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Cliff - 1981 Series 3 109 V8 Stage 1

I've been dry fitting the front wings and panel to make sure it all goes where it's supposed to before I commit to paint. I've spent more time searching for the 2 front angle brackets that secure the front grill to the panel than actually fitting anything. I took them off but have no idea where they are now. I guess I'll just have to make a pair myself (not the hardest thing in the world). It's been quite puzzling why the previous restorer fitted things the way that he did, makes no sense to me. He had the radiator and bonnet slam doodah misaligned by about an inch and had added a pair of diy brackets to fix to the wings. I don't get this at all since there are already 4 M8x20 bolts fixing the wings to the radiator mounting. He'd cut away a section from each side of the front panel presumably because it was fouling the bolts due to his mispositioning of the slam panel. Talk about a botch up! Anyway, it now all seems to be going back where intended and thankfully, the internal struts with captive nuts that I fabricated, are just about spot on.

IMG-20230722-120938.jpg


IMG-20230722-120928.jpg


I'm going to replace the inner mud shields and steering box cover with galvanised ones, as after looking at what's left of what I took off, I don't fancy wasting time patch welding these. Seems like a bit of a waste of time and effort for something easily replaced.
 
Those missing brackets where driving me insane; where the hell are they? Sorted through my photos and look ...

brackets.jpg


... they're there. I took them off the panel stripping it apart.
I have searched through my bags of bits taken off, boxes of bits that live in the tub, unpacked everything from store; twice! Like a dog with a bone I started looking inside every bag of bolts, nuts, and bits, and hey presto, 2 brackets hiding in a bag labelled seatbox/seatbelt fixings.

IMG-20230726-120438.jpg


Now I can sleep again.
 
Back to doing some work then. The bonnet is next on the list. There's a bit of corrosion on the steel support frame so it will need to come out and have some work done.

IMG-20230725-131638.jpg


It's quite eaten away at the front ends

IMG-20230725-131629.jpg


I drilled out the rivets holding it on but the hinge screws were not going to undo. I did try heat and penetrant but a bit of a waste of time, so cut through the nuts and had done with it; however, that frame was not shifting. It seems it was also glued to the skin. I had to resort to heating to free the adhesive and wedge it away from the skin, then separating the ladder section from the rear cross-member by drilling out the spot welds and cutting through 2 welds. Eventually after some serious profanity, it came apart.

IMG-20230726-120153.jpg


This is going to require some wire brushing and rust treatment and a bit of welding, but it's in relatively good condition. I decided to put the wire wheel work to one side for the moment and turned my attention to prepping the tunnel and floor panels for painting.

IMG-20230726-120544.jpg


Seemed like a nice day for paint stripping!

IMG-20230726-130520.jpg



much elbow grease later

IMG-20230726-153755.jpg


This should all fit back nicely after it's been patched to sort the rusty bits.

IMG-20230726-154633.jpg


I'd had enough for today so time for the dog walk.
 
Cliff4WD said:
Back to doing some work then. The bonnet is next on the list. There's a bit of corrosion on the steel support frame so it will need to come out and have some work done.

View attachment 426018

It's quite eaten away at the front ends

View attachment 426019

I drilled out the rivets holding it on but the hinge screws were not going to undo. I did try heat and penetrant but a bit of a waste of time, so cut through the nuts and had done with it; however, that frame was not shifting. It seems it was also glued to the skin. I had to resort to heating to free the adhesive and wedge it away from the skin, then separating the ladder section from the rear cross-member by drilling out the spot welds and cutting through 2 welds. Eventually after some serious profanity, it came apart.

View attachment 426020

This is going to require some wire brushing and rust treatment and a bit of welding, but it's in relatively good condition. I decided to put the wire wheel work to one side for the moment and turned my attention to prepping the tunnel and floor panels for painting.

View attachment 426021

Seemed like a nice day for paint stripping!

View attachment 426022


much elbow grease later

View attachment 426023

This should all fit back nicely after it's been patched to sort the rusty bits.

View attachment 426024

I'd had enough for today so time for the dog walk.
Click to expand...
Excellent progress. Fabulous craftsmanship! Dedication. Thank you for sharing. Been away during a tough patch. This thread is a positive reminder of what is important!
 
paul123 said:
It's not just me that has those moments
Click to expand...
Indeed. The thing is, access to those jets requires removal of the dash, demisters, wiper motor cover, parcel shelf, and an whole lot of squeezing of fat fingers trying to push on the tubes, route them tidily, and get under around and through the bulkhead. Nothing super arduous but very annoying none-the-less having only recently fitted it all in place. Thank God I had the wiper gears on correctly (one up one down) or that would have been a real angry toys out the pram moment. :D

I'm currently doing the metalwork repairs to the steel transmission tunnel pieces and dry fitting new side sill supports checking for correct bulkhead positioning with respect to the tub. All seems to spot on so far (well maybe a few millimetres out).
 
Last edited:
I hate to think how many times I have had the dash out of my 90 because I need to get at something as I have put it together in the wrong order.
 
I've only managed to fit in a few jobs since last update. The transmission tunnel steel sections needed a bit of TLC where corrosion had done its thing. The so called 'gearbox diaphragm' (MRC5357), was rotten both ends where it supports the floor panels

IMG-20230810-121904.jpg


Seemed a fairly straight forward task to cut off and fabricate new replacement pieces.

IMG-20230810-121909.jpg


IMG-20230810-122052.jpg


You know the drill, make a card template to fit then cut out the steel sheet and bend to required shape.

IMG-20230810-164507.jpg


All sound simple (which it is really) but it takes a while getting the steel to the correct shape and accurately fitting. Also, it has to be correct height, etc. so that the final repaired item fits correctly.

When satisfied I had the piece about right, it was weldup time

IMG-20230814-164415.jpg


both sides of course

IMG-20230814-164422.jpg


IMG-20230814-164529.jpg


Next was drilling the 'square holes' to take the plastic lock nuts

IMG-20230814-173158.jpg


IMG-20230814-173207.jpg


That was that job ticked off the the list. Checked for fit and spray primed it.

The transfer box tunnel section (MRC5356) had faired much better and only had small perforations each side, again at the bottom where the floor panels attach, so I decided to just patch these with some fibreglass filler. This seems to have worked well enough and so that's another job done.

I'm going to sort out the bonnet next.
 
Bonnet

I had left the bonnet aside after removing the steel support frame from the Birmabright skin.

IMG-20230726-120153.jpg


The frame is like most of the steel parts after their 42 years of exposure to air, cold, heat, and moisture. Not too bad as it happens, but definitely in need of its share of TLC. I've been contemplating how best to go about rust removal on this and the remaining disassembly. I was thinking sand blasting would be effective although it won't get inside the welded together u sections that form a box section. Same with the wire wheel on grinder, not to mention the noise, dirt, and effort involved. I might have to yet, but I decided to first have a go at setting up an electrolysis bath.
My existing bath is nowhere near big enough ...

IMG-20230817-133405.jpg


... so after some head scratching and thinking about what I could utilise, I came up with the following; a temporary bath made up from some left over DPM sheet and timber from an old bed frame I took apart (from my "it might come in useful" stash).

IMG-20230817-133419.jpg


Now, I have to confess, this is a photo of the MK1 version, which after filling with water and loading the frame, I managed to puncture the DPM and then had a catastrophic flood as the whole thing collapsed and half drowned me! I kind of threw my toys out the pram and went and sulked for a week before resuming with the MK2. I added a bit more side support and and extra layer of DPM.

I loaded the frame carefully having removed the sharp edges that had caused the problem before

IMG-20230823-125523.jpg


Next I ran copper wire around the periphery and connected scrap steel pieces to it, placing the steel around the tank so that it surrounded the frame

IMG-20230823-131327.jpg


I then hung the rear support that I'd cut from the frame so that it was above the frame but not touching; the frame was also lifted just off the bottom of the tank.

IMG-20230823-133142.jpg


It was now time to fill the tank and completely submerge the frame pieces. I mixed up some water with washing soda separately in a bucket and mixed this in with the main tank fill.

IMG-20230823-141105.jpg


All looking good, I hooked up the battery charger and connected +ve to the steel anode circuit, and -ve to the frame cathode circuit. It now remains to be seen if I get the results I'm after or not. It will no doubt take a few days stewing in there before I can assess whether or not it's been successful or if I have to go visit the sand blasters.
 
Cliff4WD said:
I've only managed to fit in a few jobs since last update. The transmission tunnel steel sections needed a bit of TLC where corrosion had done its thing. The so called 'gearbox diaphragm' (MRC5357), was rotten both ends where it supports the floor panels

View attachment 429404

Seemed a fairly straight forward task to cut off and fabricate new replacement pieces.

View attachment 429405

View attachment 429406

You know the drill, make a card template to fit then cut out the steel sheet and bend to required shape.

View attachment 429407

All sound simple (which it is really) but it takes a while getting the steel to the correct shape and accurately fitting. Also, it has to be correct height, etc. so that the final repaired item fits correctly.

When satisfied I had the piece about right, it was weldup time

View attachment 429408

both sides of course

View attachment 429409

View attachment 429410

Next was drilling the 'square holes' to take the plastic lock nuts

View attachment 429411

View attachment 429412

That was that job ticked off the the list. Checked for fit and spray primed it.

The transfer box tunnel section (MRC5356) had faired much better and only had small perforations each side, again at the bottom where the floor panels attach, so I decided to just patch these with some fibreglass filler. This seems to have worked well enough and so that's another job done.

I'm going to sort out the bonnet next.
Click to expand...
Loving your fabrication and welding Cliff, great perseverance with attention to the smallest details! 😊
 
Cliff4WD said:
I've only managed to fit in a few jobs since last update. The transmission tunnel steel sections needed a bit of TLC where corrosion had done its thing. The so called 'gearbox diaphragm' (MRC5357), was rotten both ends where it supports the floor panels

View attachment 429404

Seemed a fairly straight forward task to cut off and fabricate new replacement pieces.

View attachment 429405

View attachment 429406

You know the drill, make a card template to fit then cut out the steel sheet and bend to required shape.

View attachment 429407

All sound simple (which it is really) but it takes a while getting the steel to the correct shape and accurately fitting. Also, it has to be correct height, etc. so that the final repaired item fits correctly.

When satisfied I had the piece about right, it was weldup time

View attachment 429408

both sides of course

View attachment 429409

View attachment 429410

Next was drilling the 'square holes' to take the plastic lock nuts

View attachment 429411

View attachment 429412

That was that job ticked off the the list. Checked for fit and spray primed it.

The transfer box tunnel section (MRC5356) had faired much better and only had small perforations each side, again at the bottom where the floor panels attach, so I decided to just patch these with some fibreglass filler. This seems to have worked well enough and so that's another job done.

I'm going to sort out the bonnet next.
Click to expand...
Work far above my skill level . Looks very neat 👍
 
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