New RHS chassis leg and surroundings (sorted!!!)

[MoggyTech]

Stuff all room for one of them either. I've had to cut holes in the wing before now...
a

http://www.starchem.co.uk/products/abs-1.htm

One of those with a longer blade will do it, but broken blades are to be expected.

[Bluesman]

Well, thi sthread will continue to unfold next week, when the necessary bits and pieces arrive. Meanwhile...enjoy our latest findings:
http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?name=P ... ic&t=18825

[Spag]

The upper rearmost, hidden away where you can't get a socket on it one

That's the fella, often found to be missing on cars that have had the wings replaced in the past. No room for an angle grinder either. An air saw is sometimes the only way

Popped my wings off a couple of weeks back and for 1965 bolts they came out without too much drama.

Not having WHIT sockets, I found that an old (worn) 13mm would fit well with a gentle tap from the number 3 FBHammer. Also a 13mm ratchet spanner from a Halfwits set seemed to do the job too.

Airsaw is a pain on bolts - I couldn't get the bolts on the engine mount bracket things to budge. Tried 3" air grinder cutoff thingy, but was slow going, so fired up Mr Plasma and discovered you can chop the head of a bolt or burn the bolt out from a nut in about 15 secs with v. little collateral damage!

Blimey - is that the time, I am late, should have been in the garage an hour or so ago !!

[chickenjohn]

Bluesman, I found 13mm is a bit too small and 14mm to big for 1/4 whitworth head bolts that hold the wings on. Its ok using metric if the bolts are ok, but if you get a difficult one, having the right Whitworth too can make the difference between undooting and rounding off the heads. The hockey sticks (chrome trim on the outside of the wing that hold wing and front panel together) are BA thread bolts. Save these if you can. I think a small metric socket will fit these- use lots of plus gas and some heat.

[Bluesman]

here we go - today, we cleaned up the last bits, fixed a small hole in the vertical bulkhead thing (close to the tieplate) and made the chassis leg fit - I had to cut a good deal of the RHS outer flange in order to make room for the torsion bar - good thing I didn´t forget..

Tomorrow, there will be tie plates and flitch extensions in the mail, and once those are in their proper places, the fun can start.

Meanwhile, lacking proper measuremnet points - here´s the latest Photoshopped "right-angled and reasonably aligned" check - and it looks decent as it is now. It´s level, too.



All edges and welding paths underneath the floor are degreased, sanded to bare metal, straightened out and zinc primed as of now. Same goes for the chassis leg.

Tuesday is final fitting/tacking day. Then, one half hour thinking break, a final sanity check (measurements, forgotten stuff), and then welding time!

Edit: John - thanks for notes on wing bolts. Precisely why I ordered (tnx, HarryMango) some WW spanners/sockets. I hate rounded bolts in inaccessible places. Lord knows I will need them sockets/spanners

Cheers /Richard

[MoggyTech]

Looking good, very tidy work

[Bluesman]

Done. Phew. 6 hours of measuring, offering and welding.

Thanks to the good powers, to my co-welding woman, and to all helpful souls on this forum.
Offering up da bits:



Da companion:


25 percent done:


Done. Wow.


Cheers /Richard

[bmcecosse]

It's looking good! You're doing a great job there. Great pics too!

[dunketh]

Wow!
If I owned (and was currently wearing) a hat - it'd be off to you!

Thats some amazing work. Makes me wish I could start learning to weld.

[Spag]

Looks like that's going to end up a very nice solid motor !

What's the plan for painting ?

[Bluesman]

Thanks for your support and encouragement!

Painting? Well, there´s still some hundred-odd hours of welding and fixing, but yes, we have ideas about paint. But - this car is not going to be a showroom car, but an everyday driver. Hence no total respray at this point, I´d much prefer to repair and preserve the original paint, it gives the car a very honest "shabby chic" look that I like.

To begin with, I need to find a good primer that will stick well to the old paint, and still give a good foundation for the top coat. Once we have a good primer, the engine bay and all sorts of small stuff around the engine will be painted with some durable top coat, not necessarily in Smoke Grey, but in some matching color.

In order to find a primer, we had to start someplace. We sanded off and painted(primed) some oddities today...dang, what a good feeling that was, in the middle of this chaos. Spray painting, outside, in + 3 degrees C, with a cheapo spray gun...





If this dries well, is durable, and stands up to the top coat we had in mind - then, the engine bay will be painted and done this weekend. And we can direct our attention to other places on the old lady.
Cheers /Richard

[MoggyTech]

The quality of work for those chassis legs and tie plates is top notch. Everthing looks to be in perfect alignment. Well done

[chickenjohn]

Yes, great work done on the welding bluesman! Keep it up and keep the pics coming.

I wouldnt worry about painting till the weather warms up a bit. i guess cellulose paint is not available where you are?

[Bluesman]

John, MT - thanks for the continous support. This was a big job, especially for Moggie noobs (and without welding experience - last time I did a big job was on a VW split window van, 20-odd years ago) like us. Mentally, it was a pig. Just to get to the point where the cutting out starts...all the ifs and butts that need to be sorted, and the tools of course.

But - once overcome, the rest looks doable. Ah, yes. Paint. Good question, John. I haven´t seen cellulose paint used or sold in Sweden since about 1976, except for spray cans in guitar shops, and then mostly as clear laquer. I used to be a car painter and have done a few old Mercs, Volvos and Fords and the odd horse cart in cellulose, but all that disappeared within the more common and widespread use of synthetic and later 2-K paint.

Now, I might be mistaken, but I believe EU rules out anything non-water-based as of this year, making it even harder to find usable (DIY) paint. I need to check with the Morris parts guy in Gothenburg. I´d love to do a cellulose job on Betty, provided she´s not (re)sprayed in synthetic to begin with (which I strongly suspect).

In any case, that´s academic at this point. We are only looking to paint the engine bay so we can put the engine & gearbox back into Betty ASAP.
And the engine bay will not be Smoke grey, but something either matching/close enough or a nice contrasty color like a slightly darker grey.
And we will probably use some enamel/laquer from the farming world. Durable stuff (IME), gas & heat resistant, good-looking even when brushed on - and cheap. And it can be applied in cold weather - watch this space for preliminary results this weekend.

Edit: update: due to unforeseen (but anticipated anyway) rot discoveries needing immediate attention, the painting of the engine bay is re-scheduled to the coming weekend.

Cheers /Richard