Spider refurbishment

[HFStuart]

One of the bonuses of lockdown is more time in the garage so I've made good progress with the shot to bits drivers footwell.

This is where I started




And this is the state of the metal I cut out.



The frame underneath is thankfully really solid



Complicated compound curve bit put back.



Not too bad



Side piece with various shapes and curves



Again, cleaned upOK



Fred Flintstone moment



MDF Former made from old floor



Innocent bit of metal after a serious attack from the hammer



Trimmed carefully to shape



Welded in and waiting for grinding

[HFStuart]

I'm the first to admit the repairs aren't invisible but the point is they're done,but welded in and very solid too.

Given I'm working with a medium claw and a small cross pein hammer, ancient vice, workmate a few lumps of metal for forming round and an admittedly pretty good welder I bought recently I'm really pleased with them!

Onwards !

[betabuoy]

Excellent repairs Stuart; and I particularly like the attention to detail on the fabricated floor section. Your welding looks great... keep the pictures coming please.

Chris

[smithymc]

You have every right to be pleased with the results Stuart. Look really good.

Mark

[mangocrazy]

Excellent work, Stuart. That's professional standard in my book. What make of welder are you using? I'm guessing it's a MIG set.

[WestonE]

Hi Stuart

That is excellent welding and forming better than some bodyshop efforts frankly. What Welder are you using?

Cheers

Eric
Fitting bits and fixing snags all over my Beta Spyder!

[fred2660]

nice work

[HFStuart]

What Welder are you using?

An R Tech 180  - not a top drawer welder by any means but a decent inverter one with a very steady arc and good control which helps no end with the thin bits. Much better that the budget Sealey / Clarke stuff.

[WestonE]

Thanks

My Clarke Item is due for Replacement.

Thanks

Eric

[HFStuart]

Excellent work, Stuart. That's professional standard in my book. What make of welder are you using? I'm guessing it's a MIG set.

Much appreciated.

I should have put a link when I replied to Eric https://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/mig-welder-r-tech-i-mig180/?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyur0BRDcARIsAEt86IA5pDnJ_FBZ1I3TunrcH5C8bXgwUuLDnIUIZyoArVTPMj5511uh1CkaAv6FEALw_wcB

Speaking of professional though  - when I first got this car I had a mobile welder repair the front strut tops and A Pillar bases. Where the inner wheel arch and the two pressings that form the A pillar join there is a seam where all three panels are spot welded together. I'd not really noticed before but rather than unpick the spot welds he just cut the seam off and blobbed them all together. I have more repairs to do in that area and it's going to be a lot more difficult now.



The red circles show where it's gone through. The line of weld where the seam should be is pretty obvious.



From the inside



This is the view from under the A pillar on the passenger side. The reinforcing section that links the bulkhead and wheel arch to the floor-pan is in a pretty bad way (it's 1.6mm too - way thicker than most of the steel on the car) while the repairs to the A pillar have rotted in 5 years.The red line shows where the seam would be. The odd thing is other than 4 inches at either end, the inside of the sills look like they've just left the factory.

Somehow I need to take this area apart, repair the corner of the A pillar and the end of the inner sill section and then replace the reinforcing section. Some head scratching to be done.

[WestonE]

Hi Stuart

When Paul Baker did mine he took the outer sills off for access to the mid section sills. The outers were in great condition but the mid sills!

BTW which gas are you using with your welder i.e. an Argon mix of what proportion?

Thanks

Eric

[HFStuart]

Notionally 5% Co2, 95% Argon (actually 5% Co2 93% Agron 2% Oxygen)

I'm thinking I may have to do similar although the mid sections are fine apart from at either end so I may just take the ends off and hide the joins in the sill

[HFStuart]

Sometimes it's the little things in life.
I don't need them for a year of so but I'd got hold of a brand new pair of correct type side repeaters. I'm unnecessarily pleased with them!

[peteracs]

Hi Stuart

That is a good find, particularly like the outer sheath on the wiring, all the ones I have did not have it or is degraded.

You should also be pleased with the floor panels. Well done

Peter

[HFStuart]

Yep - the rubber has very sightly shrunk with age but I can work with that.

Speaking of floor panels (thanks...)

A few more hours in the garage



And another chunk of floor panel is in place. This one, I confess, mainly came from the HPE I cut up a few years ago



The bit that was rotten and mostly not there was the front bit with the big drain hole ( I know there's a smaller one supposed to be there) so I only needed to fabricate that part. Sods law it's the most complex bit but again I'm happy with the result



I thought about not having the hole but it's original and I have the metal bungs to plug it with so why not. I'll add it to the other side later

Next step fully weld this in and then start on the A pillars.




 

[Neil-yaj396]

Are the holes emergency drainage?

[HFStuart]

I really don't know. I'd guess they were for paint drainage when then were primered as they're at the low points (in the back floor pans too) but they could equally be locating points for the production line.

And why have one big and one small on each side.

[HFStuart]

Update  - work from May - August. You might need to get a drink.

Possibly you recall the bottom of the A Pillar looked like this



It was time to start cutting



And underneath it wasn't pretty



Cutting back to good metal left me with this



Sill centre section tacked in place



To give a reference line to make this - part old HPE floor  - part new fabrication



Which was a pleasingly good fit

[HFStuart]

And welded up well





There's an internal panel that transfers load to the sill  - that needed to be remade and fitted



Then to put the sill back together





Will all that done time to start on the corner  - a pretty complex shape so I roughly formed the edge first



Then teased a panel into shape to fit it.




Fully welded it looked OK



And fitted well too



Just this fillet to put in

[HFStuart]

Onto the inner wing - this is where it had been bodged and the flanged joint removed. So that got cut out and put back in layers - three pieces join at this flange





Flange now back in place!



Outer panel back on too





That's one corner properly sorted!