teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Aug 31, 2023 21:14:47 GMT
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Brilliant work on the exhaust, Hope the lard rub down worked well and was enjoyable, 😁😁, Nigel I was looking forward to the lard but she ended up using some maximum strength ibuprofen gel. I hope she doesn't confuse the two when she makes me a bacon sarnie. Take it easy, and look after yourself I had a big accident 20 odd years ago when I was a relatively fit 30 something, a car drove out of a side road in front of me, I was in the Transit and it knocked the engine out, at the time I didn't feel to bad and declined medical help, my neck is still playing up now though. It's not fun is it? It took me until about midday before I could get myself moving a bit and get myself out for a bit of pottering. First thing I decided to do was the old diff push rod thing which is now part of my thingymajig. When it was bolted under the car with the jig I had tacked on some thick locating washers with some horrible blobby upside down welds so I thought I would weld them on properly.  You can just about see the two blobby tacks in this one.  The reason for the locating washers is because the standard holes are quite a bit oversized and the washers are a tighter fit on the bolts. My reasoning was that as this is a locating jig it really should have tighter tolerances. What I didn't factor in was that the other holes in the push rod, where it bolts to the floor are also huge in comparison to the bolts that go through them  As you can see they are down at the bottom of the abyss so there is no way I can get the torch in there to weld on locating washers for those holes. Oh well, I'm sure it will do the job. So now that is the thingymajig finished it seemed like a good idea to start prepping the new axle carrier panel. I got the Doc to help me carry it up to the shed.  This is a huge piece made up of lots of bits spot welded together, some of which will need removing because it is just about impossible to fit this in its assembled state but we'll get to that when the time comes. So, these spot welds...  You can just about see that snotty bit sticking out from that spot weld (I put the card there to help make it visible). Well those snotty bits on the spot welds are razor sharp and there were dozens of them all over the panel.  It was ridiculous, it was almost impossible to even look at the panel without drawing blood... I went over the whole piece and trimmed back any rough spot weld.  Now that it was safe to touch it without needing a paramedic on standby I turned my attention these rather beautifully done factory MIG welds.  They are directly above the forward subframe mounting points. In the WeldTech reinforcement kit there are pieces that go on top of here to strengthen that area because they are prone to crack around those quality welds.  The factory welds need to be dressed bown to allow the new plate to fit flat on top of them and this would normally be done through an access hole that you would cut in the floor of the car. It was much easier to dress them down now, so I did but I didn't take a picture. This picture is of the other side plate sat in position after the welds were dressed.  You plug weld the holes then seam weld around it. the tabby bit on the side gets tapped down flush and is also welded. I am going to clean up and apply weld through primer before any of that happens. In the middle of the panel is this massive lump of pig iron.  It is a harmonic vibration damper and is quite heavy. In the BMW parts list it tells you that the M3 and the CSL do not have this damper and it should be removed. So that was the next job.  I spent literally hours with the dremel and power file removing that because the spot weld drill just would not touch it.  The sensible thing to have done would have been to drill out the spot welds from the other side then weld the holes back up but I didn't want to weld up holes if I didn't have to. As it turned out I ended up with some holes to weld up anyway...  As Del Boy might have said, 'What a plonker!'. Cheers. |
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Aug 31, 2023 21:38:55 GMT
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Sorry you are a bit badly old chap. If you don't get fit soon the lovely Doc will wind up with arms like Popeye with all the humping you are having her do.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Aug 31, 2023 21:48:27 GMT
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Sorry you are a bit badly old chap. If you don't get fit soon the lovely Doc will wind up with arms like Popeye with all the humping you are having her do. I managed to persuade the Lovely Doctor to take me to Grimsby to exchange the bottle. She also had to carry it and load it into the car for me but that was no problem for her as she is an amateur all-in wrestler.You wouldn't want to get into a fight with her. |
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braaap
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,749
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Sorry you are a bit badly old chap. If you don't get fit soon the lovely Doc will wind up with arms like Popeye with all the humping you are having her do. Plus all the rubbing! For lovelydoctors sake, get well soon! |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 2, 2023 20:37:34 GMT
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Sorry you are a bit badly old chap. If you don't get fit soon the lovely Doc will wind up with arms like Popeye with all the humping you are having her do. Plus all the rubbing! For lovelydoctors sake, get well soon! On Friday my back felt one false move away from snapping in two but I had got a follow up appointment with the Doctor in the afternoon (the MD not the LD). He signed me off for another fortnight, said I was only good for scrap. Last Saturday there were no large custard tarts left at the creamy bun shop by the time we got there so today we got ourselves organised and went there first. It was a good job we did because there was only one left. We went to Ten Acres for breakfast after the that and after the Lovely Doctor had taken Fat Al for a walk. The place has really gone up-market now. Look at this.  Not only is the toast cut into triangles it is also jauntily stacked on the plate. We sat outside because today was summer. I had some finishing off to do in the nipper's bathroom which I should have done weeks ago but didn't. She is coming home on Monday so I will be in trouble if it isn't ready. After watching a Ferrari qualify on pole at Monza with a rule infringement swept under the carpet (whether it will be in the lead beyond the Rettifilo tomorrow remains to be seen), I had another look at my new axle carrier panel. The Doc was out doing some gardening so she could help me get it out of the shed. I thought I would have a look at how the reinforcement plates are going to fit.  It should go on there but there were these two studdy things in the way.  I think they are for the brake pipe brackets or something so I'm probably going to need them. Oh...  I marked on the front of the platey thing where it should be and drilled a hole.  The other one was within a few mm of one of the plug welding holes, close enough to not be a problem. I found some cap head self tapping screws which I cut to length and as it happened, the head fitted perfectly in that hole.  The one at the front I just screwed in.  They really needed to be fixed on a bit more permanently so I shaved down the heads a bit and melted them in with the TIG.  They look ok, I think.   Back in place on the panel.  I bolted it down to the subframe mounting point with a wheel bolt because luckily it is the same thread and the taper pulled it into the correct place.  I thought it looked that good that I bolted the other plates down too.  The main reason that I have bolted them all down is so that I can mark around them because I need to finish cleaning off the paint and then apply some weld through primer, but before I do that I have to finish off this custard tart that I started whilst I was watching the F1.  Cheers. |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 4, 2023 21:47:14 GMT
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I had everything planned for Sunday, get up reasonably early, go for breakfast then put the finishing touches on the nipper's bathroom before the Grand Prix which would leave me a bit of time in the afternoon to do some more messing about with the axle panel. That didn't happen because my dad phoned and said he needed my assistance. I was only too happy to help but as he lives an hour away breakfast and the nipper's bathroom had to be postponed... We (the Lovely Doctor drove me over there) got back just in time for the race, which was a relief. That meant the afternoon messing about with the panel ended up being the finishing touches on the nipper's bathroom.  I'm glad that is out of the way because it was a real pain in the derriere. I had to go to the doctors this morning but this afternoon I finally got to do a little bit of messing about with the panel. I am just pottering about in order to keep myself moving so I don't seize up completely but it was so hot today that even pottering was hard work. Today's job was cleaning the paint off from where the platey things are going to fit.  I must admit that I really made a meal of this but it is done now. I did a bit of tweaking the fit of the little top platey things.  That black pen line on it is because it overhangs the edge so I trimmed it down a bit.  I had to do the same with the one for the other side too.   I have got some Rust Buster two component weld-thru [sic] primer to try so I stuck some of that on.  It is really watery stuff so you have to apply it very thinly or it runs all over the place. I wonder if you can actually weld 'thru' it? If you can it will be the first weld through primer that I have used that actually does what it says on the tin... That was as much as I could manage today because I am past my best and I needed to sit down. I went in and had a nice creamy bun, that perked me up a bit.  Cheers. |
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longman
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 507
Club RR Member Number: 3
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Sept 4, 2023 21:59:19 GMT
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Nice one Tea , today I drove my probably rusty (hidden) SL on a sunny route via Spains Hall where the Mrs says Jamie Oliver lives...meh... to Finchingfield for a beer , bolt your shoddy Bimmer back together and use it..
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Paul
98 500 SL
86 911 Carrera/sold
23 Octavia Phev
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 4, 2023 22:39:49 GMT
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to Finchingfield for a beer, Yay brown booze! bolt your shoddy Bimmer back together and use it.. I'm working on it, Paul. |
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Sept 4, 2023 22:59:15 GMT
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Tea, any concern that welding those plates on before installing the larger assembly will cause it to warp/ distort?
Sorry about the back. I understand.
Best, John
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 4, 2023 23:34:38 GMT
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Tea, any concern that welding those plates on before installing the larger assembly will cause it to warp/ distort? Sorry about the back. I understand. Best, John I did consider that but Lewis at WeldTech who supplied them said it would be ok and he does it that way when he fits new axle carrier panels. I will do as much of it as I can with my thingymajig fitted though, just in case. Oh, and thanks. |
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braaap
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,749
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I wonder if a coat of primer is generally necessary on these black parts before finally fitting them to any car.
I think the black coat is only to keep those parts from already rusting in the warehouse before a customer gets them, is it?
You surely don't want to built in the next spring for rust issues?
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 5, 2023 21:12:26 GMT
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I wonder if a coat of primer is generally necessary on these black parts before finally fitting them to any car. I think the black coat is only to keep those parts from already rusting in the warehouse before a customer gets them, is it? You surely don't want to built in the next spring for rust issues? I would have thought the same about the black paint too but judging by how difficult it was to remove it in order to do the weld through primer it seems to be a pretty substantial coating. It will get a good sanding before I apply any epoxy to it so I'll see if any bits are thinner or not as well stuck on. I was just having some Frosties this morning when I got a phone call from the physio, they had a cancellation and could I go in at midday? That basically wrote the morning off with regard to pottering but I am keen to try to move on with my recovery so I accepted the offer. Well, the physio lady was very nice, but the point she was making to me was that I'm no good to nobody and that may be the case for a while. She did say that my pottering was a good idea for me to keep moving but that I should be careful and not over-do anything. That to me means that I may go into my shed or tent but there is absolutely no way that I can do any gardening... Anyway, yesterday I applied that two pack weld through primer to my panel thing. Because it is two component paint once you have mixed it you have to either use it or sling the waste away. After I had painted the panely thing there was some paint left over so I painted the platey things which are, eventually, going to find their way on to the painted bit of the panely thing. (I hope that makes sense) When I went into the shed those platey things looked like this.  Like a jelly brain I had forgotten that paint doesn't like to stick to zinc coated stuff. They are shiny and gold like this, remember. I needed to strip it off and go to plan B. I have some of that proper paint stripper, the type that actually strips paint but which is not as readily available as it used to be. When I picked it up the tin sprang a leak. What do you seal a punctured tin of paint stripper with? I wrapped a load of PTFE tape around a self tapping screw and shoved that in.  As it happens, I didn't need the paint stripper because I could just rub it with my fingers and it just flaked off. I had a root through my other shed and found some mordant solution so I treated the now paint free platey things with that then I mixed some more primer and painted them again. Part way through, you can see the unpainted ones are not shiny gold anymore.  Drying whilst I had a cup of tea.  That was it for today, let's hope the paint is still on them tomorrow. Right, as I called myself a jelly brain earlier I now fancy some jelly and ice cream. Cheers. |
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,357
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Sept 5, 2023 21:31:04 GMT
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I’m trying to find a witty jelly based quip as revenge for the battery charger question the other day, but you’re poorly, and it feels a bit like kicking a puppy.
Get better soon, so I can get back to being rude guilt free. 😉
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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longman
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 507
Club RR Member Number: 3
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Sept 5, 2023 21:44:22 GMT
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Just be rude , he loves it  |
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Last Edit: Sept 5, 2023 21:48:12 GMT by longman
Paul
98 500 SL
86 911 Carrera/sold
23 Octavia Phev
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braaap
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,749
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What do you seal a punctured tin of paint stripper with? I don't know if it applies here, too, but You might try to rub a piece of soap over the hole. I read it once as a recommendation for a puncture in a tin gas tank. Gasolin will not harm the soap so it can stop the leaking for a while (til water washes the soap away probably). Maybe paint stripper is equally soap friendly? |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 6, 2023 17:42:32 GMT
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I’m trying to find a witty jelly based quip as revenge for the battery charger question the other day, but you’re poorly, and it feels a bit like kicking a puppy. Get better soon, so I can get back to being rude guilt free. 😉 Unlike me, you are such a gentleman, Glen. Just be rude , he loves it Do I love it or have I just become accustomed to it? What do you seal a punctured tin of paint stripper with? I don't know if it applies here, too, but You might try to rub a piece of soap over the hole. I've not heard that before. So far the screw and PTFE seems to be working. Just for completeness, I did have some jelly and ice cream. Blackcurrant jelly and Cornish ice cream.  I was hoping to follow the physio's advice and do some medically approved pottering but my shoulders and neck were as stiff as a board this morning so I didn't even manage to change out of my Spider-Man pyjamas until about noon. When I eventually made it up to the shed, dosed up on Frosties and pain killers I was happy to find that the paint had decided to stick to my platey things this time, which was a relief.  I know it isn't very artistic but most of it will probably get burn off anyway. So that is the job then, to burn off this paint and uprate the axle panely thing at the same time. First off, I bolted the plates down with the wheel studs. I couldn't trust that the weld through primer would actually be weld through so I cleaned it off.  I decided that I should do the plug welds on the side where the wheel bolts are because that side's position is dictated by those holes which are the subframe mounting points. Everything else can be tweaked and fettled to suit but the subframe mounts are the one thing, well four things, that can't be fettled or moved.  It has been so hot outside today and it was really difficult for me, I would do a couple of welds then have a sit down to rest. It gave the panel chance to cool down whilst I heated up in the sun. Then another.  And so on. I had to clamp it down in places to make sure it was fitting flush to the panel below.   That would have been a bit more difficult if the panel was already fitted to the car. When I had finished the first one I tickled the welds down before I started the next.  Once the rear two plates were done I got the Doc to help me turn the panel around to do the rears.  Once they were on I made a bit of a start hammering over the edges so they matched the panel beneath.   I had to use a chisel to get in there but don't worry about all those marks that it left in the edge, they will hopefully disappear when I seam weld it. So we now have four plates about 25% fitted.  That was me absolutely done in, so I left it at that for today and came inside for some more jelly and ice cream. The lovely Doctor is taking me to the pub quiz tonight, yay! Cheers. |
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Last Edit: Sept 6, 2023 18:04:43 GMT by teaboy
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Sept 7, 2023 21:41:47 GMT
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We went to the quiz last night and it was a major let down, we were second one point behind the winners. I did win third prize in the raffle though...  Today was a similar routine to yesterday, it took all morning to be able to move in any meaningful way. By the time I got outside to the shed the sun was beating down and the weather was being very un-British. Perfect weather for welding and being dressed in black, as I was. I didn't really have a plan as such, just to get the platey things a bit more welded on than they were yesterday. It was really hard work in the heat, I would do a bit, have a sit down then do a bit more until I had had enough. I took a few pictures which I will put up, and I will see if I can remember which bit they were and if there is anything I can say about them. I think I started with this bit, it is as rough as a badger's backside and I wasn't thrilled with my first effort.  This was a sloty type thing which I filled up, I was sort of working my way down the plate to make sure it was properly flush against the panel.  Then I went down the sides, still as rough as you like.  I had to keep clamping and tapping it down then doing a bit more.  When I had got this far I had had enough of this plate for a while.  It looks rubbish but I don't think it is going to fall off, not straight away at least...  I decided to start on one of the other plates, the front ones.  Whilst that cooled down I did a similar bit on the other front plate.  There will have been a sit down and a cup of tea between those. I alternated between the two front plates for a bit.    Once that edge of those plates was stuck down I worked down the other side of the fold.  This time I kept going until that plate was completed.  Then I moved back over to the other front plate to finish that off. Clamping and doing the plug welds to secure it so I could tap it into shape to follow the contours of the panel.  Tacking the edges down too.  I ground any tacks right down with the dremel so that I could weld straight over them without having to stop.  This is as far as I got.  I think there are three plates fully welded down now. I was a bit disappointed with my performance today, the work just isn't as neat as it should have been. I'm going to blame it on the heat, the pain I'm in and the fact that I'm a rank amateur. Cheers. |
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braaap
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,749
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May I ask what these plates are for? Do they cover usual rust areas on cars that do not get brand new axle carriers or do these carriers need reinforcement or what else?
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All things considered .... well done ! bit o'dressing and then paint ... job's a gud 'en 👍
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Last Edit: Sept 8, 2023 8:13:06 GMT by westbay
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Sept 8, 2023 10:46:46 GMT
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May I ask what these plates are for? Do they cover usual rust areas on cars that do not get brand new axle carriers or do these carriers need reinforcement or what else? They’re to fix the problem of flex cracking at these stress points from higher power cars I understand. James |
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