Don't know where to start

[BI8759]

Hi, I've just had a moggie fall into my lap (ouch). The previous owner has obviously done some work but she still needs a lot doing to her. The floor pan is more or less solid, but she is rotten in the areas where the door hangers, sills, inner wheel arches and front, inner side panels (the ones with the kidney-dish shape in them) meet. As a consequence, the door fit is awful but I think this is quite common.

We took her to a well-known restorer who were very nice but basically said £13k or scrap her. I don't want to do either and, as I used to be fairly mechanically-minded in my youth and am enrolling on a welding course at college, I want to do this work myself. The thing that I'm struggling with is a sensible scheme of work. Could anyone give me some advice on whether I should do the undersills first, then the door fit.... or... get the door hangers done, which should give me a good door fit and then tackle the sills? Or does it not matter?

Hope this makes sense

Ian

[LouiseM]

Hi Ian, welcome to the messageboard - you've come to the right place for advice. Looks like you've got yourself a big project there but enrolling on a welding course is a good first step if you're determined to tackle it yourself. There's an earlier thread regarding order of restoration here: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0, and take a look through the restoration projects forum to see some work in progress. Good luck, and any queries just ask. Someone on here will know the answer!

[chickenjohn]

My approach is to make sure the car has solid suspension mounts first- so deal with the front and rear spring hangers and also the front chassis legs (if needed).

Then, due to lack of space in my garage, I start at one corner and work around. For instance take the drivers side front wing off and repair the inner wing back as far as the a pillar. Then repair the rear wheel arch on that side. We now have solid structure around the door gap/ sill area, brace the door opening (such that door can still be mounted for a test fit) and across the width of the car then cut the sills out on that side (try and save the inner sill step if possible!)

replace the sills on that side and any bits of floor needed. Finally, after lots of measurements, cut off the rotten door pillar and tack weld a new one on by bolting door to door pillar, shut the door in the opening, tack on pillar and test fit with the wings as well. Test door opens and shuts well and gaps are fine before fully welding the A pillar in.

Then repair lower B post section, if needed. You now have one restored side to the car. repair boot floor and then turn car around and do the other side in the same order. Try and butt weld any repair sections in and where overlaps occur in the structure, then plug weld these.

please post more pics of the rust!

[youngun]

DO NOT DESPAIR!

As John says, do one bit at a time and just ignore the rest until you get it. If you try doing 8 things at once it will seem all the more daunting!

If it helps, have a flick through my photos. My moggy wasnt as badly rusted as yours, but the basics such as sills, spring hangers and inner wings are all in there, hope they'll be of some use.
To get it to a solid stage took me nearly 2 years, but im a slow worker!

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u118 ... ?start=240


All the best,
YG

[BI8759]

Thank you I did search for this topic but must have missed the existing post. I know I have a half chassis leg to do so will start there. I'll get snapping and put up some more rusty photos.

Ian

[Ian46]

From the photos and my experiences I would tackle the structure first as everyone suggests however, have the shell checked over to make sure it is still 'straight' and hasn't moved due to any cill weakness or previous poor welding locking in stresses to the structure which could then be released when someone now comes to cut pieces out to repair.

If possible get the car on a jig for a professional look over or if that is not practcal, place the car on a flat level surface and very thoroughly measure all the suspension pickup points either side of a centre line and again from corner to corner in 3D.

Do the doors fit correctly? It may be necessary to weld some cross ties in the door apertures and acrosss the car's B posts to make sure things stay where they are when cutting out all the rust from the cills. If welded to the seams where the door draft excluder strips go these braces can be ground out afterwards and no one will know.

Any existing dodgy repairs underneath I would cut out and re do first, always measuring back to known original reference points.

But before you get the grinder/welder out remove the interior and either cover the glass and/or remove it (it is amazing how many rebuilt cars you see with metal fragments in the glass and it never comes out). Oh and drain the tank of fuel and if possible store away from the car (petrol fumes ever present).

Regards Ian