Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by andrewg1323 »

Them burns proper hurt don't they! Even worse when you forget and weld in a fleece and melt it into your arm!
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Here's a big update:

So I chopped most of the rest of the sill off.... back to end of door. I found that inner sill had been badly repaired in past and the repair patches and rusted away. So I had to chop them out and make better ones that I butt welded instead of overlap welding.



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I also had to make 2 repair sections for what I thought was the floor, but later discovered was another bad repair section! No time to chop this one out tho, so the repair section has been repaired.

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Also had to repair the thicker bit at the jacking point.

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All sorted and given a good coating of hammerite. I also coated the inside of the outer sill. The bits that would then be plug welded has the hammerite cleaned off and were sprayed with weld-thru primer

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Also needed to make some repairs to the top of the inner sill in the car before welding the outer on.

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Some more repairs to bottom of A Pillar:

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I had to cut the old structural outrigger off when I was repairing the floor, but I got a new one off a guy in France who makes them and sells them on ebay:

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I'm fitting a fibreglass front valance, but it doesnt come with the top bit. As you can see in the next pic, by top bit is all rotten and cut. So I ordered a new one from Tickfordman. It has some holes in it, and needed the lower part of the valance cutting off, but it came good in the end. I've painted the underside of it with hammerite, and the top will get sprayed along with the car. Once the hammerite is dry it will get welded on.


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While I had the hammerite out, I decided to paint the inside of my headlight bowls too. They were a pain to fabricate so I don't want them rusting out any time soon.

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I seam welded both my drip rails on. Thats like 3 meters of seam weld and it finished off my welding gas!

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I then got the fibreglass wings bolted on

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The fit is pretty crap. But they are ok in some bits. I think with a bit of giggling around I should get most of the panel gaps ok. But I dont think they will ever follow the exact line of the bonnet in terms of height.

Also I am pretty much unable to bolt them to the A pillar. There is a bit on all wings that goes from the wing skin to the A pillar and metal wings are welded here. I was planning to bolt the fibreglass wings here, and they really need it because otherwise the top corner near windscreen drops. But I can't really bolt them as the bit of fibreglass that comes to meet the A pillar is too far forward! In this next pic you can see the paint line on the A pillar which shows where the metal wings came too. The fibreglass ones have this section an inch to far forward so I'm really going to struggle to get a bolt in there as at this point the A pillar goes in the way.

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Lastly here is a pic of the engine bay as it is just now. Next time you see it, it should have some new paint on it. :)

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Bed time now.... I'm knackered!
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by jajoinery »

epic repairs there beak, sterling job as always..perfect.cant wait to see more pics.
wings look a total ballache to fit tho. little bolts youre fixing them with, what are they? ;)
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Peter-S »

Beakster wrote: But I dont think they will ever follow the exact line of the bonnet in terms of height.
A skim of filler might sort that out Chris.

More major dedication to the cause once again, are you going to get it moble in time for D-day do you think?
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Tickford Man »

glad you are back on the case Chris.
Would be a shame to ditch the project having come this far.
welding looking good, stick with it mate......
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

jajoinery wrote:little bolts youre fixing them with, what are they? ;)
They are wee self tappers. When I ordered the wings from Tickover I asked them to send me the bolts that they use when they bolt them on.
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Peter-S wrote:are you going to get it moble in time for D-day do you think?
I hope so. It might kill me though. So tired just now. I want to be putting primer on on Friday, and top coat on on Sunday.
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Peter-S »

Beakster wrote:
Peter-S wrote:are you going to get it moble in time for D-day do you think?
I hope so. It might kill me though. So tired just now. I want to be putting primer on on Friday, and top coat on on Sunday.

Good luck, you can tell us all about it at the osf meet next Tuesday!
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Ok.... Tonight and last night have been mostly spent making the strut top reinforcement plates.

V6 Capris have these plates on top of the strut tops to add strenght. They can be bought from steel panels for about £55 a side. I decided I didn't want to pay that money, so made my own from a pair of cheap strut top repair sections by taking measurements from Jonathan's 3.0 Ghia.

Here's the repair sections. They are about £12 each, and usually people just whack them on and weld a seam around them. I want my strut tops to look like original 2.8 tops, and not some that have been repaired hence the following work:

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Marked out what genuine reinforment plates look like.

Chopped off excess. Also, the bend that goes up to the drip rail is too early no the repair sections. Genuine reinforment plates have the bend a bit closer to the strut top, and it goes up at a more shallow gradient. I havent got this perfect, but its not far off. Then involved using the vice to flatten out the bend that came on the repair sections. Then using my metal folder to make a new bend further down.

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Also cut out the little C section shape on each of them. Drilled holes for plug welding (way of simulating spot welding with a MIG). Then I used clamps and a hammer and gave it a good old bash til it was the right shape.

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I then welded in all the holes, adjusting clamps as I went to ensure it was flush with the body at all points. Once done I had to do a serious amount of grinding to get the plug welds flat again.

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Next step is to squeeze some seam sealer invisibly under the edges to help stop water getting in there and rusting it out. Also need to give it a quick buzz over with sanding disc, zinc primer, then a light skim of filler. Once painted should look very close to the real thing.

This probably looks easy, and to be honest, it is. However, its very time consuming. It probably took me 3 hours to chop and bend the repair sections til I was happy. 2 hours worth of welding and adjusting clamps and hammer. The 3 solid hours of grinding to get all the welds flush. My hands are still numb!
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Peter-S wrote: Good luck, you can tell us all about it at the osf meet next Tuesday!
Going to have to give it a miss I'm afraid. I'm seriously running out of time to get this car on the road, so need every hour I can. :(
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

So tired. Been on the go since 8am, and was in garage from 6pm til now (nearly 3am)!

Everything takes so much longer than I expect it to. Here's todays progress:

I started by doing the outsides of the inner wings. This is because I need the top of the drip rails painted before I put the wings on for good.

I had to clean off all the old flakey underseal with a heat gun and chisel. I left any of the original rubbery stuff on there where ever it was sound, then gave it a coat of Rustoleum (good stuff).

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Next up is the engine bay... I rubbed it all down with scotchbrite pad. Hoovered all the dust away. Then I used surface cleaner on paper towel, before going over it with Zinc 182.

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As you can probably see, its not finished. I ran out of paint!

I'm using Zinc 182 rattle cans, which is an anti-rust primer. I'll get some more in morning. Once thats all done, then its going to be filler to pretty up welds and stuff, then about 4 coats of high build primer, sanding, then top coats.

Sleep time now. :idea:
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Peter-S »

Tell you what Chris, at 3am after nearly nine hours in the garage I wouldn't be sitting in front of a computer doing a progress report! Keep at it though, you're getting there.
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Todays progress....

Got more paint, finished zinc primering bay. Then went around all the bits where water could seap between panels and used seam sealer.

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One of the wee bendy bits of metal near the fuse box that clamps the loom broke. So I ground off the remaining bit, and made a new one to weld on.

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Then went around with filler. This will hide the remaining traces of the millions of welds I've had to do.



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The made a repair section for front cross member and welded in.

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Tomorrow I hope to refit wings, drill some more bolts into them. Line up and weld on metal top bit of front valance, then fit the fibreglass lower valance. Once thats done I can start sparying the high build primer on followed by lots of sanding in preperation for top coat. :)
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Supercharged Nat »

good stuff Beakster! its looking like a capri again now, youve done a spot on job there!
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Disappointing day. Worked all day but didnt get as much done as I hoped. I spent about 6 hours sanding filler. Forgot how long that stuff takes to sand, wish I had put it on a bit thinner now. Anyway, should look good when its all painted.

Welded the top of the front valance on, then clamped up fibre glass lower valance. I'm still chopping it and the inner wings about to get it to fit right. When I do I'll rivet it on, which will need some more little brackets welding to inner wings. With a bit of luck that will be all done tomorrow night.

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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by turbo-mike »

Jesus Beaks you almost got a car there, looking good the work you have done, I now know why you are fitting a 2.9 cossy motor, And that's to move it with all that extra weight of all that weld you have had to lay down.
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Today I got on with the fitting of the fibreglass front valance. I had some thoughts about bolting it on, but I've decided to rivvet it on. I can always drill the rivets out and put bolts in if I change my mind. Rivvets will be more discrete and I dont expect the valance to have to come off anytime soon.

I drilled holes in it and the wings which bolts will go through to join them. I then made metal plates that will sit either side of wing and valance. This way when a bolt goes through it will go: Bolt head, metal plate, valance, wing, metal plate, nut. I hope this way to distribute the load on the fibreglass imposed by airflow at high speeds and prevent it cracking.

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I also made up some other brackets to weld on. First of all, a little bracket at top of metal valance part which gives me an extra hole to bolt the wing to. As the bottom of the wings attach to the fibreglass valance, I really wanted them to connect with metal around this area.

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And due to the fact my inner wings were a bit rusty at the bottom fronts where the old metal valance was attached, I made some brackets to give me some more metal to put rivets through.

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The welding and fabrication is getting lazy here and not how I would have liked to have done it, but, I'm running out of time and doing 7 hours each night in the garage on top of a full time job is taking its toll on me.

Both of the above had been done for each side now.

All that's left for the valance is, painting the areas it covers, drilling some holes, then rivveting it on. That should be mostly done tomorrow as well as some more filler sanding.

Then with a bit of luck I should be putting high build primer on, on wednesday.

2:30AM now. Not looking forward to work tomorrow, gonna be sleeping at my desk.
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Matty28i »

Chris,

You are getting there but don't burn yourself out too much, can't you get the local members to come round and help one weekend?

I know your on a time crunch, with pending emigration etc.

Best of luck with the progress and hopefully you'll get it into storage in time.

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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Supercharged Nat »

Beakster before you paint the front end (or over any other filler for that matter) it needs to be sealed. as the filler dries is shrinks and it will leave a shallow area where the filler is. I dont know what is used to seal it or if leaving it long enough before painting (possibly weeks) will work but its something worth finding out about as it would be a shame to see your hard work undone by that.

keep at it mate, but dont bugger yourself up over it ok?
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Re: Beaksters 2.8i Resto + 24V

Post by Beakster »

Never heard of sealing filler. Know any more?

To be honest I'm getting to beyond caring. Its like 90% of the time to get it acceptable looking, then another 90% of the time to get it perfect. I don't have time to get it perfect.

Tonight I did some more sanding, painted those brackets for the wings to valance and riveted the valance on.

Once riveted on some of the holes to join to the wings didnt line up, so I'm going to enlongate them with dremel tomorrow. Then I need to use filler to hide join between wings and valance.

Too tired for pics tonight. Hearing God Save the Queen when Radio 4 closes for the night is becoming a regular thing for me.
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