1973 TA22 Toyota Celica - Patchwork quilt

No pressure then!

Very kind of you to comment and say Nigel. I cannot profess to be anywhere as skilled as some on this forum, but as a hobbyist, a bit of research (youtube, specialist forums etc.) goes a long way. That and, dare I say it, just having the confidence to give things a go while trying to working methodically and sensibly.

One area I did want to get right for obvious reasons was welding, so I enrolled myself on an evening college course a few years back. Well worth the money in my opinion. Although knowing that I wouldn't be running out and buying a similar digitally controlled welder to what they offered on the course (c£3k if I remember rightly), I insisted on using the basic model left in the corner - much more comparable with the mig I ended up with. Just something to consider if you, or anyone else reading this, is planning on doing a similar course.

Strange you say that - he did indeed. Penny soon dropped

Thankfully it wasn't just me on the course from a hobby point of view, most were there as it was held at a local agricultural college and so related to their potential future careers.

Thinking about it, it was quite a comprehensive course, covering all the usual suspects - Gas, Mig and Tig. The latter, especially when it came to welding ally, is probably the exception to the above where I would go and find/hire the best machine I could with dial-in settings and foot pedal - made things infinitely easier!

Should be something for the distractions thread really, but never mind. Either way things have been getting in the way of me cracking on with the sills.

First up, fluids change and check over for the '7 ahead of its winter rest.



Then as the days are starting to cool I thought I'd best get on and tidy the remnants of the flooring that came up when we did the kitchen and dining room work earlier in the year. A strangely satisfying job that will keep the wood burner busy for an eve or two...



Lastly I mentioned a while back that I was working on a side project for the office to house all the car paperwork and other 'unnecessary stuff' as SWMBO calls it that was currently littering the house. Well thanks to a very generous donation by grizz when we visited, I had the perfect filing cabinet and after much deliberation (I lost, Mrs won), a paint scheme was decided...

Main body painted in BMW sparkling graphite (doesn't look much in the pic but really comes alive when it catches the sun)



Drawers in Fiat Broom yellow (I've never seen a broom this yellow!)



Put them both together and you get something rather different



Now to spend some time filling it

Back to Celica on Sunday hopefully.

I suspect so - every day is a school day.

In the end most definitely, just not on the colour scheme... I do however have a plan - just need another one

All will be revealed in due course

Thank you again.

Thank you sir, sadly/stupidly didn't take any 'before' pictures, suffice to say after residing in a garage it was a little rusty/greasy/dented to start with.

Back to more important 4-wheeled matters soon... another little acquisition (for the car, not another car!) in the pipeline

For anyone wondering - the car being sold above was swiftly retracted from sale... got a feeling he was just testing the water. In a any case he's now going to restore it himself.

Talking of restoring, the battle with mine continued at the weekend...

Autumn has definitely arrived and boy did I know it on Saturday. I hate to think how cold the shed actually was but I had to pop outside to warm up a few times during the day and it was around 4 degrees. I nearly resorted to trying to find my finest quilted overalls from Lidl but resisted for the time being

So the intention was to try and continue with the inner sill debacle, with the last bit to let in where it meets the rear wheel arch, remember this template?



The rot in he arch was cut out and a new piece made up to slot in







That was tacked in and focus switched back onto getting the right shape for the floor piece that sits over once of the chassis legs and contains an access plate.

Once happy, spot welds were drilled and the rusty stuff was cut out



and the new metal welded (albeit badly!) in. Not pretty but it'll do for now. Once in place I could then clamp the rear section of the inner sill back on the car to make sure all still lined up.



Welding aside - I was pretty happy with how it all sat and the cover plate still fitted as intended too.



so finished welding the arch patch



and then offered up the outer sill so see how that lined up.



and then the rear arch over the top



 

Looks good to me. The only area of slight concern is that there is a gap where the outer sill ends and the inner arch has rusted back so need to think about how I sort this next. the arch sits as it should so it may be that I just need to make up a closing panel of some kind.

 

Rather than try and fight that straightaway, I thought I'd come back to this next time (any suggestions of how to approach very welcome in the meantime!)

So after pondering the above and deciding to move on, while under the car I glanced sideways...



Ahhh... that's not pretty!

Spare part dug out and swiftly separated for closer inspection





Not totally convinced that it was better than what was currently on the car, I decided to stare into the black abyss for some form of divine inspiration...



Instead, upon removing the cover I discovered just what a horrific state the O/S rear quarter was in



That's a lot of glass fibre!  oh and for the avoidance of doubt, the whole of the boot area has been liberally painted in waxoil. Marvellous.

Oh well, may as well hit something to make myself feel better 



Only two spots of suspect rot so that's a positive. Decided I ought to lose the lights too so they can be protected while I'm fixing things at this end of the car. Bumper will come off again in time too.



As it was now getting on time wise, I wasn't really feeling the need to start another bit of slicing and dicing, particularly as I wasn't sure what I was actually going to do. Instead I decided to sort one of the areas that I'd not got to previously - seam sealing the underside above he rear axle. Not a particularly neat job, but one I found quite therapeutic at the time.



Actually looks rather good under there now, possibly the best bit of the car at present, just a shame it's the bit no-one will see

More as and when....

I find the German Tank Suits are awesome, only need a T shirt & underwear with them and are fantastically warm & hard wearing. Heavy duty cotton is pretty weld proof too.


www.surplusandoutdoors.com/new-german-tanksuit-tank-suit-624568.html

www.ebay.ie/itm/German-Army-Tank-Suit-Lined-genuine-NEW-size-GR10-180-190cm-38/223199637567?hash=item33f7bc303f:g:n0UAAOSwabhUV7Ie:rk:6:pf:0

I now have a mental image of @grumpynorthener wearing this plus a face mask.
Must be tired but made me smile
www.wonderlandparty.co.uk/r887102-red-ranger-2nd-skin-costume.html
Dickies warehouse sale padded for me...
Nice work on the celica btw!
James