2 door VAE 306H

[ian.mcdougall]

Any news on using the pressure pot blaster yet, i am thinking of getting one myself, what make is yours,if you have used it does it do its work well
Regards ian

[kevin s]

No I have not done much with it yet, have not even got round to collecting some media. I been focusing on getting the car ready to turn around, all the bare metal is now painted (we rollered on a coat of etch primer), I have freed off all the brakes, fitted the new wheels and put the Lotus back together so I can move it out of the way.
Once the car is facing forward I want to try using the blaster to clean up the windscreen surround as this has quite a bit of surface rust.

Kevin

[kevin s]

some more tinkering today, moved the 4 cars around so the minor is now on the 4 post ramp, firstly fitted the rear wing loosely as this is the safest place to keep it.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

it was a bit of a struggle getting the TR in the space the minor used to be and in the progress I managed to break one of the plastic bumper end caps, so something else to sear ebay for.[frame][/frame]

had a good poke around under the minor, it is not until you see it like this you relaise how much weldng has been done already.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

the last thing to do on the rh side is the centre cross member bumping it up the ramp seems to have torn the torsion bar mounting completely away.[frame][/frame]

This will be the first thing I will replace later in the week, I have already removed the torsion bar, suprisingly all the nuts and bolts came undone with no problems. the next thing will be to clean all the surface rust of the undeneath and treat / paint.
The LH side sill area is a mass of patches so the whole lot will be cut out and done as per the RH side, the centre x member looks more solid but again it is all patches so this will need doing as well[frame][/frame]

The chassis rails seem solid until the area close to the lower contol arm mounting, both have been heavily patched from here forward, on the rh side it has also had a front end shunt and the flat plate with the holes in it bridging the chassis rails to the inner wing is buckled as well as the inner wing, so this will need replacing or repairing.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame].

Finally I had a look at the engine, it seems it is the wrong one. My understanding is as a 69 car it should have a1098 cc engine, but it seems to have a 948 (950 cast on the block), it does though have the later ribbed gearbox. Not entirely sure what to do here, we will probably try to get it running, if it seems OK use it for a while and decide weather we want to go the 1098 or 1275 route eventualy.

[pfn865]

Hi Kev, Did you get my PM I sent yesterday

[kevin s]

had a couple of hours on the car yesterday, Andrew pulled the cylinder head and the root cause of the lack of compression became obvious.[frame][/frame].

The other valves all seem fine and all that i needed is a clean up and quick re-grind, the bores also look pretty good with a very small ridge. The coolant system had also suffered, the water pump virtually fell to pieces and the the by pass spigot on the head has corroded away the block and head seem fine though and block drain tap is open). I guess I could get the engine sorted for around £50 more in parts but it will still be the wrong engine, so I am really looking for a useable 1098 to use as a starting point rather than spend more on this.

[frame][/frame]

given the engine is not going to run any time soon we proceeded to pull the front panel off and get a better look at the corrosion. Firstly the good news which is that the radiator looks pretty new, the front panel has corrosion on the flat inside panel but the outer only seems to have light surface corrosion so this will be easy to repair by replacing the bottom 6 inches.[frame][/frame].

As for the rest of it, the panels with 4 large holes which bridge the rail to the inner wing need either replacing or repairing, the rh one is badly buckled from a previous accident whicn may straighten out so I will make a new one, the other side I should only need to replace the front 6 inches. The front of the chassis rails and the X member are all badly corroded and the area round the lower arm mounting has been plated due to what looks like cracking. this takes me to my repair plan, in an effort to strengthen the area around the lower arm mounting I plan to replace the forward section of the rails with 70 x 70 3mm wall thickness box section with a further local reinforcement around the mounting, this will cut to look like the original and cost about a third, the rest of the panels I will make, or use parts from the old ones.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[GBond]

That's quite a lot of rust you had there, I'm amazed the car was still in one piece.

You're doing a great job with the welding. Once you're done with that the mechanical and cosmetic work will feel really easy.

[les]

You're braver than me, I couldn't cope with the engine being stripped and the body in bits at the same time.

[kevin s]

Yes there is quite a bit of rust but there is at least some solid metal to weld to, I looked at a few, they were all pretty similar, in the uk most restoration projects will involve this sort of work. Not having the poorly executed accident repairs the left side looks a bit better, I may be able to keep most of the original inner wing etc.

My problen with taking too much appart is where to store it, so I am trying to keep as much on the car as possible, for this reason we have loosely re assembled the engine, eventually I want to pull the wiring and add circuits for an alternator and repair some damage, but for the moment I think I will coil it up on the bulkhead out of the way as well.

Plan for today is to start on the underside, clean all the old paint off and clean up the surface, then treat surface with rust inhibitor, as well as fit the centre x member end.

Kevin

[kevin s]

Managed a couple of hours on it today, firstly I cut off the remains of the rusty and damaged rh inner wing, it was only held on with a couple of tack welds any way, fortunatelly the wheel house looks pretty good. I also pulled all the wiring back to the bulkhead and cut the brake lines off.
[frame][/frame].

I then started on the underside I cleaned as much as I could off with a scraper, towards the centre it was soft because of oil leaks, and easily scraped off to reveal clean bare metal, towards the outside I scraped off what I could then used a wire brush on an angle grinder to clean off the rest and the rust, it was then wiped with cellulose thinners to clean off ny remains, finally the whole lot was coated with rust converter, in a week or so when this is dry I will overpaint with the MIO paint I have been using elsewhere. As most of the left side needs replacing the outer edge was not touched and I also need to do the transmission tunnel when the propshaft is off.

][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Finally I started on the crossmember, I had hoped to be able to replace it outboard of the chassis rail, but there was too much rust for this so I had to cut it off and drill out all the welds, this was a real pain and took ages, but eventually I got it all off and cleaned up ready to weld the new part in which should now only take a few minutes

[frame][/frame[frame][/frame]

[kevin s]

Welded the crossmember end in today and painted the area around with rust converter, hopefully we will get a coat of silver paint on the underside over the weekend, which will certainly make it a more pleasant place to work. After this we will start on re constructing the front end which will probably mean pulling the engine & box out first.

Kevin[frame][/frame]

[irmscher]

Great work going on and a lovely Tr7

[kevin s]

Thanks, It is V8 as well, here is a picture of my roadworthy fleet, the TR and Lotus were purchased almost 20 years ago (before I gained 2 significant drains on my resoursces), I have only had the landie around 4 years.[frame][/frame].

Been working on the Minor today, I have painted most of the underneath, the bits left to do are the LHS X member end, sill and front spring hanger still needs replacing and I need to get the prop off to do the trans tunnel.

[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame].

Also cleaned up the RH inner wing and started making the new panel, I decided to do away with the seam at the front and do it in one piece, the top flange will be welded on afterwards, with the double curvature it will be too difficult (or not enough skills)to fold it and get a good fit.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Finally the tube has arrived that I plan to make the front section of the chassi rails with.[frame][/frame]

[kevin s]

Not too much work on the minor today most of the time has been spent replacing the water pump and other odd jobs on the landrover.
After removing the engine mount and suspension parts (amazingly al the bolts came undone fairly easily)I set the car level on the ramp, using axle stands and shims, I could then begin cutting out the rusty part of the front chassi rail. FIrstly I checked it was level with the other side which it was, so old the accident damage had not affected this, then I scribed a mark at the back of the rail well beyond where it needs to be repaired, from this I took measurements for the suspension attachment points and engine mount bracket. I could then cut the metal out, next I trial fitted the tube I intend to use as a replacement for the siderail which after some minor re-working fits perfectly. the front wil be cut and welded to mimic the original shape , the old tie bar bracket will be re-used and I need to get some crush tubes turned up if I can't salvage the originals


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Once all this is done we will make the tie plate which will be seam welded to the tube and finish the inner wing off before doing the same on the otherside.

[PaulTubby]

Nice repairs your doing, I like the box section tubing idea

[kevin s]

I have not had much time in the last couple of weeks, I have been fixing the land rover instead, I have manged to make the new chassis rails though.
[frame][/frame]
[frame][/frame].

I cut a wedge out the front and re welded it, the tie bar bracket is the original and there is a thick walled tube welded in as a crush tube for the control arm eye bolt. I have also welded a plate in for the inner engine mount bracket bolts, this will be welded to the crossmember which will be made from the same tube cut down, triangulating the corner, I hane also painted the inside.

I have also cut a template out for the tie plates, making these will be next then we can put the right hand side back together.[frame][/frame]

[kevin s]

The rh chassis rail is now welded in, I made sure it was level and parallel to the other side as well as using the marking I scribed to get the eye bolt in the right place, then trial fitted the suspension and engine mount which fitted perfectly.

[frame][/frame]

Picture of the welding, a nice strong bead and some plug welds for good measure.


[frame][/frame]

Next step is to finish making the tie plates then fit the rh one and the inner wing I will completely finish the rh side before I start on the left.
I want to get the front done fairly quickly as it is currently blocking the TR in, not that there is much chance to use a convertible at the moment anyway.

[POMMReg]

Probably have this before, but.[frame][/frame]

[irmscher]

Probably not sideways Chris

[POMMReg]

[frame][/frame]

[POMMReg]

VAE 309H was 283, so using Archie Thimble's "Buk ov Inglish &
Arifmetik", fleet number of 306 works out as 6542.

I'm sure there's a pic of 306 in a contempory issue of Buses
Illustrated(?)