Chrysler Sunbeam - Road Car Project - V6/6 Speed

These were built in Linwood I believe??
I actually stay on the site of the old rootes plant and my dad worked in the press shop he has some wicked stories of goings on would love a sunbeam or avenger keep up the good work! @

The Brands Hatch TI's were busy cars! I bought a brand new crated TI engine with carbs from a container in a war in Maidstone from a bloke that had bought all the remaining spares from when the cars were used, i paid £250 - shows how long ago that was.....

The doors are very very similar and can be swapped with fettling.

Regards the dash? There is much more to this story............

So then filled in the holes.

One went very well and the other sort of ok. Although much later i realised that i could see daylight through a part of the weld - this will be sorted......

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


Luckily the bits i am practicing on will be under the carpet!

wow, great results!....hard to tell from the pics but are some of your welds a bit "cold"?....I know I don't like to burn through the metal....

I gotta say, though, the results look terrific!....(and you are finishing sections of your repairs unlike yours truly!)

nicely done

Jp

continous welding with two pieces of steel butted together, with intent to dress back afterwards, is always tricky i've found. end up using less power to stop it blowing through (because of the air gap) but you actually want more power to penetrate "enough" so that when you dress it back you don't start chasing hair line cracks around, where 95% the filler metal is removed.

only way i can do it is overlapping spot welds, so quite high settings, lay one spot, let it partially cool (just stops glowing) then lay the next spot half over the previous. again, the downside i found with that method is you end up with porous weld (little pin holes in middle each spot weld) but its structurally better. i found if you have rust or damp cavity behind overlapping spot welds, untreated on the rear of the welds, it sponges through and starts showing within hours !

So on with the story:

Bottom of the A pillar on the off side:


image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


New toys to help make stuff stay where it should!

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr

The eagle eyed will have spotted this is a double layer of body work and these bits always attract corrosion!

A bit of welding and cleaning and we get this:


image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


At this point i had started using zinc 'weld through' primer to protect bits between visits to the garage. I have now stopped using it as the 'weld through' title is misleading with my skills!!

not parweld stuff is it? i had a batch of paint which was like trying to migweld an oak tree. i came to the conclusion it was for the reverse of panels, i.e designed not to burn off from the penetration

u-pol weld #2 on the other hand (on the shelf at halfords) goes up a treat

So after helping a friend fit a type 9 into his RS1800, which is by far the hardest ever gearbox change i have done as the engine doesn't really fit the escort the way Ford did it..... He bought me a spit - Bonus!!

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


So with a bit of modifying - i mean there is no point buying something and using it as intended is there? It is mounted.


image by Nevtiger, on Flickr

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr

And then back to the shell.

I started having a look at the sills and the passenger side - as always - is worse than the drivers side.

So, the outer sill has come off and there is some rot in the inner sill so time to cut that out as well:

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


A bit more rot at the front end....

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


Double skinned panels!!! They love rust.

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


Ok, that is most of what needs to be cut out done - not all sadly....

image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


Wire brush and 115mm grinder results in a nice shiny bottom and me picking wire out of my skin afterwards. Amazing the wire makes it through three layers of clothing and if hit bare skin tends to go quite deep.


image by Nevtiger, on Flickr


When its all clean and welded back together i can fit this:


Image 05-08-2016 at 11.47 by Nevtiger, on Flickr


This is a PTS rally car strengthening kit. The car won't be a rally car but it adds lots of strength where the shell can be weak. Overkill? Maybe but i work on the theory that if the shell is strong it doesn't move and that helps handling and means it will last a lot longer - well it will with plenty of 'Waxoil' stuff.