.

[glenanderson]

I like the orange ones.

[jamesd1972]

Oct 11, 2024 13:18:41 GMT glenanderson said:

I like the orange ones.

I rest my case.  😀

James 

[teaboy]

No need to worry, the Doc got me some lemon ones on her way home from work.


It has been a nice sunny day today, but it is starting to get cold in the evenings.

I'm contemplating getting the Rayburn serviced and lit for the winter this weekend.

I had to put an extra top on to go out into the tent tonight.

I still feel a bit Humpty but I wanted to get the jack point finished.

When I started, it looked like this.




Tonight, after some messing about, it looked like this.




As I didn't want it to go rusty straight away, I gave it a coat of spooge.




After a cup of tea, I gave it another coat.

When I packed up, it looked like this.




In the last picture, you can see that the front of it has gone a bit wiggly.

I looked at this and pondered.

I can't get to the rear of it to bump it up.

I thought that I might just use a drop of filler to smooth it out.

Then I thought, it's a jacking point, that might make the filler crack.

I could lead load it, I have a couple of sticks in the bottom drawer of my toolbox.

But applying lead would burn off the paint inside the sill.

Then I had an epiphany, why don't I just paint it, and when the plastic sill cover is back on, nobody will know.

What would you do?

Answers on a post card...


Cheers

[glenanderson]

I’d just paint it.

But what do I know? I like orange fondant fancies, so obviously my judgement is questionable at best…

[braaap]

That epiphany should have reached You several times earlier regarding covered repairs nobody will ever know of.

[welshpug]

if my E34 had plastic covers I think I'd have welded them up myself by now but it doesnt

[mrbounce]

Paint it and cover it. But then I own a plastic car, that I painted myself, badly, so I am probably not the right person to ask!

I don't have any fancies, but I have just bought some M and S blueberry crumble muffins so I will report back

[pptom]

That's disgusting, I think you should cut it all out and start again. What if someone else has to rebuild this car in 30 years time they'll think you were a right cowboy.
One step away from newspaper and chicken wire if you ask me.

[jamesd1972]

Happy about the return to normal lemon fancies.
Also happy that a structural part is fully rust free and fit for purpose and a slight wrinkle is perhaps going to ignored. Just to appease your soul could you give it an extra thick spray of gravitex (*or similar*) as sure you wouldn’t notice even before going under the plastic disguise.
James

[westbay]

I think I've sussed out your 'game' - stretch out the rust repairs so that the good 'Doctor' takes pity and approves the purchase / buys various cakes !

ps Has anyone noticed that eccles cakes have got smaller ?

[mrbounce]

Oct 14, 2024 7:14:20 GMT westbay said:

I think I've sussed out your 'game' - stretch out the rust repairs so that the good 'Doctor' takes pity and approves the purchase / buys various cakes !

ps Has anyone noticed that eccles cakes have got smaller ?

Eccles cakes are definitely smaller! However I do need to report back on the M & S blueberry crumble muffins. They're REALLY nice. However they are really unsuitable for garage work as they fall apart and spread crumbs everywhere. If you don't bring them into the garage, they're excellent! Garage food needs to be small and "one bite-able" 

[teaboy]

Oct 14, 2024 7:14:20 GMT westbay said:

ps Has anyone noticed that eccles cakes have got smaller ?

I think it is called shrinkflation, or something like that and it is very annoying.

On the subject of cakes, the Doc and I went to a cafe at the weekend and they had some cakes for sale.




It was a third of the price of a cake from my usual 'dealer' and to be honest, you could tell why because it was bang average at best.

Due to things, the tent was closed for business all weekend and that may be the case for a few weekends to come.

One thing I did do at the weekend was to declare winter and light the Rayburn.




That was a two hour job so once it is on, it is on for the winter.

Anyway, it seems that I have to not worry about the jacking point repair and just press on.

The next major job is the rear inner arches, which I have been putting off for quite a while so I have decided that I should put them off a little bit longer.

Because I have got to just paint the jacking point repair, I also need to paint the sill and the passenger side floor at the same time.

This means that the factory underbody sealer needs to come off first.

This is so that I will, eventually, have a uniform finish on the whole floor but also, I need to be sure that there are no nasties hiding under it.

This is the section of floor in question.




It is mostly still covered in factory sealer apart from a couple of areas where I have had to do some repairs.

I had a couple of hours at it tonight.




This tiny area took, as I said, a couple of hours.

The reason being, there was no rust under there, which is a good thing, and also, I don't want to go at it with the wire wheel like a bull in a china shop and take it back to bare metal.

If the original E-coat is intact I want to retain as much of that as possible because it is a good coating to work from but also, if I go through that, I will be removing the zinc coating from the panel which will make it less corrosion resistant and that is the exact opposite of what this whole job is about.

A few extra hours on this job will be hours well spent, I think.

Not to mention that it gives me more time to ignore the inner arches.


Cheers.

[teaboy]

The Doc was going to be late home tonight again so I could get straight on with stripping some more of the old stuff off the floor when I got home from work.

I say that I could get straight on with it, but that doesn't mean that I did...

It was quite cold and I did struggle to get myself motivated.

I sat in the kitchen drinking tea and getting warmed by the Rayburn for a while before I finally went outside.

Compared to the driver's side, this floor is in much better condition.




On the other side, it had rotted between the floor and the chassis leg which caused me a load of work.

This side looks really good.

Hold on, what is that?




I wonder what is under there...




There was far more under there than was visible before I stripped it off, but it looks to be very minor and I should be able to clean and treat it.

This is the reason that I had to strip off all the old factory undercoating.

It is quiz night tomorrow, but I'm going somewhere else instead.

We are going to be celebrating the life of my old pal Don, who recently left us.


Cheers.

[westbay]

Condolances ...

[thomfr]

Condolances.
Thom

[teaboy]

Oct 16, 2024 6:52:42 GMT westbay said:

Condolances ...

Oct 16, 2024 19:38:55 GMT thomfr said:

Condolances.
Thom

Thanks, chaps.


Right then, last night we went to celebrate Don.

His family are complete C U next Tuesdays, unfortunately.

They had him cremated, no service, nobody invited, not even his long term partner who he lived with and has done for years.

There really is no need for it!

Anyway, the people who really cared about him were there last night.


More boring stuff in the tent tonight, still cleaning the old sealer off.

I got this far after an hour and a half.




I went inside for a cuppa and was thinking about packing up for the night when the Doc messaged to say she would be home in about an hour or so.

Because of this, I decided to press on for another hour, after my cup of tea.

I got that area in front of the round platey thing done.




As I said, I'm trying to preserve as much of the original E-coat as possible so it does take quite a long time to do.

It might be a bit obsessive perhaps, but I suppose you have to be a little bit 'out of the ordinary' to do all this kind stuff in the first place, don't you think?


Cheers.