Pick up Restoration (Part 1)

Post by **dunketh** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:31 am

Simply stunning.
I'd have left it where it stood. You are an inspiration.

I think its going to be 'funs over' though as soon as you break the welder out.
Having no experience myself I can't even begin to think how you'll go about welding up that cab whilst keeping it straight and true.

One thing though, I may have missed this, you're cleaning up the suspension.
However, wouldnt it be better to buy new springs and torsion bars?
Won't the old ones be less firm than a nice new set, cleaned up or otherwise?
Torsion bars wear can be got-around by adjusting the fitting splines but I'm not sure you can do anything about leaf tension.

Anyway, good luck. You're a very brave man. I've scrapped most of my past cars with far, far, less rust than this. If you were local I'd buy you a pint and run it round to you.

Post by **davidmiles** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:20 pm

Thanks Dunketh, the point of this for me was the scale of the task, it's a challenge and and a test of my metal, ironic, since most of the pickup's metal is rusted away. Anyway, back to the chassis... this is the view of it from the bottom.

Post by **davidmiles** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:24 pm

bit scary this bit, the height difference is quite apparent between these two front chassis leg lower panels...

Post by **dunketh** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:25 pm

The chassis will save a lot of heartache though I'd love to have seen someone try and weld up the old one!!
Welding metal to er... nothing... lol.

Post by **davidmiles** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:33 pm

once Ive got everything off the shotblasters can't help with, I'll be sending this away to Arundel for a week, to let blast treat deal with all that grease paint and corrosion. hopefully it'll come back uniformly medium grey.

Post by **dunketh** » Fri May 22, 2009 3:10 pm

Why not get it powdercoated too?
Never have to worry about it again then. Most engineering places do it 'relatively cheaply too.

Post by **davidmiles** » Fri May 22, 2009 8:55 pm

trouble is there's loads of welding to be done when it comes back from shotblasting, would powdercoating withstand the heat of welding?

Post by **tortron** » Fri May 22, 2009 11:17 pm

would be best to wait until its all ready to be put back to use before powdercoating.
Comes out VERY nicely indeed, plus these days theres as many colours as you could ever want (even a chrome one - bling my minor anyone?)

Post by **jonathon** » Sat May 23, 2009 12:12 am

If you want the chassis to last then do not powdercoat it as it will rot from the inside out. The best soultion so far is to have it acid dipped and E coated. The latter being modern car industry standard. The coating reaches every part of the frame/ bodywork and will last many years. Have a google search for SPL .

When you get the chassis back make sure that you have it fully checked for straightness and only weld it if its preferably clamped to some descent sized girders welded together about the crucial points on the chassis.Use this as a jig. Its very easy to weld a leg for example, only to find that its pulled one way or another as the weld causes shrinkage.

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat May 23, 2009 12:47 am

Thanks J solid advice as always, anything other than small patches, and I mean anything larger than an inch, I'll have to get experienced/professional help in, don't want to be driving around in circles with a warped chassis. most of the structural welding is small, but I'm keeping an open mind untill after the shotblasting.

Post by **Dryad** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:00 am

SPL's website is at http://www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk/ I wish I could afford to do that!

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:14 pm

After a well spent morning learning mig welding with a friend of mine who is restoring an MGB. He uses a gassless clarke mig. I had such a great time learning pace and handling that I shot off to Portsmouth machine mart and got one. My first weld was with two small scraps of metal welded together quite well, I cut it open to check how well it had welded and was very pleased.

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:17 pm

This will be my first practical application of my new machine, welding this hole up. I'll put a picture up on here when its done.

Post by **d_harris** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:18 pm

Are you welding gasless then David?

BTW, Clarke is a VERY good choice for a welder....

Post by **ani** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:30 pm

David, Is there anything you can't do

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:33 pm

That's right Dan, my first experience of welding was with my friends gassless and it went so well I want to build on what Ive learnt. His was a Clarke so thats what Ive gone for, there was overwhelming support for clarke welders on this site, so I felt quite well informed about them. The actual model I purchased gives both options for gas and gasless.

Post by **d_harris** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:37 pm

Is it a model that will let you weld with gas? Although good results can be obtained with the flux cored stuff working with gas gives better quality welds with less spatter - might be worth getting a small cylinder and see how you get on.....

Incidentally, IMHO learning to weld by actually doing it (i.e on the car) is far and away the best way - OK, so you will blow some holes and make some mistakes, but wheres the fun in welding easy stuff on the bench......

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat May 23, 2009 9:40 pm

ani wrote:David, Is there anything you can't do

Thats very nice of you Ani, but my welding skills have got a long way to go before I'll not be embarrassed to show you all my results. Mind you having said that, there is so much support and advice on here I'll show them anyway.

Post by **tortron** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:17 pm

i picked up a similar welder about 6 months ago
has easily payed for itself by now, not that my minor was all that rusty (infact as of yesterday its rust free

) but expecially with being able to just nip up exhausts and other little things.
I use the exchangeable soda stream bottles when i want to use gas

Post by **davidmiles** » Sun May 24, 2009 6:56 pm

Well this is it, my first weld repair, the hole was tiny, the reason the weld is so large, I kept blowing holes in the thin steel of the axle cap then had to continue until the new holes were filled with weld. A small job that ended up taking an hour of welding, grinding and re welding. still, loads learnt, I'm getting better at puddle making and judging heat buildup. Its a long way from perfect, but hey its my first.