Kev's workshop projects

[Kegsti66]

Well done Kev, you are really making good progress here. At this pace you will be able to take this one to MITCAR
Any update on you headliner in the sud?

[KevJTD]

final trial fit of the door on the car to double check fitting, pretty pleased with the consistant gap


i also got chance to spray a pot of primer inside the sill sections. simply held the trigger open from both ends of the car so it created a huge fog inside the 2 sill sections and appears to have coated it nicely

[KevJTD]

Well done Kev, you are really making good progress here. At this pace you will be able to take this one to MITCAR
Any update on you headliner in the sud?

it's not going too bad mate but as you know yourself, bodywork repairs take an age

still pleased with the days progress though.



my sud headlining saga has stalled completely with the firm that were going to do mine but i am hopeful with david coming up trumps on the group buy....
still won't be going to MITCAR in either of these though

[Kegsti66]

OH NO !!
Thought your S1 was going to be star placed for the CAF. Sorry she will not be ready. Is that a definite ?
So what is the story with Dave's group buy?
Door to sill gap looks really nicely lined up, top job.

[Johnboy]

Morning chaps

Watching f1
Anyway could you not take the Sud on a trailer just show what CAF and your skills are all about

[KevJTD]

short afternoon visit today, all the time i could manage this week i'm afraid to say

made up a couple of plates for the n/s sill to cap the ends off. big holes made in to suit rubber grommets so access to the inside will be easy to enable waxoyl to be sprayed in every few years in the future

[KevJTD]

with the n/s sill welded up i attacked the o/s one safe in the knowledge of what to find in there.

loads of flaky rust along the bottom edge when folded down, central sill has corroded much more than the n/s one and will need more of it replacing but the good news is that the bottom lip and inner sill appears to be as strong as the n/s one was.

cleaning off all the old pieces where they've been spot welded isn't a quick job though. i prefer to cut it into small sections between the spot welds and twist it off rather than drill the welds out with a spot weld removing drill as twisting them off leaves mor material than drilling can leave you with. time consuming but better in the long run i find.

must try and get more time down there this coming week. maybe even take a few days off work to make some proper progress

[KevJTD]

another afternoon off so a little more done.

o/s sill looked like it might be a little less solid than the n/s one was and so it proved once the rear jacking point was probed. although it was generally solid but crusty it did have the odd thin section so it had to be chopped out.
quite an awkward section as it has a few angles and all within a fairly tight space, plus of course it needs to be strong enough to support the car for jacking up.
in the end it got done in 3 seperate sections with the original jacking plate being reused

[KevJTD]

made a simple repair piece for the central section, mig welded to the remaining original and spot welded along the bottom edge.

[AlfaCorseChris]

Nice one mate.

I asked about that same one thats for spares I told you about.
Guy wants 800 euros for it. Its a complete car, but the roof is well rusted with holes in it, and so are other parts.

Still havent been able to take some pics for you. He would sell it piece by piece if he has to.

[KevJTD]

couple of days off so had hoped for some decent progress, yesterday though was a right off for one reason or another but i did at least get myself a decent compressor at last thanks to shrew and his van for the collection cheers again mate

today i set to and finished off the central sill repairs which needed doing along the full length.
also the front end around the subframe mount/jacking point needed some bits replaced.

the step needed a little repair at the bottom of the "B" post on the rear section, plus another on the front half.

doors refitted and time to check alignment of the outer sill which after a bit of tweaking it fits very well, thanks must go to the little engineering shop that made up the sills which have lovely crisp lines.

pleased to say that the gap to the door bottoms is decent again and the flush transition between sill & door is good again.

same as before, seam weld the step area (in small steps in differing areas to let the heat escape) and spot welded the bottom edge.
one good thing though was the bottom of the wing is better this side so it could simply be welded to the sill, the arch lip will be re-created when the end is capped in.

rear arch though needs some re-construction. i'm gonns have a search to see if an arch repair panel can be found.....but i very much doubt it. will be made up in smaller sections if not.

managed to spray some primer into the inside of both sections of sill as i did the other side so at least it has some decent protection to start off with, the drips on the workshop floor show it went along pretty well

[Kermit]

a day off work so went up to do some more work on the fulvia.
whilst still working on the passenger side i thought i'd attack the front door as it is by far the worst and is a bit more variety rather than just starting on the other side sill

corrosion was evident on the outer skin but also the underside was pretty poor.

first job was to take some accurate measurements of where the bottom edge is using the chrome door strip as a reference point.

the underside was then cut away and a repair plate made up. a bit of a pain in that it was too long to go in my little folder so had to clamp it down on the bench between 2 firm guides and fold it the old way, a hammer & dolly!
edge joggled to fit in the door bottom stronger than a butt weld would allow.

tacked into place keeping a check on alignment in all directions, the bottom lip is used for folding the new door skin over so could afford to be a little high but not low, but also had to be in the right place so it didn't sit proud of the sill when the door is fitted, or in too far...

checking it for alignment on the car is the only way to be sure

I remember the days when we used to change from disc to wire brush in our grinders !
Now they are so cheap we just buy 3
H

[Kegsti66]

Kev, the sill repairs look great.
She will be a nice strong shell again, and the door / sill gaps look very nice.
I must say, you are making good progress on this car. Top man .
The Flaminia we have at work has now gone off to a panel shop, so won't see that for ages.
It needs a lot of work.

[AlfaCorseChris]

OUCH !!!!!!

[KevJTD]

who made the floorpan out of a lace doilie



bit of work needed there kieth but at least you can see where the work is needed now the thing is that clear of paint & underseal.

[Kegsti66]

It does help !!
We will not see it now for ages. I will put up a picture of the repaired body when it comes back......... but don't hold your breath

[KevJTD]

weds afternoon so a bit more done, half day off work helps things tick along mid-week

did a bit of sanding to the passenger door where the skin had been repaired
then moved onto the drivers front door which had similar rust issues along the bottom

having done the other door i knew about the sprung bar that holds the skin taut, which when the door bottom is cut off allows the skin to bow out and be awkward to get back in line. this time i decided it's best to strap it up away from the skin before starting.

once the measurements had been taken i cut out the bottom plate from the door and made up a repair patch
as it is too long to fit in my folder i had to clamp it to the bench and fold by hand, gently working it along with a body hammer

[KevJTD]

bottom plate was then welded into place, tacked along to start with keeping a check on alignment. then seam welded in stages.
once done it was ground back down smooth.

a repair plate for the outer skin was then made up which looks like it should fit well, if my measuring is correct!

i will hang the door back on the car before tacking it into place so the alignment can be made as good as possible.

may not get back there this saturday as loads of other stuff on so might be it for another week...

[KevJTD]

another week passes and a little more done, nissing saturday afternoon slows progress down a bit but i've so many other jobs on at the moment i'm spread a bit thin.

anyway, managed to get a few hours this afternoon so mounted the drivers door and fitted the outer skin repair patch that i made last week. i've monuted it a few mm's high this side as the door itself needs to drop a little to allow the swage line trims to get more into line. the doors are pretty well fixed in position so i'll have to open out the mounting holes in the hinges by a few mm to allow the door to come down that little bit.

skin was fitted as before, sealant behind the skin where it meets the bottom plate. then folded over. a few small tacks to help things.
once that was sorted the skin was seam welded and ground back flush.
the paint was then sanded back and some fibre-glass filler put over the joint.
the inside joints got some more seam sealer. the aim is to stop any moisture getting between the repairs..

i still need to make some drain holes in the bottom plate to allow the water out once the doors are back on or the moisture will have nowhere to go.

did a few more small jobs, sanding the other door and checking a few other bits.

getting the feeling that the welding is more than half done now with just the o/s/r arch, rear panel, bottom 1/4's, front wing bottoms, boot lid edge and lower front panel to repair. all little bits though so fairly straightforward.
can then start to practice the bodywork sid eof things...

[Kegsti66]

Very nice repairs Kev.
I like the way you make the door bottom with a joggle. Should have done mine like that.

[KevJTD]

cheers mate, very much appreciated

i do like a joggled joint, allows a nice groove for the weld to sit in even when ground back flush.
with a butt joint i always feel there's not much strength left
only issue with joggling is to make sure you don't leave a nice trough for water to get into as i'm sure you're aware.

[KevJTD]

mixed bag this afternoon.
started off finishing off sanding the door bottoms that had the outer skin repaired, all about straight now so will get some etch on them soon.

missing the welder i set to and repaired the drivers wing to sill joint so that's done.

[KevJTD]

that done i started on the front wing to front panel joint which had a bit of corrosion and a previous repair.

started off chopping out the front panel bit and making a repair patch with a new seam, no point trying to use the old seam.

a bit of repairing behind the scene to make a strong base for the patches.

next job was to repair the wing seam and repair the drop down to the wing bottom edge.

then start to make up sections of new wing which didn't go too bad in the end.

[Kegsti66]

[Spacenut]

This is turning into an epic repair thread Kev - keep up the good work!

I always thought the Renault 8 took the spoils in the most angular 3-box saloon competition, but this Lancia can easily out-box the French effort!

Lauren

[York Sud]

Well done Kev, progress as always is looking good, you make it all look so easy and quick .. looks like I'd better start rounding up some mechanical bits and pieces as i'm always several years behind your pace !

[KevJTD]

bit of a slacker of late, seemed to have slipped a week or so without progress...

got down to the workshop this afternoon though so at least we're off again.

had been chasing up a potential lead on a specialist panel maker who does panels for the fulvia as we really could do with an o/s/r arch panel but when i finally got his number he only does panels for the coupe, which are completely different. he didn't know of anyone that did panels for the saloon which being as he's a specialist in the fulvia panels kind of gave me the impression i'm wasting my time looking anymore!

so as we had to use what we have i tackled it this afternoon.
a section of the higher portion needed the inner lip repairing but the rest wasn't as bad as i thought. a few smaller repair pieces were made around the edge and ground back in. solid enough now

[KevJTD]

next was the lower front portion where it meets the sill.
like the n/s one there was nothing left of the original to use as a pattern so copying the other side, which was in itself done from looking at internet pictures, was the only thing to do

once the little angles and returns were done then a closing panel was made up complete with the 2 holes for the waxoyl to be put in at a later date.

the original alignment with the door is a little off but easy enough to build up.

had time to make and fit a closing panel for the o/s/f wing so we're nearing the end of the welding

just the rear panel and boot lid lip to do.

[Kegsti66]

Nice job Kev. I was going to suggest, dare I say it? , maybe a repair panel for something like a Lada, but even if it was similar shape, you still have to find one.
I used to look around scrap yards (another dying option) to see if you could use bits off other cars to fix bits like our screen surrounds .
Talking of scrap yards, have you seen the 16v 33 on ebay in Leeds. Don't know what is left as the photo could be old but the car originally looked very very sound. Shame.

[KevJTD]

a load of sorting out down the workshop this morning delayed starting back on the fulvia but managed to get a few hours in this afternoon.

started off with grinding down the arch ready for building up with some filler as it sat a little bit in from the door shut.

2 or 3 fills and the shape is pretty good. did the full length of the sill joint then once the door had been taken back off, also the part where the sill joins the front wing.

seam sealed a load of areas then moved on to the front door bottoms which needed levelling out where all the repairs had been done.

was gonna etch prime all the bare & filled bits until i realised i'd left the panel wipe at home DOH!!! will pop up at the weekend and get the spray gun out

nearly all welding done now so although the filling and sanding is a laborious and quite tedious it is at least the next stage on