teaboy
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Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 22, 2024 19:37:31 GMT
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Looking good mate. These little repairs take ages don't they. Regarding filler, I haven't read back very far so don't know if you've found one that you like but I really reccommend Upol Fantastic. When it came out it was a game changer. You usually get a couple of grades of filler, a "slap it in and hope for the best" sort of filler like Upol Easy 1, and a finer grade stopper like Upol TopStop. Upol Fantastic is kind of a combination of both, but lighter and easier to sand than pretty much anything else. You don't get many pinholes if you mix carefully. You can mix a little fibreglass resin into it to make it thinner to do a final skim if you have pinholes too big to be dealt with by high build primer. I'm not sponsored by Upol (but probably should be). Thanks, Peter. I'm not planning on doing lots of filler work because it's 'orrible! If I do have a relapse I will get some of that Upol stuff. It has been raining all day so I was thinking that maybe I wouldn't bother going out to sand that filler down tonight. As soon as I got home it stopped raining and just like that, my excuse was gone. I got a piece of wood that I shaped a little bit with the power file to use as a sanding block I was trying to do the sanding whilst leaning in through the boot but it was a really unnatural position and action and I wasn't getting very far at all. I swapped to working from inside the cab, kneeling on the back seat area with my head through under the parcel shelf. This was a far more comfortable way to work, as long as you don't kneel on one of the brackets on the seat or bang your head on the underside of the parcel shelf. I did two hours of sanding but had a small tea break half way through. My god it's a boring job, I have no idea how people can do this kind of thing for a living. Anyway, my arms fell off after two hours so that was that. It does need another small filler application in this low spot here. I half thought about putting some on tonight but didn't. I produced a mountain of white powder in the process. I don't know if I look like a Homepride flour grader or a Columbian coke dealer. Cheers.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 22, 2024 19:01:03 GMT
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That is ace, I want one.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 21, 2024 19:35:55 GMT
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I got up early this morning, well early for me on a Sunday, to watch the F1. About half way through the race I thought, 'Well, this is boring, I'll bet it is more exciting watching paint dry'. In order to test this hypothesis I got dressed into my work clobber and went outside. Remember that I said the inner sill wasn't rusted but I didn't take a picture? Well there you are, it is beautiful. I painted it with weld through primer then watched it for a while. It was probably on a par with watching the Chinese Grand Prix but not significantly better so I decided not to watch that either. Instead I did a bit more work on the repair piece. I reached the point where it was 'good enough' so I painted the back of that too. At this point I had to pack up because the Doc and I were going out for Sunday dinner so that piece would, sadly, have to dry unwatched. Sunday dinner was very nice so, unfortunately, I over indulged to the point that it took me two hours to recover from it before I felt able to go back outside. Luckily, during the hiatus, the unwatched paint had managed to dry by itself so I got to fixing the piece in place. After a lovely cup of tea I cleaned the welds off. I then remembered to put a plug weld in the back corner. This also needed cleaning off and the excess metal around the edges needed trimming back. I was hoping to get some epoxy on it but it isn't worth mixing any up until I have finished sanding the spare wheel well, so I did a bit of that. Now that really is boring, watching paint dry is far more exciting. I did as much as I could be bothered with but it still isn't finished so I decided to stick a drop of spooge on the new bit for now. I will try to motivate myself to finish the sanding next time... Cheers.
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Last Edit: Apr 21, 2024 19:37:48 GMT by teaboy
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 21, 2024 14:20:16 GMT
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Very thorough job there, dude.
I like the fuel hose modification.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 20, 2024 21:19:32 GMT
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That’s an excellent repair. Thanks Gazza and Phil. I had to do some things this morning then the Doc and I went to the cafe. She walked there with Fat Al and I did my things in the dogging car so I was able to take them home afterwards. Fat Al is living his best life because he had his usual sausages and as we were about to leave they gave him some more. He was delighted. I was totally porked out too, so I needed some time to recover before I could do anything. I did eventually manage to get out for a few hours this afternoon to make a start on the lower part of the sill end. It was nice and bright outside but still a two jumpers and a fleece type of day. Thankfully, this morning's rain showers didn't return. This is what I was looking at. I cut out the dodgy bit. Underneath it looked like this. The brown bits that you can see are mostly dried cavity wax and any rust that was in there was stuck to the seam sealer and it was from the piece I had removed. The inner sill was rust free, which was lovely. I forgot to take a picture of that so you will have to take my word for it. Anyway, I made a start on the replacement part, starting at the bottom and working my way up. Much bishing and bashing ensued and plenty of walking to the shed and back whilst the piece developed. I always start with an oversize blank because there is nothing worse than putting a final shape into something and finding out that it is too small for the hole. All the folds and wiggles consume a fair bit of metal so you need to allow for that. Trying it in place to see where to put the vertical wiggle. I have started putting the vertical wiggle in now. I didn't get any further than this today. I need to get the vertical wiggle sorted properly then I will know where to turn the flange at the wheel arch end. I can't turn that flange once it is on the car because it will need a run through the shrinker to give the piece a bit of curvature in that area. If all goes to plan I hope to get this piece finished off tomorrow. Cheers.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Except I KNOW red and biscuit go together perfectly! I’m not very good with colour schemes either. I know that tea and biscuits go together. Total pain about the wiper hole but I’m sure you will sort it.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
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Apr 19, 2024 21:52:50 GMT
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Hi Tom, You are making a cracking job there. This is going to be better than new when you are finished, you should be proud of the work you have done. Norman Thanks, Norman, that's very nice of you to say.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 19, 2024 20:43:37 GMT
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That looked like a very fiddly but ultimately successful job.
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teaboy
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Apr 19, 2024 20:28:12 GMT
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I can't wait to find out!
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 19, 2024 20:19:25 GMT
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Wednesday was quiz night, we finished third from the bottom... We were a team member down so it is clearly his fault. Yesterday was one of those English type days, frost on the windscreen first thing, warm and in the morning, cold in the afternoon and when I got home (late) from work it was bucketing down. I didn't fancy getting soaked walking between the shed and the tent so I stayed in the house. Today has been nice and bright but a cool wind, I sound like Michael Fish don't I? I got home at a reasonable time so I went into the shed to do another two hours of hammering on that tiny little piece of tin which has had three hours of abuse previously. When I do a repair piece I like to make it so that it is a perfect fit then I can just weld it straight in. The problem I had with this was that I could get it so it was nearly right when I tried it in place on the car but it needed just one tiny little tweak to make it perfect. When I made that tiny little tweak it would alter another area and make it a worse fit overall. You end up chasing your tail for hours on end. What I decided to do, and what I really should have done a while ago, was to make it so that it was a 'good enough' fit. By That I mean get it so that it has several good points of contact, ideally three corners, then tack the places where it fits. That will hold those places in the correct position whilst you do the final little tweaks with it in situ to get the rest of it lined up. With it now 'good enough', I gave it some weld through primer. The area on the car too. I had a nice cup of tea then got the welding gear out whilst the paint dried. I got carried away with myself welding it in and sanding it down and didn't take any pictures, mainly because once I got myself propped up in position I didn't want to get back up again. Because of that I completed the job without banging my head once. I was glad to get this bit done I can tell you. I gave it a quick brush over with my original spooge. It wasn't worth painting it properly because I still have this lower section to do, like the one on the other side. Cheers.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 18, 2024 19:57:43 GMT
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Well done, Daddy.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 16, 2024 20:11:29 GMT
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old tennis balls with a slit cut in them are ideal for placing over such protrusions. I must have thought of that myself because I said, 'Balls!' when I banged my head. And feeling sorry for yourself with a nice thee, coffee or Scotch (choose your choice) with CAKE will help to forget ;-) Thom I did have a cup of tea, there is a terrible shortage of cakes though. Blimey Tea I didn't think it was possible, but I believe that you smack your noggin more often than I do. I might have been dropped on my head when I was born... Due the dearth of helpful advice on which filler to use, I got some of this. Because I am trying not to think about the end of the sill I mixed some up and daubed it all over the spare wheel well. It was a bit 'creamier' than the last lot but I still managed to make a dog's dinner of it. Whilst it was setting I forced myself to look at the sill. Because; A, the other side was a complete farty big-job to do and, B, this side has gone much further up as well, I decided to tackle it in two parts. Top bit first. I decided where to cut. This is the offending bit. Such a small piece, but with lots of twists and turns. It also has a section missing. So I stuck a bit of tape on to give myself half an idea what it should look like for cutting out the blank. I spent ages shaping it then I went to the car, clamped it on and thought, I might take a picture of that, but first I'll give it a little tweak. Each little tweak made the bit I tweaked better but it also made all the rest of it worse. This went on for three hours before I decided to call it a day before I went totally bananas. This is where it is now. It looks like five minutes work, doesn't it? I might have chance to contemplate it whilst I am at the quiz tomorrow. Cheers.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 15, 2024 19:41:22 GMT
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Yikes at how long ago my last post was. Gordon's alive! Car still looks ace.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 15, 2024 19:19:05 GMT
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As I have no filler left and I have not yet got any more I really did have to look at the back end of the passenger side sill. I spooged it up almost two years ago and I can't remember what it is like under there so the first thing to do was to clean it back. Sorry about the rubbish picture, This side has gone much higher up than the other, right up to the bottom of the wheel arch. I need to have look at the back of that. I got carried away with myself before I took a picture but the bottom section of the wheel arch return area was completely filled with (factory) underbody sealer. This bit here. It was awkward enough to photograph but even more difficult to clean out. I cleaned all the sealer out up to where the arch starts to fold over on itself, I will worry about the rest of it when I get to the arch repairs. The metal in there was solid but the area right at the very bottom had some slight pitting. I know that this picture looks just like the one above but it is taken after I had applied some phosphating solution. It was also taken just before I banged my head on this brake pipe bracket. I didn't feel like hammering metal after I had banged my head so I packed up for the night, just before the rain started tipping down, as luck would have it. Cheers.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 14, 2024 20:36:11 GMT
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Pay someone else to do it. That’s what I did. There’s actually people out there that enjoy sanding so much, they do it for a living! There are! Absolute lunatics if you ask me. My mate Keith is going to take care of the outer bodywork stuff but the inside is up to me.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 14, 2024 20:28:08 GMT
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More progress, Bouncy, good stuff dude.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
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Apr 14, 2024 18:08:30 GMT
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I was planning on making a start on the other side sill repair today but I didn't do that in the end. The Doc has been asking me to sort out some of my 's**t' in the garden for a while so I thought it best not to incur her displeasure and get it sorted out. As ever, this 'little job' took far longer than I expected. Most of the afternoon in fact, so I didn't feel like starting the sill job. I did have a look in the tent to see if there was something that I could do to kill a couple of hours. I ended up looking at this bit. I have looked at it a few times recently and thought, 'I must do something about that'. You are probably thinking that you can't see anything that needs doing because it isn't at all visible in the picture. The problem is that the area at the front of the 'spare wheel well' has had a lot of things going on there recently. The axle panel has been plug welded and stitch welded to it and the top part has been removed then welded back in. This has left the surface a little bit wiggly and I don't like that. I decided that a bit of filler would tidy it up nicely. I hate doing filler. I've seen people on instagram applying filler and it goes on and spreads like butter. I have never experienced that. It is always thicker than you would like and doesn't spread anywhere near as nicely so if anyone has any recommendations for a brand of filler that is nicer to use, I'm all ears. I sanded it back, did a second pass and sanded that back. The amount of dust I made was unreal, I had to empty my vacuum twice. Did I mention that I hate sanding? It needs at least another coat of filler yet but I ran out so, before I buy some more, any experts please speak up. Cheers.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Chassis is looking good, DS.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 13, 2024 21:45:28 GMT
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Those speakers look really neat, should be perfect when you are listening to Classic Rock. Sorted that for you Thank goodness for that.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 1,941
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Apr 13, 2024 19:20:55 GMT
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Glad it seems to have worked out in the end! 'I didn't really have a plan on how to make it so I just went at a bit of tin with various percussion instruments for several hours and then tried it in place.' If I was half the wordsmith you are, I would have written that about 10 years ago! Describes my general approach to a 't'. Lovely work. Thanks Gazza. 100 pages and still no oil tank Haven’t commented much on this forum, for various reasons, felt the need to just say I was here at the start for the Porsche but stayed for the m3. Yours is one of the 1st threads I look for and enjoy your updates. I’m surprised nobody else has figured out what happens to the oil tanks, if you’re like me, if you start thinking about something else while completing a task you find yourself in autopilot and once you realise, it’s too late. you’ve got a garage full of these now haven’t you? 🤣 Thanks Nick and yes, it looks like my secret is out... Right then, this easy job that I was on with, I got back to it this afternoon. I said that the piece needed 'a few tweaks and final fettling' which was actually another two hours of faffing about before I was ready to think about fitting it. First I cleaned out the inner sill area then gave it some 'weld through' primer. The back of my highly battered piece of tin also got a coat. This was the perfect opportunity for me to have a lovely cup of tea whilst the paint dried. After that it was time to stick it in permanently. It looked horrible so I filed the welding down to tidy it up. There were a couple of spot welds that needed to be replaced, one was on the back corner, which I didn't get a picture of and the other was on the lower flange, which I did. I tried to make it as close to the original piece as I could, I even put in this bulgy curvy bit that I am pointing at, although I'm sure it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference if I hadn't bothered. Because of my recent 'spooge crisis' I decided to go straight for the epoxy. I was therefore able to finish off the epoxy round the back, I had left this area for when I did the sill. That's the driver's side sill end repair completed. I have to do the passenger side next, aren't I a lucky boy. Cheers.
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