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Tag Archives: Welding
Getting Ready for Winter
As you might have noticed, I haven’t updated here for a little while. As tends to happen, other plans and projects mean that I just haven’t been able to get down to the car recently. As it’s now starting to get colder and the days are getting shorter, I’ve decided it’s time to pack up for the winter. So over the weekend we went down to the garage, I spent a bit of time welding the wheelarch on (It’s taken me a while to fit properly, the shape and fit of the pressing is awful and needed a lot of beating into shape). Done now though: The only thing remaining is to paint the arch and wing, then that’s it for the winter. I also (A couple of weeks ago) stripped and painted the o/s headlamp recess, that’s ready for final painting now: The car is slowly starting to turn … Read More
Battery Tray & Wing
Not a lot of blogging recently, the weather has been hampering any serious attempts to work! I have managed to get a bit done though. The windscreen frame is slowly taking final shape. I’ve got it nearly there, just a few last small ripples to get out. Work moved on to the battery tray, it was in basically solid shape but needed a good tidy up: So I ground off all the surface rust, acid etched both parts and welded on some new metal after I mangled the bit where it connects to the bulkhead: Then it was time to clean up the engine bay area: A lot of that couldn’t be reached with any power tool in my collection so there was a whole lot of rubbing down done by hand. I’m happy with the end result though. A bit of priming and seam sealing: The seam sealer ended … Read More
Windscreen Frame part 8
After waiting for a day with some decent weather, I got the welding finished off this weekend. Firstly I welded the bulkhead panel in place, then ground down all the excess weld from the top and sides: Then went back over the whole thing and redid a few parts that weren’t up to scratch. Once happy with that, I tapped down a few high spots and got started with the filler. It looks like the filler I’m using is past it’s best, it’s a couple of years old and isn’t as smooth or easy to work with as it used to be. So, time to get some more. I persevered with what I had for today, quite happy with the result so far: I decided to fill the seams for now and have a smooth A post: I can chase some seams back in later if I decide that doesn’t … Read More
Windscreen Frame part 7
Both panels are now in! I tacked the top panel in place and did a bit of measuring to make sure nothing had slipped. It all checked out fine, so time to get going on with the welding. End result: It looks a mess, but a good session with the grinder should sort that out. It’s not as level as I’d hoped for due to some inevitable heat distortion (maybe I was hoping for too much?), but it’s nothing a bit of hammering down and filling won’t fix. Overall, I’m happy enough with the job. There’s a couple of bits to patch on the join between the A posts and the roof panel where I got a little carried away with the grinder (Remember, kids: Measure twice, cut once – don’t let this happen to you!) I’m currently wondering whether to leave the seam there for originality (due to the … Read More
Floor Repairs & Front End
The welding work is now more or less complete around the lower parts of the car now. Of course, there’s still the new panels to weld in, but as far as patching up the rusty stuff is concerned, there’s just the windscreen to do (talk about saving the best till last!) This week was mainly about the small fiddly bits in the floors, there were a couple of small holes here and there that needed attention: All done now, the interior is ready for cleaning up and painting. I also tackled the sill, not the prettiest of work but plenty strong enough: That turned out to be a fiddly job, there’s four different panels in there! After all that was done, I turned my attention to the front end. First job was to remove the lower (spoiler) panel. Rust-wise it isn’t too bad, but it’s clearly taken a couple of … Read More
Wheelarch Continued
After all the stripping down, I got on with welding the patches in this week. They needed to be fairly level as I’d be welding bits on to them, and this isn’t really one of my best skills. Nevertheless, I think they came out alright: They’re not exactly invisible (I’m not that good!), but once I’ve got the other bits welded in place a light skim of filler will sort that out where needed. There is a small bit where the flitch panel joins the bulkhead where a bit of weld built up, I can’t get to it with any tool in my collection so it’ll just have to stay as it is: Although once the battery tray, wiper motor and wiring loom goes back in place I don’t think it’ll even be visible. I also did another bit to the front of the turret, not quite so happy with … Read More
Wheelarch & Battery Tray
I’ve been a bit busy over the last couple of days, so this post is a little out of date. Anyway: As mentioned in the last post, I had a plan together to tackle the welding and bodywork that needed doing. That was started at the weekend with the removal of the wheelarch. I didn’t come out easy – and I wasn’t expecting it to – but it did come out. A bit of time, patience, a spot weld drill, and (most importantly!) a hammer, and I got there. I had a spot weld drill that I purchased before which worked OK, except that I got too small a size. So I’d ordered this one instead: http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cht467-38in-spot-weld-drill At over £7 plus delivery, I was expecting great things from it. Unfortunately, I managed to drill out two welds before the thing was completely destroyed. Not happy! So I had to do … Read More
Welding Plan
After poking around the nearside wheelarch and footwell, it seems that the rust is a bit more serious than I first thought. There’s a hole in the footwell, obviously from the disintegrating sill area: Apart from the corner bit it’s nothing too bad, although the crossmember underneath may prove tricky. Of more concern is the bit on the bulkhead where it meets the bottom of the flitch panel. The bottom of the panel has gone rusty, and taken the area of the bulkhead with it. It’s a tricky area, but I’ve come up with a plan. 1. Remove the battery tray 2. Remove the complete wheelarch: 3. Remove welds and lift the bottom of the flitch panel out of the way: 4. With the panel out of the way, I can then cut out the rot from the bulkhead and weld in a new plate: 5. Weld in a new … Read More
Spring at last – back on with the work
Blimey – seven months to the day since my last blog entry! I’d like to say I haven’t been idle since then, but unfortunately as far as the TR7 is concerned, I have. The dark nights and cold weather restrict my ability to do much work at the garage, and frankly I’d prefer not to be mucking around in the cold and wet weather if I don’t have to. So once the nights draw in, that’s pretty much it until the following spring. This weekend was the first decent one of the year where I haven’t been busy with other things, so off I went to the garage to pick up from where I left off. I left it with the back end nearly done, just the rear deck to finish off and put back on. Unfortunately, while it’s not wet in there, it does get damp during the winter, … Read More
Rear Deck part 2
Work has continued with the rear deck repairs, I’ve now welded on some fresh metal to replace the rusty stuff I ground out the other day. I’ll be taking the rear deck back to the garage at the weekend for a test fit, to see what needs tidying up and fettling, then it just remains to sort out the deck itself and refit it all. After a bit of testing, I’ve decided against welding the seam, trying to get a decent seam weld into the gap is tricky to say the least – beyond my current capabilities anyway. So I think I’ll bolt it on as before, and run a little bit of seam sealer down the seam.