A very slow build of a custom traveller

[Steve Phillips]

I had a factory convertible like that a few years ago. It folded in the middle when the doors were both open,

Don't worry the traveller gets worse once you see underneath, I'll post some pics tomorrow of the underside for your entertainment.

[Steve Phillips]

So the traveller shell is finally in the blast room now and I started blasting it yesterday.

Defiant to the end the shell left a trail of rust on the floor behind itself as we rolled it into the blast room. Ahh bless..

I am only going to blast the parts that are staying, as there’s really no point in blasting parts that are obviously going to get cut off because they are so rotten, once the shell is blasted ill blast all the loose panels, bonnet, grill etc etc,

I’m blasting it with crushed glass as it will remove all the paint and rust but isn’t aggressive enough to hurt (warp) the panels, I only need 35 – 40 psi of air pressure for this so any stubborn underseal will need scraping off before finishing with the blaster.

Once it’s blasted ill etch prime the shell straight away as a raw steel shell will attract moisture instantly,

Anyway a few last pics showing the underside condition of my beautiful one owner traveller…

First pic is the NS rear inner arch that is now more patches than original arch,

Second pic is the NSR spring mount showing the latest in fashionable welding styles the “seagull poo splatter welds”

The last three show the OSF chassis leg or what’s left of it, which really isn’t much, but never mind a bit of fibre glass and filler and it will be as good as new,,, possibly..

So the next pics I post will hopefully show a blasted rust free shell and panels,

[irmscher]

Any progress Steve ??

[Bowie69]

Last seen heading to the workshop with a large dustpan and brush....

[Steve Phillips]

Hi,

Yes some progress, but haven't got any updated pictures to show at the moment,
work has been busy so that has slowed things a little, but the shell is just about blasted now,
Well I say the shell is blasted, as I had said I'm only blasting the parts I'm keeping, "so not much then" lol..

Due to the shell's "pristine" condition we cleaned out and vacuumed as much loose rust, dirt and underseal as possible before putting it into the blast room, to try not to contaminate the blast media more than we had to, but like all old vehicles, and old anything else come to that it dumped rust, coins, biro's and a key on the floor during the blasting process, and we'll,,,, it's blasted but as you correctly say I did sweep a lot of it up from the floor,

But good news I just about have enough to work with, all it needs in the way of repairs is,,,,,,, well everything actually,, it's even got rot holes inside at the top of the B post, yup inside,,,, don't think I have ever had that before on a minor,

Next week I'll get the shell out of the blast room, (It's very dry there so it won't start to rust before Tuesday when I'm back to work) and etch prime what's left of it,
then I'll get the loose panels blasted and primed, bonnet, grill, etc etc,

I'm not stripping or blasting the doors at the moment as ill need them to help keep everything square, as you can imagine the shell is now very flexible, and with the fact that I need to cut out and replace, chassis legs, center crossmember, inner wings, A post bottoms, inner, outer sills, floor pans, B post bottoms, rear seat box, rear inner arches, rear panel behind fuel tank, so pretty much the everything, I'll need the doors complete,

Before stripping the shell down it actually had really good door gaps and fit, so my logic is to use them for alignment, plus a lot of bracing welded into the shell.

So hopefully I'll get some pictures next week to post up of the remains, then I can get started on some fabrication,

Steve

[pgp001]

I'm guessing you will only be left with a bulkhead and transmission tunnel from what you have described.
You are a very brave man !!

Phil

[Steve Phillips]

Pretty much yes, you can see from the pre blasting pics that both chassis legs are rotten, and as for the front cross member it was only attached to one chassis leg so I broke that off before blasting,
The floors and main cross member have had it, along with everything else really, so your actually right a bulkhead and trans tunnel,

My first task after finishing blasting the loose panels will be to start making new chassis legs and front and center cross-members, the chassis legs will need fabricating as I'm not running standard front suspension or a standard master cylinder in the leg, the front cross member will need to be slimmer to accomodate the extra length of the fiat engine and the center cross member will be a solid piece rather than a laminated version, that won't need as many holes in it either as there will be no torsion bar mounts, brake lines or wiring running through it,

I also want a smaller floor hump where the center cross member will be as I have a pair of seats ready to use but the floor hump means they would sit to high in the car,

So lots of fabrication just to get started, like I said in the title "a very slow build" but as long as I keep plodding....

Steve

[cococola]

Keep up the work Steve I wish I was near to you as I would love to help. Fabrication is a skill that I try myself and I admire others that do this also.

[irmscher]

Any updates Steve

[Steve Phillips]

Hi all,

Well I did say it would be a slow build, lol and work got in the way in the last few weeks, but here’s a little update,

Now there comes a time when you have to be realistic (and apparently adult) and admit that the shell you
have is so rotten that there’s really not much to work with and that the best thing to do is

“A” admit defeat and give up,

“B” get a better shell, or

“C” stick a full chassis under it,

So with that in mind and having never been mature or sensible I’m ignoring this being sensible malarkey and just get on rebuilding what I have as per my original plan,

Now I have bead blasted the parts of the shell that are staying, so really not much at all,,,,, and in the attached pictures of the next couple of postings you will be able to see the full extent of what’s left, BTW some of the holes you will see in the OS front floor pan were not made by the blasting process but by me kneeling on the floor, so I think we can honestly say the steel is a bit thin there,,,

All the front panels were blasted individually but we hung them back on for the pictures,

What can’t easily be seen in the first pic is that a previous “specialist” had welded the front panel to the end of one of the chassis legs, so there’s a bit of repair work to do there, and a small dent to remove,

Both the front wings are rotten down the back edges (as always) and the same round the head lamp mounts, so some repairs there later in the project.

The bonnet isn’t bad just the normal spits on the front edge return, so that makes the whole project worth while then……

The roof outside is the one panel that appears to be rust free and dent free, even the gutters are pretty good.

As I can only attach 5 pics per posting I’ll stop here for the moment and post some more later showing the really good bits.

Steve

[Steve Phillips]

So now the moment you have all been waiting for,,, or perhaps not,,

First picture shows the dash, floor and chassis legs, or at least what’s left of them, OS leg is the worst, but both are rotten, still the dash is in great condition, so thats gotta be a bonus.

Second pic shows the bulkhead and a very rotten battery box, oh well just one more thing to be cut out,

This is followed by the OS inner wing and engine bay floor, or the lack of, I feel a bit of invasive surgery may be needed here.

Next is the NS inner wing and bay floor, this is positively pristine by comparison to the other side but believe me it’s still rotten and will need replacing.

And now we move to inside the cab, and to the top of the OS B post that has its own ventilation system, never had a traveller rot here before, but there’s a first time for everything..

Steve

[Steve Phillips]

So today just for a change I thought I would show you some pictures of rust and bodged repairs, just for a change that is,,

I promise I’ll start showing more interesting pictures soon, in fact I’m starting to make some parts for it today, so I’ll have something a little more interesting to show soon. (Even I’m bored looking at rust)..

So to start the NS floor, you will notice it lacks any of the original pressings, that’s because it appears to be two pieces of sheet steel that have been welded in place, with other pieces lapping over these from underneath the shell, no wonder its rotting away before my eyes, you will also notice the very artistic lace effect between the side of the floor and the bottom of the trans tunnel. Have to say this was very handy for brushing out all the loose rust and dirt, perhaps it’s a feature I should keep…. Or perhaps not.

OS floor pan, the large hole in the centre of the picture was caused by my knee while I leant inside, Opps, once again you will notice the convenient rust and dirt removal points, these are located… well pretty much all round the floor,

Front foot well and A post, the A post is reasonably solid still, and in the right place, so this will be one of my few good reference points for alignment, the inner wheel arch has a large patch at the bottom but the original arch has rotted away directly above it, oh well one more for the list.

The B post bottoms are pretty much as you would expect, but you will see from the last picture the door sill area is not only very sound but original. Well I say its sound it is until you get to the A post end and then its rotten, phew I was getting worried for a minute that there might be a panel that I wouldn’t have to replace…..

Steve

[Steve Phillips]

So now we move slightly rearwards, to the rear seat box, now this has been completely covered along its front face with full width and height repair sections, but when I looked inside the box all the rotten steel is still inside and shows no sign of rust proofing/waxoyling. Gotta love a specialist..

The rear of the seat box is no better, and the welding is, err…. Interesting, (and that’s being polite)

The rear box sections aren’t too bad and I was hoping to keep these, although I’m not 100% sure at the moment about these, further investigation will decide their fate.

An overall view of the rear floor area, at least the centre of the floor panel is useable, even if the front and sides have had it, oh and the rear behind the fuel tank,,, oh yes that’s err… well have a look at the last picture, oh well.

Since the pictures were taken the underside has been blasted in the same areas that you can see in the pictures and all the blasted areas were sprayed with primer to stop moisture getting to the bare steel, when all the steel work is finished the whole shell will be blasted lightly again so that any factory primer or light surface rust that has crept back can be eliminated, but that is a very long way away at the moment.

Well “that’s all folks” now I’m off to start cutting some metal, so the question is what’s the first panel to make,,, just so many choices..

Steve

[Ted1963]

It's a bit of rot box.....

[Steve Phillips]

Yes it is indeed "a bit of a rot box"

But it's a bit of a rot box that now has two new custom chassis legs. New custom bay floors.
A new slim front cross member and the start of a one off center cross member.

I'll take some pics of my endeavours next week and post them up.
There's not much to look at yet but it's a start.
Once I've finished the cross member I can weld all the new parts together.
This should give me the start of my rebuild.

Steve

[Ted1963]

Yes - I saw those last week - looking forward to pictures of the finished articles!

[irmscher]

Doing really well most people would of scrapped it but I can see you are up for a challenge

[TDV102]

Bet you could plait fog!

[Steve Phillips]

Yes always enjoy a challenge, to me the challenge is more about rebuilding it to high standard and building something that works correctly and drives well, I don’t want to just cobble it back together, and I don’t want it to look like Frankenstein underneath when I’m finished,

No cant Platt fog, but I’m considering an evening class in yoghurt weaving,,,, even if I can’t master it, I’ll get to eat the yoghurt.

ill get some ppics up tomorrow.

Steve

[irmscher]

Put the dog in some of the photos Steve