83 Triumph Acclaim "Air does strange things"

That was nice catching up on a few month's worth of updates. I like the wheels - assuming you're fitting low profile tyres compared to what's on there now.

Keep on going

Thank you, ive got 2 sets of wheels for this, the set of 15" black bmw mini minilites with 175/65 15(as seen on p1), these make the speedo spot on accurate and will give better fuel economy and the set of 16" pentas (as seen on p2) which need some attention that will probably get 195/45 16s same as the pic wich should put the speedo back to 10% under and look far nicer with some lowerd suspension. Ether way the 15" will cost me nowt to put back on the car so will be done first.

Dan

My bloody tablet ate 40 mins of typing when i went to put the pics in so ill have to start all over.

First off let me introduce you (in true project binky style) to the latest member of the team, garinder standish



about 6ft of 2inch box an old office chair, some bits out of the scrap bin and a couple of hours work, all your grinding needs in one handy place.


That along with a good tidy up and smallifcating what was left of another acclaim was yesterdays workshop day.

I have a deadline for getting Frank back on the road, well 2 actually May bank holiday is the northern triumph camping weekend at Runswick Bay and it would be great to have Frank for it. August 5th and 6th is Club Triumphs Border Raiders tour and i have to have frank ready for it. He was supposed to go last year but he turned in to a far bigger project.

So a Plan is required, what needs completing before i can paint it.

Front valance (cant be done till cars finished rolling on its side) that means painting the underside first carp

Seam weld all of the panels forward of the doors.
Do somthing with the frilly bulkhead lip
mount rear ARB (rolled on side)
Seam weld driver side rear strut tower (rolled on side)
Find some way of stopping the rear valance acting as an air brake.
Probably find some more panels to seam weld. (Probably rolled on side too)

As theres only me at the moment no rolling action available, so after warming up the kettle i got stuck into seam welding the front panels.



The "chassi leg" and strut tower had already been stitch welded, but when i actually stopped and thort about it the ARB also acts as a track control arm so more strength is more better, so filled in the gaps and also welded all around the ARB mounting point on the drivers side (the passenger side is bolted in)



then did the same on the passenger side.




And also around the rack mounts basically any panel that looked like it would be worthwhile seam welding.

Then i hit upon an issue thats been bugging me for ages ghe bulkhead lip



I had originally (before it got all far end of a fart ish) thort ill slap some seam sealer over it and it will be fine but now seeeing as we've cut out bits that weren't as bad it just won't do you know.

The problem is its where 3 panels converge, the bulkhead, wiper box and heater blower intake and what ever you call the bit between the bottom of the windscreen and bonnet. As luck would have it Barry popped by so some tea and a think later it was trimmed back and seam welded of course there's 30 years of stuff in the seams so some bits were ground back and welded 4 times, but i think it looks pretty good.



I might even leave it like that.

Unfortunately ive got to paint the kitchen tomorrow as penance for enjoying my self too much today.

Ahh well
Laters
Dan

your home made sheet folder is ace!...thanks for sharing the idea....hope you don't mind if I snag it!


great welding....you are making quick work of very complicated stuff...(to me, anyway)




JP

Hi jp i would do a couple of things differently, that bender was made to fit the width of the tableand i think is about 900mm wide that's fine for ally sheet, but ether the top bar or folding arm flexes and doesn't give a consistent bend but saying that a 900mm wide sheet metal bender is serious money, so the top bar wants some more bracing inside it, and having some ajustment for depth of material would be nice but due to its flex it only dose 0.5 to 1.2mm any bigger and it realy struggles. I'm sure barry has pics of the build if your interested.

As for the welding I'm not particularly good but getting better, once i get the welder set up and I'm in the swing of it I do ok.
Dan

Glad to hear all is well. Probably did not help that my Prelude had the rear edge of deadener over the weld flange of the inner Plenum reinforcement providing passage for moisture under it, & typically rusty cowl/windscreen edge to let more water in. Bonded windscreens not so great when careless fitters scratch paint & cover with trims.

The pin stuck in the socket has been pushed in too far, just pull it forward so it touches again when you are plugged in!!!

Keep at it, must be nearly solid now!

John

Nope sheared clean off

That's just a fools errand, forget about the pin and fix frank!!