Fudge, a new beginning!

[Lowriderlad]

Hello everyone,

I'll start by introducing myself, I'm Budd, one of those sneaky members who follows the message board but without every really making my own mark. Over the time I have been a member I have found this site to be amazingly useful and to all you regular posters out there many thanks!

And now to the car, here's my first love, aptly named Fudge...

I have owned fudge now for three years and together we have had quite a journey. I'm by no means a mechanic so it's been touch and go with many small jobs coming in turn to push me to the very limits. I'm still learning, rather slowly, but as I intend to own her for as long as possible I'm sure I'll have a long time to practice.

Fudge and I have been lucky enough to have featured in My cool classic car by Chris Haddon and even managed to wangle being on the front cover, this is always a great talking point at any show we have attended!

But after many happy miles fudge is getting a little tired and is in need of some major restoration to keep her. And that is what has landed me here. After a few days of careful dismantling and some not so careful dismantling fudge is now taking a short rest on her side in the back garden ready for some much needed under carriage rejuvenation. Please take a look at my photos and enjoy some real amateur restoration from sunny Essex.[frame][/frame]

[Lowriderlad]

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[Lowriderlad]

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[Lowriderlad]

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[Lowriderlad]

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[tysonn]

How are the mighty fallen eh?Seriously though the areas shown don't look particularly bad,par for the course really and you can't get better access than you have now.Why the different reg nos BTW?

[chickenjohn]

How are the mighty fallen eh?Seriously though the areas shown don't look particularly bad,par for the course really and you can't get better access than you have now.Why the different reg nos BTW?

Number plate is a faked one as the number to disguise the real plate; LDN 2012, possibly a reference to the Olympics a few years ago/??

But, yes the rust just looks like normal Minor rust to be fixed. you need at least an RP 135L and RP 134L looking at those photos.

[Lowriderlad]

Yeah the plate was changed for the book covers. I wish I actually had that plate!

By the looks of it I think I'll need all the floor edge panels and box section for both sides. the actual floor panel have all been replaced before and look to be in quite good condition. may have to replace the offside spring hanger as well as it feels quite soft! a fair amount of prep left to go, this underseal is a nightmare to get off. In some places its a centimetre thick!

[Lowriderlad]

Wee not much news on the car I'm afraid as I've been working as much as possible the last few weeks to pay off an ever increasing student overdraft! That being said have a look at my new toy. It's 90l, 3hp, 14cfm, which should be plenty for the spray work to come later in the project. I bought a Wolf mig welder a couple of months ago and that has been really good so far, hoping I'll have the same luck with this![frame][/frame]

[tysonn]

Well done buying a belt drive comp.Your ears won't take as much of a battering as with a direct drive.That spec will do plenty too.

[Lowriderlad]

I was quite shocked at how quiet it actually is! I must say I'm rather impressed so far, it built a whole tank of pressure in just under 45 seconds. Not bad for a tad shy of 300 quid!

[Lowriderlad]

So after two fairly hefty bills (for a poor student) to both ESM and Bull Motif, I've ordered all the panels, including all floor edges two new spring hangers and covers. In the meantime there has been little progress other than a few hours of attacking the underseal with the wire brush today. I've also noticed that the area near the rear bump stop is going to need cut out and a panel made up to suit. Looks like I'm going to have my work cut out over the summer.

Before I cut out the first of the rear spring hangers I took quite a few measurements to ensure all goes back ok. Does anyone out there have another set of measures so I can cross compare, for some reason I don't trust whoever has repaired it before![frame][/frame]

[Lowriderlad]

The bump stop repair area...[frame][/frame]

[Lowriderlad]

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[Lowriderlad]

Some more previous 'creative' welding...

[Lowriderlad]

A rather interesting floor edge repair...

[kevin s]

The main thing with the spring hangers is that they are both the same and parallel and square to the front axle, use diagonal measurements to check for squareness. That said mine were original all be it very rusty and 10 mm different side to side.