Nothing to see here - Kadett MOT work and 9 days to finish..

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

I found a way of keeping grinding sparks out of my ears, only thing is the musical ear plugs kept falling out.

Cue Duck Tape.



Self grip thingy stops the clamp from sliding off.



So a nice snug fit here.



Weldy weld weld weld



Mostly in.



I spent a fair bit of time on the next big bit of floor but nothing to show for it yet.

[Mantadoc]

Thursday

Joggled edges so it sits on top of the floor and under the rail.
Very awkward to slide into place.



Screwed into place from underneath



I then bolted the jig to the floor with it holding the jacking point into place.
The jacking point was then screwed to the floor in such a way as to be able to remove the two together once the jig was unbolted.
The jacking point is then welded to the floor. Half inch gaps to stop any explosive cracking in the welds should one fail.



Then fitted back in place and jig added for accurate positioning.
Even harder to get the floor piece back in with a rigid part welded to it.
You can see the weld is well penetrated into the floor panel.



Ready to weld. Another piece of steel needs adding to replace the bit that supports the jack tube to the sill. This can be dropped down the gap near the inner sill.



Next, more welding.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

Always best to start off welding by trying a couple of pieces of scrap set up in the same position / type of weld as what you are doing to check settings (and get my eye back in).



You can see how where I lost the plot weld penetration was affected.



I was going to make this plate complete and new, then I thought that's another couple of hours of my life I'll not get back for no real benefit so just added to the existing salvaged bit.

This supports the jacking tube outboard side against the sill.



Gratuitous shots of floor and axle mount / jacking point.













Still needs the corner closing against the wheel arch and the big bolt holes welding up and a few more areas welding and then I can cut the sill off.

[Mantadoc]

Life has been getting in the way of work for a few weeks, but now getting back to it.



That nasty corner is closed now. Of course it's only after putting the seat part in that I find some pinholes arount the hand brake cable guide.

That'll teach me not to put a really bright light under the car.

[Mantadoc]

No pics today as phone battery is getting fried.

Finished putting the seat in and started making the inner wing brace.

I really should have ordered some when I did my last bulk order. Still easy enough to make a good approximation.

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

Sill mo........... erm generic self grip wrenched into place so I can scratch around it to work out where to cut.



Roughed off the RH sill, nibbler is so good for doing this without grinding sparks everywhere (ok I know too late for that)



Sill screwed on for the night.

[Mantadoc]

Tuesday

Poor fit of the sill at front, it's actually the bottom that needs cutting to let this push in otherwise the wing won't fit to the sill.



I put a cut in with the snips as feeling lazy, end thumped in with a block of wood and screwed to hold position. Applied an up hill weld to hold it.



And now the fit is improved and the wing fits flush. The pointy triangle bit was then trimmed off as that amount of overlap isn't needed.



In the long shot here it fits nicely.

I trimmed 1.5" off the top of the sill onto the rear quarter for two reasons:
1) Allows an easier fit as the curve of the sill wasn't enough so would have required some force applying.
2) Allows for at least another couple of sill changes before I get into problems.



And then the phone went flat again

There was a bit of work inside the sill box sections. One of the reasons for replacing the sill was to access the last 3" of internals that I couldn't get at without removing too much structure from the inside (especially with all the stuff that was cut out in that corner before).

[Mantadoc]

Wednesday

Picture of the internals I couldn't get due to flat phone yesterday. There's the extra 3" that makes all the difference........... not!



Longshot with her ribs showing.



Pin hole in the inner sill flange. Hint, everyone has little square offcuts lying around when doing this kind of work and inserting them like this is much easier than trying to nip out a rectangle, sure the two vertical cuts if you do are easy but hard to get the top one straight. This method is quick and easy.



Screwed and clamped after final cutting. Joggled overlap up to the wheel arch insert, then butt jointed.



Refit of door and gap checked before doing anything. It's a lot better than it looks here. It doesn't help that the door has the odd kink and the bottom corner turned in.



Half inch tacks to try and stop distortion when seaming.



Half inch stitches. I welded in 3 places half inch at a time to avoid putting too much heat in one place.



Passive smoking.



Plug welds where the manufacturers spot welds would have been, seam welds elsewhere i.e. quarter and bottom of A pillar.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

Well after poor progress last weekend (half day with my head not in it) I did a better half day today..... mostly

Oh and phone went flat as usual last weekend so no pics. Doh!

I got a couple of inner wing repair panels just in case. I didn't intend to use as much as I have, but they have a funny bulge in them, so where this is you either have to cut them back to within 1 cm or less of the rail or use the whole bit with the bulge in, as cutting across it would make a lot of hammering and a crinkly messy patch.

I started off last week by grinding just enough off along the wing rail corner to free it so the then top edge could be rested on by the new rail to set the height.

Oh and hot air gun stripping stuff.

Trimmed up the new panel and then self drilling screwed (love 'em) it into place.

A quick scratch around the new plate gave me a line.

As I was intending to joggle this I needed a line to cut to scribing accurately inside it. After years of using a joggled off cut to visually work out where to cut and scribe a lline, inspiration stepped in and I did this below. An off cut, cut to two points, one follows the panel edge line and the other scribes the cut to line. So easy, I wish I had thought of it before (I was thinking of the pens I had fixed together for doing lines at school).

Obviously this works anywhere you want a a parallel line marked, but especially handy when stepping panels as overlap is critical to a good fit.

Oh, hint 2, weld through primer as a dust coat is great to scribe against!



My buddy the knibbler gets to eat



Repair panel stepped and welded in. Note welds on top edge of the rail. The pressings for the wing mounting clips to sit in are all in the wrong place (well maybe one was in the right place) so by the time I had hammered them out there was too much steel. One cut with the snips allowed the panel to be straightened. The blade of the snips then rested against one of the edges in the overlap and was cut along again. This removed a tapered sliver and the edges could then be butt welded together.

I don't know if I can be bothered to grind the weld so as to hide the seam. It's not like the car is going to look like it's never been welded barring this one plate.

Interestingly, or not, this was a pain to weld as I weld left handed.



And from the outside.....

I must remember to drill a hole and weld a nut behind it just in case a battery earth ever needs bolting to it.



You may think this is the inner wing to A pillar brace but you would be wrong.

This is actually a waste of time and steel as I folded each bend the wrong way. Thats half an hour of my life I'm never getting back.

Nevermind, now it's made I see how I could make it better.

I should have ordered some of these too they're only about a fiver.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

Closed up that little hole in the pillar.
Made another thingamy the right way around.
Plug welded it on.
Next bit..............



30mm wide fold on a piece of steel 24" wide. I made it that long as being too long would help to line it up with the other end of the rail replaced previously.



Trimmed, screwed and beaten.



Ridge bit at left end took a bit of whacking to get to fit.









Tomorrow, hopefully cut out the old stuff, weld this in and do the headlight mounting plate again. Well it did last 10 yeas since the last time.

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

Knibbled out the remains of the front half of the inner wing rail.



Corner plate thingy, making it about 1/2" bigger all round than I did 10 years ago,



Bracing bit to hold corner at the right height



Flush fit



Welder playing up. Wire feed fine but no power, end up turning it right down on the feed and getting no penetration even on 1 max. Normally wire at half on 1 min is ideal for butt joints and 1 max would be speed welding or holes, Grrrrrrrr



Noticed top terminal of contactor was hot. All others cold. This is kind of similar to what happened when the earth clamp teminal was corroded but worse symptoms.

Made a hole in the good metal and bolted it up tight after cleaning.



Better, and improved slightly in the first few mins.





Well the headlight mount plate is thin all over. Didn't really want to get into the valance / inner wing front seam but might not be much choice.

Welder playing up wasted about half my day. Just wondering whether to throw more parts at it or bury it, it is 20 after all.

Mostly not happy about getting the panel fitted up quite well and making a mess welding it in. At one point the power / penetration seemed to vary from one squeeze of the trigger to another.

Next ebay for parts............

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

Welder is pretty good now it has settled down from being messed with, in fact hotter than it has been for years. Takes more care to butt joint thin stuff.

Ground down the weld on the front half as wasn't pretty...



.........so I had to do the rear half to match even though it was quite pretty to start with.





Headlight mount plate takes shape.



So I had to cut into the valance seam after all. Once that is re-made and the headlight panel fixed the inner wing can be cut away behind it and replaced.

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

Lots of time spent, little progress.

Can you tell what it is yet folks?





Yep, it's this bit.



Butted in.



New headlight plate was slid in, now this bit needs to come out.



Now you see why the valance was done first and lots of screws for alignment.





These brace bits (thing with triangular hole in) have usually dissappeared on Kadetts years ago. I made this one about 10 years ago when fitting the valance, needs replacing again.





You can clamp cardboard too.



Made life hard for myself by butt jointing it in after cutting it a bit too small.







Also an idiot because I forgot to punch the flange to plug weld it. Doh!



This should be finished easily next week (famous last words) and then I can do the hole in the valance corner that magically appeared today.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

So when you forget to punch holes for the plug welds before assembly.....



............slide a piece of scrap between the layers so you can drill through without going through the second sheet.



Closing the top corner.



Trial fit of wing to check alignment.



Near enough.



Something missing?



Can you tell what it is yet?



Cheap bench is great. Never feel bad for drilling and burning it.



Tacked.



Messy weld.



Unneccessary pic.



Crumbly valance.





I think this bulb is as old as the car!



Spurious, I have been spraying the upper wishbone bolt with WD for about 3 months on and off. Today it moved with some erm.. help



Valance repair starts....



Repair panel made.



Weld checked.



Butt jointed in.





And tomorrow is another day......................

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

Same s.....stuff, different side (and day).



Lots of clamps and hammer to stretch a piece of steel over the old rail.



Coat of weld through primer, then panel screwed on and scribed around.



Nibbled out.



Trimmed and stepped.



Welded and screw holes welded up.





Old piece clamped on top and drilled through for wing holes.



One less job to do.





Right hand upper wishbone removed to swap it and do the bump stop



Next...............................

..........................same s.....stuff, different side.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

Spray through primer used to scribe on again.
Mostly cut through with grinder then finished with hacksaw.
I only cut off as much as I need to, for two, no three reasons:

1) Cutting at this height means I can hacksaw the rest easily without risk of cutting the crossmember (although turning the blade over in the hacksaw can be a help if you must)

2) The lower down it's welded, the easier it is to weld round the dark side of the moon

3) Kept template from the other side



The offending piece



New part slipped into place, but not welded yet. No point showing how it was made, same as earlier one.



After that I took a thirty mm strip out of the escort battery tray and trimmed one corner into a Kadett-like shape (near the inner wing). I though about levelling up the other side to make it more Kadett-shape then though "That's the bit that'll make it look un-original eh?" So didn't bother.

Phone flat so no more pics, must get a battery................still.

[Mantadoc]

Just an FYI the below is bisplayed when posting in here

Could not insert new word

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It stays oin the page and doesn't seem to update the index pages?

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

The old tray.

A number of years ago I picked up a heavy duty battery for the Kadett and when I got it home it was too big for the tray, cheers motor factor guys! Anyway I folded the end of the tray down as the car was needed the next day. Bygones.



Escort MK IV tray from Hadrian's. Left side narrowed by 30 mm (still accomodates larger battery) and top right corner re-shaped in a Kadett stylee.



Needed more space so a fair bit of work with the hammer to stretch this out.



So tray fits in (before it gets replaced)



Working out the fit and getting it level. The bit with the nut in is to become the earth point and was made from the 30 mm strip cut out of the tray earlier, after all it already had a nut attached.



Test fit with headlamp, tight but then again a lot of OHV Kadetts have one bent adjuster.



Additional tags to allow the tray to be fixed down. Kadetts have raised pressings in this area on the original panel and some small "feet" on the original tray. Plus I'm hoping to paint under it and be quick with the welder and a wet rag and maybe keep the paint on the inner wing below it.



Earth tag in place.



Through the headlamp hole. What kind of battery sits in a place like this.



And from above..............



.......... and again



Seam sealer........... to be continued.



Bumpstop painted up and lower wishbone wire brushed up and given a lick.



Wishbone awaiting new ball joint and fitment.



Not much done for 8 hours messing about.

[Mantadoc]

Monday

Did a couple of hours tonight, so doing little jobs I wouldn't otherwise do yet.

Template of the internals and other holes, drilled through..........



...........and then plug welded to fix the hinge carrying internals.



Started sealing seams around the front too, yawn.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

I don't know if this was a rust crack, stress crack or meant to be there, but seeing as it's behind the wishbone I took the opportunity to weld it up.



11, 12 and 13 mm holes.. I drilled the other new bumpstop / trumpet thing at 13mm but the bump stop rubber was a little loose so I drilled this to test.......



.............and then still drilled the bump stop hole out at 13mm. Curiously it is still a little loose on this side too.



Piece of wood holding up the wishbone.



High tech hub holding rope to keep it out of the way, the same rope also fits Mantas!



Top balljoint bolted up, leaving the hub well out of the way for spring refitting. The Manta spring compressor was once again used and did a sterling job.



And now for something different. The front door gap has always been too small (was like this in 91 anyway)...............



..............and the back one has always been too big



I used to be able to put my finger straight in here and touch the panel behind. However, because I had not yet welded the A pillar outer skin to the hinges outer edge the carefull application of force narrowed the gap as below. Basically shut a piece of wood in the door jam top then bottom near the hinges and forced door. There was a scary moment when I had done the top and not the bottom and the door wouldn't open but I sorted it.



Sunday

Checking stuff is still level before starting, glad I haven't cut these things off.............



.................looks good to me.



Poor fit of pattern part to hinge, I do think these bits were designed to fit over the original. Top and bottom fit was the same.



Plated up bottom one, weld to hinge done last after rechecking fit. Originally there would not be a weld to the hinge on this side, only the other side but I need the hinge not to move when hammering the pins out.



Same story with the top.



Shame to grind these welds down but there you go.



Used one of those grinder flap wheels to take the weld off without excessively thinning the panel. Worked a treat.





Painting and sealing this week coming

[Mantadoc]

Monday - Wednesday Eves

This is why it's a patch up and not a project. If it was a project there would be time to clean and paint all of the inner wings.

I've had my labourer doing the painting One reason being it says 4 - 8 hours for a second coat which is double what is on the old tin hmmmm.



Tags sticking up are to put the battery tray on.



Drilled out welds.



Dates in everything.



Pattern panel.



Made from sheet.



Should've welded this a while ago.....



...............done.



And more paint.

[Mantadoc]

Saturday

Don't exactly know where time went today.

[Mantadoc]

Sunday

All sealing and painting.

Sealer was forced into wide seams with a piece of flat steel, then brushed over.

Two strips of masking tape allow the sealer to be worked well into the seam without going everywhere.....



......then peel the tape off. I hadn't got any cellulose thinners handy as a wipe over to lay the edges down and smooth after taking the tape off works wonders.



A fan heated garage really speeds up drying times.



Some of these pics are in first coat and some are in second coat. Seeing as I haven't done much else today I may aswell use them all, even if it is repetitive.









G clamp tin holder!



Welded battery tray to the un-painted tags I left sticking up before. Weld then quench with a wet rag to avoid burning the paint off the inner wing.

[Mantadoc]

Kadett is not forgotten, just my Manta needs attention at the minute...




Taking longer than expected but then again things like making door pillars out of flat sheet take time.