377 replies to this topic

[mantadoc]

MOT up soon,I know I needed rail work but the battery clamp was loose. Further inspection revealed a rotten tray.



Footwell side wasn't that bad, but was dire on the A pillar seam.



Bad A pillar.



Cereal box.



Steel.



Footwell piece. Being lazy and making the inner wing repair at the same time. I don't need another moisture trapping seam between the two after all.

Although I have been sad and put a 5mm return on the footwell to A panel to catch the dirt like the original.



Said hi to a passing snail.



Hole. A pillar skin, lower section of footwell and floor above the jacking point and jacking point itself need to go soon.





Crude battery tray.



Not happy, 1 weeks holiday down, nose fell to pieces while undoing bonnet catch and not even started on the jacking points / rails.

Oh yes, had to put Kadett outside in the rain to get this in to work on which is sooooooooooooooooooo annoying.

[stradacab]

Sat what you like its still a 1991 Manta......

..but it sure as hell rots like a 1986 one.
.
.
Sorry Phil, couldn't resist it, but after seeing the Kadett work you've done this should be a walk in the park for a man with your welding skills.

Hope it comes together all OK, so come on and kick ass!!

[mantadoc]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again........ the roof and rear number plate are original  

I look at it like this, welding a Manta is standard practice, but when I've finished you can say what you like its still a 1991 Manta   so if the choice is between welding a run of the mill (no offence) coupe or this, I'll take this any day    

Although next car to sort is an early '84 GTE coupe. Stock as a rock and in the family since 1987. That should make a nice car, this one will never make a nice one without a huge re-panel (huge cost, not work). This will stay a daily drive, although probably a 400 rep daily drive. Hopefully 16V ecotec and LPG in the future.

Frustration stems from the fact that the Kadett is still in pieces and now outside getting wet without being sealed and painted and that this is my daily drive so has to be back together quickly. No pressure.

Do you fancy a  Strada 60 with 12 months MOT? Y reg 24K miles I think.

[stradacab]

A polite no. I've already got a Strada cabrio, SR Berlinetta, GTE hatch, Ascona 20SR, a GT/J coupe and I'm picking up a GTE Exclusive hatch this weekend. Jeez, are you trying to get me a divorce too?

[mantadoc]

Yep but the Cabrio needs backup so the other cars don't pick on it  

[PassMeTheGun]

OMG! Your nose fell to pieces?

Get yourself a bit of Rhinoplasty and then back on with the welding, we all know about sacrificing things for mantas but you're taking it too far!  

Good stuff dude, keep it up!

Cheers,

[mantadoc]

I was quite happy with progress today..............

....................until I realized I had only bent one piece of steel in 7 hours.

(and cut down a tree stump)























One piece of steel and one A pillar. not perfect but the best I can do with what I have.

[mickappy]

good work, like how youve even put the lip on the inner arch, most peaple do away with it.     

[mantadoc]

Time flies...................


Stripped the outside off the A pillar.



Trimmed the top down to the original seam (about 2mm low  ).



Many trial fittings...................



Removed again. Internals marked on card to allow drilling through the outer skin to plug weld later without drilling into fresh air. Stay mount as reference point.



2mm steel to repair the internals. Big overlap so it keeps the pillar straight when screwed in place. Outside cutaway after this was securely screwed in place.



Welded to edges first, then screws removed one at a time and drilled 8mm part way through to give better penetration to plug welds.



Then rust cutaway by the hinge and another plate added. I remember seeing a car years ago where the bottom hinge had come away inside. Don't want that to happen.



A coat of Kurust added and tomorrow hopefully weld the skin on.

Still not touched rails..............

..............still need to do battery tray / inner wing.

[mantadoc]

Plug welds to A panel





Template pays off.........................for more plug welds.



Check fit with door fitted and stay of furthest reach.



Bonnet release bracket.



Screwed into place behind standard (tatty) trim............



...................and welded.





Template and piece of old A pillar as drilling / cutting guide.



And finally interior light switch hole in place.



Another day on this pillar {SMILIES_PATH}/cry.gif

Hopefully finish inner wing tomorrow, I don't plan on being lucky enough to do the tray.

Still not started chassis rails and jacking points.

[mantadoc]

Standard inner wing seam kept at side just in case it ever gets a new one at some point in the future.



Bend added so finally got the heater panel in.



Battery tray now has battery mounts added so if lucky that'll be out of the way before dinner.......... Yeah right!

[mantadoc]

Bracket and captive nut added.



Fit checked.

I had to slot the hole in the clamp and apply a bend to it but fits fine.



Cereal box template, ok but needs to be round.



New template on steel.



Thing with pilot hole.



Welded.



Cleaned up.



Welded to tray.



Hole drilled and snipped out.



Smokey.



As usual the weld in the most awkward position on the pitted steel that will be unseen is the nicest.



Pretty much in. Welding up the screw holes takes a bit of time.



Plug welds to inner wing need grinding down as the battery sits on this surface.



Even the bit on the vertical face of the bulkhead welded ok. Couldn't reach it to clean up!



I don't know why I took this one.  {SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif



Slight miss-alignment.



Cut, hammer, tweak,



I really should have butt welded this in but quick and rough was the difference between finishing this tonight  and starting rails tomorrow or not.



Just under 5 quid for a pack of 3 grips from Block & Quail. Maybe not the cheapest but I was already there.  Other retail outlets are available.



A lot of effort for a throughly average battery tray. Would look better if I smoothed the welds but no time.

Tomorrow.....................rails and jacking points.

[garymanc]

look's good  to me   

[mantadoc]

Thurs / Fri

Is it me or am I just way too slow doing this stuff?



Needed to remove the bolt through the rail. Wouldn't move with a 4' tube on the the end of the bar so cut out a hole in the floor (just below the dimple) and drilled into the tube and stopped when it just touched the bolt. WD40 applied along with a working over with hammer and chisel to break up the rust. End result bolt turned. Rust swarf exited through drilled hole and washed out frequently with WD.

Still had to cut bolt   as it wouldn't come out of the bush sleeve and with the front wishbone bolt rusted in (wish bone needs replacing) something had to be cut.

Had a 120 mile drive to get bolts out of my parts bin that night for the next day. Also grabbed wishbone and new ball joints.





2 mm rail "blanks"



Old piece of rail and floor found to be annoyingly solid once removed. Still in a year ot two it would be out and I would hate butt jounted rails behind the reinforcement as it would be a stress point.



Outer stripped off main rail (little hole then found 2" higher up). Crumbly jacking point and floor into foot well, and good floor removed behind, actually was quite brown in two lines above rail sides with carpet out, hence removal.







Shaping rail under seat mounts.





Up turn at back of rail.



And flanges for welding.



Nip and tuck marks for bends.



Trial fit.



Bends welded, drain holes and mount holes in.







So as this side wasn't finished Fri there is no way I can get other side done in time for MOT  {SMILIES_PATH}/cry.gif

That's life.

[stradacab]

Love the chassis rail fabrication. That's a nice job.

[mantadoc]

Today......

Changed ball joint in bottom arm.

Painted arm and the brace thingy (can't help painting stuff) I'm down to my last bottom arm so I want it to last.

Welded a strip of floor above the rear of the rail back in, I didn't make the tidiest job, not happy, I should have stitched it up hill to the flange rather than plug welding it but it is done now.Not going anywhere anyway.

Stitched the inner to the outer along the straight part of the overlap so I could take the bolts out (predictably in the way of the jacking point flange)

Started fitting the jacking point.

Oh and another high point of yesterday.... I've had a slow leak for about a year on a new rear tyre, plenty of tread on it surprisingly, found a nail in it and sent it to be fixed, turns out two nails within 90 degrees so now I have another tyre.... more air was free. Still safety first.

Oh and probably need to buy and insure another car while doing Manta now as out of holiday. and shed loads to do.

Cheap hobby, but one of the joys of having a Manta as a daily drive............

[mantadoc]

7th

[mantadoc]

14th

Ones I did earlier.



Additional steel welded in to deepen channel section at the front. If I had ground it off it would be prettier.....but not as strong.



Nick cut to pull the side of the rail in tight near the bolt hole.



Welded and smoothed.



Inner stitch welded to outer. Probably better then the few spot weldes that were in originally. Stitched so it won't suffer explosive cracking under stress.

I'll probably do some plug welding too but I don't really think it is needed.



Piece of wood in the standard position for spring changes / holding the top wishbone out of the way.

Painted bump stop but didn't clean it up too much. Not looking too hard for work.



Salvaged jacking point tube.



Sacrificing new tube to save new point.



Welds need removing.



The tube.



Weld-thru primed.



Clamped and tacked.



Still glowing.



Working out position.



I'm supposed to be in a rush but can't help doing things like the tube. Doh!

[garymanc]

looking solid,nice work on the leg's
i take it you changed the tube's on new jacking point's don't fit the jack .....

[mantadoc]

15th

Measured down rail for the inner end positioning and from other jacking point tube for the outer end positioning.



Fixed to rail.





"Floor" screwed down. Not happy with this for various reasons.

1) Not in one piece with the other bit of the floor.
2) Prefer to make floor and inner sill in one, saves plates on plates (Don't want to unpick sill lower seam at this time so have to let it go).







Spent ages looking where to put the clamp.............then realised it will fit around the rail.



Outer edge mostly in. Not the prettiest.