1949 Tourer from Aus

[chickenjohn]

This body is indeed in lovely condition, if the only rust found after blasting are the pin holes shown! It is going to be a great car when done.

[RobThomas]

Taupe. 42 inches, to within an 1/16 of an inch. Measured from the outboard face of the front pivot mounts.

[taupe]

Rob

Brilliant

Thanks for your help again!

Taupe

[RobThomas]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/show ... post279182

Latest pics of the shell in primer can be seen here.

[RobThomas]

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Original oxy welding of the crossmember ends. Slightly iffy quality control?
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Chassis legs look alright but will need a few tiny dents pulled out and a crack repaired at the top of the hole where the eyebolt goes through. Interesting that it has gone just there?
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Lowlights are slightly different here where the bumper mounts get sandwiched between the wing and the body rather than those cast metal rods.
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Tiny bit of grit left up in the chassis. A hoover, a jet of air and a little gravity seems to be in order. Not as bad as I was expecting. Great care seems to have been taken by Custom Classics of Barry to get the grit out. They've even blasted up the chassis legs and inside that box section under the knees of the rear passengers. All in all, a top quality job, guys!

[RobThomas]

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Crack in the chassis leg where the eyebolt goes through.
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Crack at the front of the outboard drivers' seat mounting point.
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Cruddy welding of the handbrake mounting. What are those dots for ahead of it? They seem to be holding the top of the crossmember. Were they screw holes for holding it in position?

[MarkyB]

The welding wasn't done by a robot, just a bloke in a flat cap.
Probably an ex soldier not long back from WW2.

No idea about the holes I'm afraid.

[taupe]

Rob

On later cars the crossmember is spotwelded there, the crossmember is also stitch gas welded on the underside.

Perhaps they are spotwelds that have blown through or they had some other welding method?

Taupe

[Dean]

Thank you for sharing the photo's Rob... so much can be learned from the early construction methods and techniques.

[RobThomas]

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The car had been 'curbed' at some point in the past. This panel is not accessable from behind so I had to drill holes in the dented bits, put in screws, tug them outwards, weld the holes and then fill. I chose a lead kit from a resto shop in Devon but Frost also sell one for a similar price.
[Big wheels and home-made hubcaps]
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Clean off the etch and primer, scuff the surface and apply some tinning goop.
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Lead it up, file it off.
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A quick thin coat of filler on the bits that the lead missed and then some etch and top coat for protection. I think I'll still need to remove a small crease about half way along the top of that edge. Bu66er!

[RobThomas]

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When the chassis leg was assembled (1949) the welder left a splodge of weld sitting above the tie bar bracket and it wasn't removed before welding it to the shell, leaving it to mess up the panel fit. Shades of things to come with British Leyland??

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Dremel out a letterbox and then drill the blob out. The engine mount towers can now sit flat on the floor of the engine bay.

[RobThomas]

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Front of the left chassis leg had a small welding hole that allowed water to get in. This must've sat on some dust in there and it started a small rust hole in the bottom of the panel. Snip, snip. Not bad in there for bare metal![frame][/frame]

Same thing here. Moisture trapped in the dirt on that bottom seam has allowed some minor perforation to get into the floor and the vertical panel. Worth getting busy with the grinder now rather than in 40 years' time. Still a lot of bare unpainted and unrusted steel on the car. I thought they were rotodipped from new?

[chickenjohn]

That is why it is vital to treat the car with cavity wax when the welding work and painting is complete.

[RobThomas]

TIG welding is very intolerant of stuff like wax but MIG seems to cope a bit better so I'm glad I didn't fill the car up when I first bought it . I'll be blitzing the shell with Dinitrol when it is finished.
At the moment I have sliced out that bit of grot in the floor, wire brushed the surface, painted it with acidic rust converter (Phosphoric acid based stuff) and will leave it overnight since I've not got any clean 1mm steel for the floor and crossmember repairs. I'll router a piece of Marine ply so that I can press the shapes into the floor panel a-la-taupe but that is best done when nobody is trying to sleep.
More lead loading again tonight!

[RobThomas]

I've "Taupe'd" up a repair panel for the box section . Here it is before clamping and welding. It is 1mm thick on this panel (as per original) so it should sit flush underneath and the rpair be hidden after a bit of edge tidying.[frame][/frame]

[RobThomas]

There are lips inside to allow me to weld both sides. I'll have to grind a bit of light crud off of the old floorpan and trim those new edges a bit before it all goes in.[frame][/frame]

[taupe]

Hi Rob

Great work there!

Once welded in you wouldnt know it had been repaired

Its great to see the original condition of your shell and the vast areas that require replacing

Taupe

[RobThomas]

Its great to see the original condition of your shell and the vast areas that require replacing

Yeah, it was touch and go there for a while as to whether it was worth saving!

I'm reluctant to do anything to it that will spoil the originality but these grot pinholes are too close to the suspension points to fart about with tiny patches and it would seem silly to not make all of the panels look like the originals. I could have not bothered with the bulges by just cutting a bit further up but you've....errr....kinda set a standard for the rest of us to try to keep up with.

[RobThomas]

Welded in. I HAAAATE welding upside down but it needed a complete seam weld underneath which is not nice for my backache.
I stuck a few stitches at the front to keep it in place whilst I welded the underside. Hopefully it will grind down fairly flush.[frame][/frame]

[RobThomas]

You can see where the metal has bubbled just away from those stitches indicating plenty of penetration from underneath so it should hold perfectly well.

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