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Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 31 Jul 2019, 14:07
by Mrs8925
Phoebe came to us on 1st May 2019. Although she had an MOT until late June, we knew she needed some considerable bodywork and a good old clean and tidy up.
A few weeks of tentative driving to loosen her up after standing for 2 years, she failed the MOT and took her place on our driveway ready for some TLC.
Fast forward a few weeks to now when we have a free long weekend and some childcare lined up, we shall be cutting back the filler and seeing what's what. Will do my best to keep a diary on here of how we get on.
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 31 Jul 2019, 14:13
by Mrs8925
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 31 Jul 2019, 14:18
by Mrs8925
So... rust repairs. This is what we can see so far.
First up, two near side wheel arch repairs and a suspension mount repair...
First question of the thread: does anyone have any advice please on reconstructing the inner wheel arch? How's it shaped? How does it weld into the surrounding bodywork? If anyone has done this before, what's the best way to make it up? As one whole panel or as a few parts?
Thanks in advance.
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 31 Jul 2019, 22:02
by RogerT
My word, you’ve a few wee jobs ahead of you.
I’d suggest you spend time looking at restoration threads. In detail and repeatedly, and have a think about whether you want to go further. (I hope you do!)
It looks very familiar to me, both your B and C pillars look likely to be gonners at the bottom ends, probably inner and outer parts of the pillars. C pillars form part of the support structure above the suspension mount. Your sill will likely need attention too. I’d suggest sort the structural parts before the arch.
Learn to weld. Do you have somewhere to get the van under cover?
And don’t be disheartened, a lot of us have been there.
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 03 Aug 2019, 13:03
by Mrs8925
Thanks Roger. Hubby can weld, albeit at a novice level but we're willing to give it what we've got and hope we don't make it fatal...
Unfortunately though we can't get her under shelter at the moment so its going to have a to be a fair weather and childcare dependent jobby.
My daily driver took priorty the first two days with replacing top mounts and a machine polish ready for an upcoming show but today has been van related. Mostly assessing what needs to be done...
Just removed the "inner wheel arch".
Oh my gosh. We think it was once a road sign, covered with a few fibreglass sheets and a tonne of filler.
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Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 03 Aug 2019, 13:28
by R0B
Was a previous owner called mrsbodgit
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 03 Aug 2019, 20:49
by oli8925
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 07:26
by slowcoach
Crikey
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 08:58
by Swebby
Think I would have sunk a keg of my homebrew after discovering that lot!
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Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 21:43
by oli8925
A slightly slower day than I would have liked but more progress (read holes) made.
While Mrs8925 stripped back some more underseal
I spent far longer than should have taken to unpick the corner shelf panel, but eventually out it came. Before going any further I thought offering the new panel up would be a bit of a mojo boost, but instead I'm pretty grumpy about the fit
That's quite a gap to close up
Not happy. We bought this from Just Kampers who say on the website that it is a JK manufactured panel, and the picture shows all the detail of an original piece. What actually turned up is a Magnum panel (I remember them from my Mini days, they were rubbish then too) which doesn't have the same level of finish or detail, not that it would have been a deal breaker if it fitted.
Can I just check on your opinions? The seams are exactly where the original came off, all remnants had been cleaned off - I haven't got this wrong have I? The fit really is that bad?
We're unsure what to do now, we need to get some more panels anyway so would like to try a different one but don't want to get stuck with the same rubbish. During my reading last night I came across Schofield panels - are they well received? Or Brickwerks appears to have a much bigger selection than the others. This also extends to other panels, our rear quarter and corner panels are Klokkerholm, but not sure there's much other choice, and our front arch is a Klokkerholm skin but we're now going to get a full arch panel so need to know whose to buy.
Back to the van, the engine compartment left side panel, for want of a better description, was holed and very pitted. It could do with an entire replacement but I don't want to get this involved yet, so I chopped most of the rot and have made a CAD repair piece which just needs to be fettled and transferred to metal.
As you'll notice we have a hole in the chassis rail too. Easy to patch, but could someone in the know please confirm the metal thickness? 2mm? And is that inboard bolt hole underneath the rust hole a factory thing?
With a bit more cut out I made a start on cutting and planning the repair of the rusty flanges of the inner structures. I still have no idea what's going on here, the front section of the D pillar in between the outer and inner structures?
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 04 Aug 2019, 23:07
by RogerT
Gordon Bennett! I was initially thinking you were better off with rust than me, then I saw your wheel arch. Jaw dropping!
Chassis rail, I was advised 2mm by metalmick8y for the closure plate underneath, and the upper portion of every chassis rail ive checked on mine measured 2mm as well.
After seeing that, at least nothing else is going to be a surprise for you...
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 06:24
by RogerT
Bolt holes - for towbar fittings (legs inside chassis rails.
Panels from Brickwerks, or better still, Alan Schofield.
For pieces you can’t make, read
http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/70135/panels
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Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 05 Aug 2019, 10:28
by oli8925
RogerT wrote:Bolt holes - for towbar fittings (legs inside chassis rails.
Panels from Brickwerks, or better still, Alan Schofield.
For pieces you can’t make, read
http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/70135/panels
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Ah, one of my favourite threads. The number of times I have read, and reread, that thread. I'm currently rereading it again.
Thanks for the advice, we'll place an order with Schofield ASAP.
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Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 30 Aug 2019, 10:20
by oli8925
Keeping the momentum going didn't really work, weddings and RetroRides' The Gathering somewhat got in the way. I squeezed in a cheeky hour with the van yesterday evening despite being 'on holiday'.
Still struggling to get the shelf panel to fit without gaps at the flanges but with a bit of beating it should be fine.
Offered my CAD template up to the remaining hole and transferred it to metal. It's not too far off but will need a bit of playing with and my skill level isn't high enough to make this an invisible repair, but nevertheless metal is better than rust. I'm pretty sure this sheet is 1.2mm rather than 0.9 which does make a bit of a difference when trying to force it into funny shapes. I've got a bit more beating to do to it but I'll probably get it close, tack it in and then continue in situ until I'm happyish with it.
I was also trying to work out the correct orientation of this infill panel, if someone could please confirm this is correct? The original was more or less nonexistent.
I guess this also means I'll need to weld a flange onto the exterior corner panel to join to this. Why do the repair panel not include all the original flanges???
Unfortunately the floor repair panel I bought has the wider ribs. Does anyone know if the narrow rib sections are available?
Re: Project Phoebe - a diary and some advice seeking
Posted: 30 Aug 2019, 13:54
by TheDocmeister
Mrs8925 wrote:
9000 Aero in the background? Almost had a double take!