Jump to content
  • Welcome to 205GTIDrivers.com!

    Hello dear visitor! Feel free to browse but we invite you to register completely free of charge in order to enjoy the full functionality of the website.

Sign in to follow this  
Cameron

[car_overhaul] What's This? A Road Car!?

Recommended Posts

Daviewonder

This is getting very impressive B)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
j_turnell

Looks like your doing a cracking job on the panel repairs mate :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
feb

That's a fantastic job you have done! :)

In which case is a MIG welder preferred as opposed to a TIG welder? What's the difference between the two? :blush:

Edited by feb

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Fox

Nice! This is going to look like new!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron
  On 7/17/2011 at 8:08 AM, feb said:

That's a fantastic job you have done! :)

In which case is a MIG welder preferred as opposed to a TIG welder? What's the difference between the two? :blush:

 

TIG is great for perfectly clean or new metal and for the really thin stuff, or for where you want lightweight and strong welds as you can control the heat and wire completely independently, MIG is much quicker and adds more material, so good if you've got gaps or if the surfaces can't be perfectly cleaned - perfect for cars!

 

So more work today, and not as much visible progress as yesterday as I had a really really fiddly and complicated job to do! I decided the best thing to do would be to repair the headlight panel first as it really helped with positioning everything correctly on the nearside, I can use it to make sure everything gets put back in the right place when I come to weld it all back together.

 

I started off with the top piece, cutting the rotten bits out.

 

DSC02000.jpg

 

Then had a bit of a montage making patches, welding and smoothing everything off, so didn't get to take many pics. I ended up with this:

 

DSC02002.jpg

 

And clamped it back into place, and marked up the larger part of the panel to cut out the rusty bits.

 

DSC02001.jpg

 

DSC02003.jpg

 

I got a little way through making the patches and it started getting very tricky, so decided it would be much easier to assemble as much as I could back on the car then cut and shape the patches in situ, rather than risk getting them wrong. To do that I had to repair the remaining part of the panel, which had corroded through where it attaches to the chassis leg. Unfortunately this is a tricky bit to make as it's a raised pressed peak, so some careful cutting shaping and welding later..

 

DSC02004.jpg

 

And I could then use that to start tacking everything together and get the tricky patches right.

 

DSC02005.jpg

 

Finally finished it at about 6.30, took all day! A hell of a lot of work though.. I ran into some difficulties getting the welds all blended back as there were some really tight areas that I just couldn't get the grinder into without damaging other parts, so I decided to leave it as it'll never be seen anyway!

 

DSC02007.jpg

 

Gave it a blast of anti-corrosive primer and called it a day. :)

 

DSC02009.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
BusEngineer

Some excellent fabrication work there Cam, very impressive.

 

Keep it up :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
hman205

Are you welding against a copper block to get such neat welds?

Edited by hman205

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Nope, just got mad skills. (and a good MIG machine) :lol:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
allye

I can't weld, but I'm aware it's quite an art, and you sir are a master artist! Very impressive work.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
peterjohnson6037

Nice work, it's good to see some proper repairs instead of just buying replacement panels.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Today is a good day! :D

 

You'll have to forgive me for posting a week's work in one go, I didn't want to keep updating a photo or so every night. I've been doing a couple of hours a night this week and tonight I managed to finish the fabrication and welding, it feels very good! :D

 

So picking up from the last update where I'd finished repairing the headlamp panel, I started off by cutting out all of the rotten bits and ended up with a very large hole! The state of the inner arch was pretty horrific and most of it had to be removed. This left me with a very tricky repair to make, as I wanted to retain the existing "dimple" (for want of a better word) so that I could fit the standard jack, but more importantly so it wouldn't look obvious it had been patched up. I didn't take any photos of the steps I took to do this, but basically I cut the large sheet metal patch to shape, then removed a circular part from it, and formed a little indented circular patch to sit in the hole. You can see it in this pic, where I'd welded the dimple and the large patch in place; I'd clamped all the panels back in to make sure it was all in the right place.

 

DSC02014.jpg

 

Then ground the lot down as smooth as I could!

 

DSC02016.jpg

 

So then more lack of pics really.. I had a montage repairing the upper part of the inner wing so didn't take any, but it's basically the same as the other side was! I also welded on the lip that the headlamp panel would spot weld to.

 

DSC02017.jpg

 

DSC02018.jpg

 

So then a big spot-welding montage later..

 

DSC02019.jpg

 

Then gave it some paint!

 

DSC02020.jpg

 

DSC02022.jpg

 

Unfortunately, I ran out! :lol: So I need to order some more before I continue.

This shot from the underside demonstrates pretty nicely how much metal had to be removed! :o

 

DSC02023.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Let there be paint! :D

 

I primered everything this morning before work, then rubbed it down and "shot some colour". I'll let the pics talk..

 

DSC02025.jpg

 

DSC02027.jpg

 

I'm really impressed with the paint from Paints4U, the cans have a nozzle that sprays in a fan rather like a paint gun, so it's really really easy to get a smooth layer of paint down without any thick / thin patches. The amount of paint that comes out is really nice as well, not like Halfrauds ones that seem to blast 3 tonnes per second out for the first few squirts then barely manage to dribble! The colour match seems a little dark at the moment, but the old paint I'm comparing it to is covered in dust so it's difficult to tell for sure.

 

The ultimate proof will be to see how long it takes to harden enough to be rubbed down.. I'm going to give this layer an hour to set then put another one on, then come back to it tomorrow evening to see if it's good to go.

Edited by Cameron

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
GeorgeXS

Really impressive work Cameron! Mad skills indeed!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Flozman

Top notch work, I never understand why my car has none of this behind the scenes rot, yet the paintwork would have you think it was scrap yard ready in comparison to this nice motor.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
SurGie

Very good work Cam, lets hope when you fit all the lights back it all looks straight.

 

For me i would have sprayed the front panel with stone chip the same colour, but thats me.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron
  On 7/27/2011 at 12:12 PM, Flozman said:

Top notch work, I never understand why my car has none of this behind the scenes rot, yet the paintwork would have you think it was scrap yard ready in comparison to this nice motor.

 

My black one is exactly the same, shoddy faded paint but 100% rust-free! :lol:

 

  On 7/27/2011 at 12:26 PM, SurGie said:

Very good work Cam, lets hope when you fit all the lights back it all looks straight.

 

For me i would have sprayed the front panel with stone chip the same colour, but thats me.

 

Yeah I'm hoping the lights etc fit back in properly and all the shut lines are good, I can't see why they wouldn't be though! The lights have a lot of adjustment in all directions to allow for the manufacturing tolerances, as does the bumper, so it should be ok.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Today was my birthday, and I did this.. :D

 

DSC02031.jpg

 

Took the day (and tomorrow) off work to have a mega-montage on the car, and it's looking really good! Fingers crossed I'll get it done in time to drive it tomorrow, then (as long as nothing goes wrong) I'm going to take it for a very long drive over the weekend. :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Anthony

Excellent work Cam :D

 

(belated happy birthday too!)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Thanks! :D

 

Well, today didn't go so well.. a lot of things went wrong (coolant gallery cracking being the main one) and I've had to admit defeat. It's very very difficult for me to walk away from a job once I get going, but I was just getting more and more impatient so had to walk away. :lol:

 

Will resume again tomorrow afternoon, but for now I'm off for a well-earned birthday celebration. ^_^

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
allye

I want to see some finished, polished pictures!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
miamichris
  On 8/1/2011 at 5:25 PM, allye said:

I want to see some finished, polished pictures!!

 

Me too!! :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

I'll go take some now! :lol:

 

Sorry, I've been so busy getting it running the past 4 days that I've barely done anything else! :lol:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Pics as promised.. :D

 

Went to a little place I go running as there's always a pretty decent sunset, unfortunately there wasn't much of one tonight. :lol:

 

DSC02040e1.jpg

 

DSC02058e.jpg

 

DSC02035.jpg

 

Bit of a variety of styles there, think my favourite is the top one though. ^_^

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
allye

:0. Looks lovely, top one is best. You've turned that round really quickly.

 

What's the plans now?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Cameron

Thanks! Yeah the idea was to get it sorted asap so I could enjoy it over the summer, so I had to work very quickly! :lol:

 

Plans are to fit a decent stereo in the form of an mp3 only head unit and some good quality speakers, then just enjoy using the car! I still have a few little niggles to fix, like the heater blower doesn't work and the central locking is a bit temperamental. Other than that it's just going to be a nice clean honest road car. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×