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Polar White and Rust - a restoration epic, can it even be done?


IanMc
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Had a few spare minutes this afternoon, so decided to take the knotted wire wheel to the 'new' NSF wing to see what horrors were hidden under the surface...

 

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It was a pleasant surprise to find only three areas with smallish holes:

 

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I will get that cut out during the week and get some little plates welded in, job done.

The two small holes above the sill location are for a 'Berlinetta' badge that was fitted, so they will get welded up too.

The good news is that it is an original GM wing, so the fit is excellent.  :thumbup

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A couple of quick jobs done tonight, before the torture of watching England begins...

Firstly I welded up the badge holes at the bottom of the wing:

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Then I cut out the rot from the same area (see above photos) and welded a patch in:

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Needs a little more work with the grinder, but the rust is gone!

 

C'mon England!

1 hour ago, Exclusive Opel said:

Don't know if this will help with the position of the drain hole in the spare wheel well. :thumbup

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Yes it does help - thank you kind Sir!

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Another little hole filed up tonight, the last one on the 'new' NSF wing.

Before:

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And after:

 

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So that is actually the first complete panel that is rust free and ready for some basic paint preparation - all together now - wooooooo!  :lol:

ps I've just realised what the orange shading is in some of my photos - its the reflection of my 'loud' overalls in the shiny new metal - oops, must try harder to stop that.

Have a good evening everyone.

 

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Some decent progress yesterday and early this morning. I am pleased to report that the spare wheel well is now:

- welded in
- welds ground down and then any pins holes welded over
- bare metal primed
- sealed with panel sealer
- given some extra corrosion prevention with White Hammerite (that will be over painted with body colour when the car is resprayed).

The hole in the centre of the well is to be drilled out shortly today and is for the boot drain blanking grommet.

By the way the rusty area in the corner is part of the NSR wheel arch and inner wing area that is one of the next on the list to be tackled, so that will be plugged up soon as well.

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And now the spare wheel well with the drain hole added:


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(Please ignore the swarf lol)

Of course, with any car this age, the rust is never too far away...

When I was pottering about in the boot with the spare wheel well I noticed some regular 'crispy' noises - peeling back the boot sealing rubber above the NS rear light cluster revealed a little more for me to deal with :grin:

Oh well, I wont die of boredom thats for sure, UV from welding or paint and sealer fumes though maybe lol

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Have a good day everyone - C'mon England!

Edited by IanMc
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Apologies all, I completely forgot to post the photos from underneath the spare wheel well...

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Naturally the bare metal needs to be primer, then top coat, then stone chip and underseal.

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A little bit of progress this evening.

1) Underseal applied to the bottom of the spare wheel well and surrounding area.

2) Cut out the rot on the rear panel above the N/S tail light. Took some dimensions and will now start to make up a template (or two) for the repair panel(s):

 

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Never a dull moment :lol:  :thumbup

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Ooh I nearly forgot - look what showed up in today's post...

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I anticipated the O/S to be in the same (seized) condition as the N/S, so bit the bullet and ordered enough for that side too.

So, onward and upwards with that particular problem now as well.

Edited by IanMc
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53 minutes ago, garymanc said:

been reading this thread from the start fair play on getting something done on a near daily event :thumbup

It can be a bit tricky sometimes to be honest, but I’m not one for sitting around at the best of times.

I haven’t set myself any specific targets, but I’m hoping that I will be finished, or close to finishing, sometime this calendar year. That’s principally because I don’t fancy spending another chilly winter in the garage  :lol:

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I am actually off work today as my Wife is having a Carpal Tunnel operation on her left hand.

So the plan is to take her to the hospital this morning, bring her home after the operation and generally nurse maid her I think...

That should mean that I have some spare time to make up a plate or two for the rear panel above the N/S light cluster.

If everything goes to plan, you should see some photos later - of the car work, not her hand by the way lol

Enjoy the Sun everyone

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OK, so as promised earlier some progress made this morning on the patch panel that will sit above the N/S rear light cluster on the rear panel.

Remember this is what we had before we started:

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(Using the cardboard templates I made up last night)

1) First I bent up the second skin/rear support plate cut out yesterday and tacked that in place. The idea being that this would give a solid support for the main front panel. This s what that plate welded in:


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2) Next I started to fabricate the main plate in front. Note this plate has a few bends in it, presumably to add rigidity.


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3) Then it was tacked in place to check the fit and general alignment.


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Final welding and grinding down of the welds will be done one evening this week.

I'm pretty happy with everything so far.

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Final few little jobs for today...

I took the passenger side door card off for three reasons:

- to explore the extent of the rust at the bottom of the door. Luckily its not too bad to be honest. I will probably end up cutting a strip about 25 mm wide off the outer skin to get back to solid/good metal, then about 10 mm out of the bottom of the frame to make up a new 'flange' for the skin to weld to. Nothing too daunting compared to other jobs I have/will tackle on this car  :grin:

- to lubricate the window winding mechanism that used to scream like a whatsit whenever it reached the top of its travel. Mission accomplished here, after WD40'ing the whole mechanism to within an inch of its life it is now silent and running very smoothly.

- lubricate all of the locking mechanism rods and latches and catches etc. They were already working, but while I was in there... well you know how it is.

Have a good evening everyone.

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OK, so I lied - I sneaked another quick job in while the Wife wasn't watching...

Decided to use the trust knotted wire wheel to strip off the paint at the bottom of the N/S door skin to see exactly what horrors awaited me. Basically scratch that 25 mm I mentioned above and change that to 65 mm lol

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Oh well.

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35 minutes ago, Monaco Blue said:

There's no stopping you! :thumbup

That's a neat piece of fabrication you did on that infill plate on the boot! 

 

Thanks mate, I’m actually starting to quite enjoy the bodywork now!

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Finished the welding on the rear panel this evening and then ground the welds down - looks good.

The most time consuming job was also completed this evening - adding the rubber bung to the drain hole in the bottom of the spare wheel well. That must have taken 3 or 4 seconds, phew I'm exhausted  :lol:  :rolleyes:  :thumbup

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On 6/26/2018 at 15:11, IanMc said:

OK, so as promised earlier some progress made this morning on the patch panel that will sit above the N/S rear light cluster on the rear panel.

Remember this is what we had before we started:

Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.


(Using the cardboard templates I made up last night)

1) First I bent up the second skin/rear support plate cut out yesterday and tacked that in place. The idea being that this would give a solid support for the main front panel. This s what that plate welded in:


Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.


2) Next I started to fabricate the main plate in front. Note this plate has a few bends in it, presumably to add rigidity.


Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.


Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.


3) Then it was tacked in place to check the fit and general alignment.


Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member.

Final welding and grinding down of the welds will be done one evening this week.

I'm pretty happy with everything so far.

I have to say that that looks a very neat and solid job Ian.

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A couple of small jobs done this evening after the football had finished.

1) Removed the hinge caps and added some penetrating fluid to the N/S door hinges. After a few minutes I tried with a simple punch, not really expecting anything to move - but to my great surprise both of them budged after just a couple of medium thumps with a medium sized hammer. So it looks like the hinge pins will come out easily enough to allow door removal to make replacing the lower part of outer skin far easier.

2) Started to strip away the trim pieces from the top of the N/S/R quarter panel to get a better look at the extent of the rust. Its pretty much limited to what I could see before to be honest, so reasonably 'happy' with that. Nothing I cant handle now - I think...

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I will deal with this after the N/S door, then move down to the arch and rear end of the sill - now they are a totally different story  :lol:

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Got the weekend off to a flying start tonight on the Cav as there was no Archery.

Managed to coax the door hinge pins out without toooo much trouble. They are a pain because of the angle/profile of the door itself at those corner points. Anyway, most of you will have sampled this pleasure at some point I am sure and know what I am on about.

So door off:

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Then you can clearly see the challenge ahead:

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Then I set about cutting out the rot at the bottom:

Taped up ready to cut

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A slice of the outer skin removed:

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Then the bottom of the door where there used to be a flange that met the outer skin... :lol:

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Then cut out the rust in the corners of the 'flange':

 

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(These areas will need more tidying up before I start with the repair panels)

Have a good evening and weekend everyone.

 

 

 

 

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