Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

I can't believe it's been over 6 months since I last posted. In the interim I've rechecked the dimensions and realised that the rear hanger panel is the correct dimension, and it was my setting out which was out. The lesson I'm learning is to temporarily fit ALL the panels before welding. Although I measured all the panels before fixing the front floor edge panel is about 1-2mm out, which cumulatively led to an error of about 10mm at the rear end of the sill at the front of the rear wheel arch. So I've corrected this and fitted the rear floor repair panel. Rather than butt welding I'm joddling and lap welding - not for the purists but easier, and I'm getting good penetration. Next I'll be fitting the rear spring front hanger.
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mogbob
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by mogbob »

Well done on the progress so far. The more experience , the better the weld. It certainly worked for me , by the time I got " back to the start " on the car I realized that my first attempt was not quite up to scratch / new improved standard. I cut it out and did it again ! ( No reflection on your welds , just admitting to my early shortcommings ).
Take your time with fixing the position of the spring hangers. There was a salutary story doing the rounds about a lad who'd taken his Moggie to a Garage for new spring hangers repair panels. When it came back from the garage he found that his propshaft no longer fitted the car. Guess I don't need to draw diagrams for the explanations why !!
Crack on.
Bob
GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Rear suspension front hanger fitted - the angle iron is my jig fitted to the rear suspension mount and welded to the bump stop. The mounting is within 1mm of the original fixing, and checked against the dimensions in the manual ( see separate thread).
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Now onto the rear wheel arch and the bulkhead under the rear seat.
GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

So i'm now moving onto the near side rear wheel arch and rear spring hanger. The inner wheel arch panel doesn't look too bad on first inspection, however 90% of the flange between inner arch and body work is missing, the leading corner above the front hanger is missing, there are various small perforations in the inner wing towards the rear, it is badly corroded above the bump stop, and the rear spring hanger has multiple repairs on it.
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Rather than make multiple repairs to the inner wing, i'm going to replace the complete panel, along with the rear spring hanger. My question is, currently the car is on a spit, mounted through an 18mm ply panel bolted into the rear seat opening. when i remove the inner rear wing, is there a risk the body will twist? How much bracing does the inner wing provide ( although with most of the flange missing it probably isn't providing as much as it could be!) and should i install bracing between the floor / body and the mounting plate?
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

So change of plan - I've decided to deal with the off side sills next rather than the the rear wheel arches. My thought are that by dealing with both sets of sills first, I can then replace the cross member and then the front end will be sorted and solid, so less likely to twist when I move onto the rear arches. <br/>
<br/>
Below is the off side sill - fitted with one of the 'repair' sections sold in the '70s which just covered up the rot. I'll cut it off tomorrow to expose the extent of the problems I have to deal with.
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jagnut66
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by jagnut66 »

Hi,
Interesting posts and you're doing excellent work on reviving this car.
Best wishes,
Mike.
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Not much done today ( visit to the O gauge model show in Bristol ) but did cut out the ‘repair’ panel and found this:
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

So cut out the rot on the front end of the sill and found that the front end of the inner sill had rotted so made a repair section from 2mm steel.
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mogbob
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by mogbob »

Can't fault your logic , on the order of tackling the sill areas first.
It's never good when you find " more rusty bits " but it's always better to find them now and not when you think you've finished. You'll have the satisfaction of knowing it's ALL sorted at the end of the resto. Well done , keep cracking on.
Bob
GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

So finished welding the inner sill, pleased with the result - I’m getting the hang of this welding thing.
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Next was to make templates and take notes of various dimensions to help when replacing the inner wing and door pillar.

Next I cut out the inner wing and the door pillar.
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A question I have - how should the replacement inner wing be welded at the top - butt weld or does the replacement fit under the bonnet surround?
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Having done a bit more cleaning and cutting out rot I’ve discovered that the top inch or so of the inner wing is sound, so rather than replace the whole inner wind I’m going to replace it from just below the two upper wing fixings.
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Today I cut out the rear quarter so that I can repair the inner sill lower edge which has rotted away. I’ve left the rear outer wing in situ as a reference for setting out the outer sill and floor repair section. [/attachment]
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Carried on cutting out the front suspension hanger, joddled the edges of the hole and loose fitted the hanger. You’ll see from the photo that the bottom flange of the chassis rail is missing, the plan is to temporarily fit all the sill panels and the floor edge repair panels to get all the relationships correct.
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

A lesson I learnt from rebuilding the near side sill and floor edge pwas to assemble as many of the panels as possible before welding ( i didn't and had to cut some out and reweld) so I've bought some tek screws and M4 washers and started screwing the panels together. The plan is to assemble the sill, floor edge, boxing panel and inner wing with the tek screws before any welding.
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GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Repaired the hole above the front suspension bump stop. Took the opportunity to leave a bit more metal on the flange to support the whole of the bump stop base rather than leaving an overhang as originally fitted.
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mogbob
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by mogbob »

Sound decision Bob
GavinL
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by GavinL »

Spent a lot of time recently temporarily fitting panels including the door pillar and door to check fit and gaps. Now ready to start welding, starting with the boxing panel, followed by inner wing and then floor edge repair panels. I’m using the outer sill panel to check the alignment of the floor edge repair panels.
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mogbob
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by mogbob »

What's the expression … " you can never have enough Mole grips when doing bodywork ! "
Some quality work there alright.
Bob
jagnut66
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by jagnut66 »

That will be a right solid car when it's done.
Best wishes,
Mike.
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
Richie B
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Re: Vanessa '68 2dr saloon

Post by Richie B »

Great job your doing there. I was replacing rear front spring hanger today and after reading your post from June last year I also had same issue in that the new panel needed "fettling" to get a good fit. I used your tip about screwing panels in to get alignement right and so much easier, cheers
Richard
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