So what's the condition of this beautiful BRG BGT? (say that ten times fast)
The body sure looks nice. You said it fire, so the engine must at least be reasonable. What's the plan?
So what's the condition of this beautiful BRG BGT? (say that ten times fast)
The body sure looks nice. You said it fire, so the engine must at least be reasonable. What's the plan?
In reply to TVR Scott :
Dont have a real plan. Had it for 40 years and when I bought the FRS and started working on the Molvo I kinda just let it sit. It is too nice to cut up, but that seems to be the only thing I know how to do anymore!
Off to work we go....
First and foremost, if doing this work, note how the car is supported; it does not know that it is not not sitting flat on the floor.
Pick a spot where you think the sill is solid and slice away
Slice and dice and drill a couple dozen spotwelds along the pinchweld, and here we are...
This was not a virgin sill as there is a layer of filler over the sill. I expect I will cut the sill up another half inch higher.
The flat middle membrane seems to be in good shape except for a small bit at the very front. Easy fix that wont even require a piece of the new part.
The fun bit is cutting the nice new $$$ sill to match the remainder of the factory sill. It has to be a perfect fit so that it can be attached with one long butt-weld.
Slice and dice complete.
Normally when doing a rockerectomy I dont have to cut this far up into the rear of the sill. Took some effort to match it up but should work fine. Next up...One long seam weld from front to back..
Being a curved edge and close to a fold at the top warp shold not be a significant problem. Should end up with a slightly inwards "V" along the seam.
Pete
Lookin good.
Please correct me if i'm wrong, but back about 18mos ago you were looking for $7500 canadian for this(BGT)....verdad?
In reply to 759NRNG :
I think the round number was $6500 Usd.
Think is that I went and stuck it in a barn and got too busy with the Molvo and the Challenge car to even have time to pull it out and sell the thing. Goal is to go over the car and have it ready for spring driving and/or sale. Big spring Brit Car show would be good place to market the car.
Pete
When you're cutting the new panel, how are you executing that cut? Do you clamp up the new sheet and cut new and old at the same time? Or do you cut it a little long and then mark the edge for final?
Do you roll any kind of v-bevel edge for welding or do you just butt weld?
Thanks for sharing your technique - cool to see it!
In reply to TVR Scott :
Cut it long and then scribe along the top of the repair panel. Trim close to the scribe line with the angle grinder/zip wheel and then use a flap wheel just until the scribe mark goes away.
For no real good reason , I like to butt- weld repair panels into place. In theory I can metal finish a butt-weld, but not often you can get at the rear of the seam to do so. I have tried the gizmo that rolls a slight V into the seam ( not to be confused with the flange tool) but can't say as the net result was worth the added trouble of fitting the panels to accommodate the V since it increases the gap.
When it comes to quarter panels, I have been tempted to do a flange and try the new automotive panel adhesives as a way to avoid dealing with panel warp. Figuring out how to clamp has been the deal stopper.
Pete
Is there a 'long' reach spot welder in your aresenal? for where i don't know just wondering.....
In reply to NOHOME :
The panel adhesive Eastwood sells used to be sold in a kit with their blind panel holders, which would be removed after the adhesive set. However, they no longer seem to sell this combo anymore, which makes me wonder if there is an issue with the adhesive bonding the holder into the panel as well and preventing easy removal.
In reply to Ian F :
The thing with using panel bond for our old cars is that I know more about adhesives than I want to. One of those things is that max strength is specified at a given adhesive layer dimension. It is possible to do this at the factory with new cars but not so much with our old tin. Would it really matter assuming we did a best effort? Not sure and my biggest concern would be a glue line exposing through paint. But on a huge quarter panel the amount of metal-working and filling time would be significant.
Pete
Could you use Klecos to hold the panels tight? You've got some little holes to fill then, but I've seen you do some pretty knarly body work. Maybe no big deal?
Got a bit of time in the shop over the weekend. Due to project scope, things did not progress to where I wanted to be. At first I thought the little bit of rust I could see on the castle rail could be repaired in-situ. Nope, when I had a look at the front bit where it rust the worse, it was much thinner than expected and a section needs grafted in.
If you are ever buying one, this is a typical rust-out situation for an MGB at the front of the sills. Often showing signs from the inside way up front where you might not look inside. So look.
With the outer sill cut off at the top, the membrane was cut open to have a look at the castle rail. It was lacy back to where you can see it cut off. It is well attached to the car and took some persuading to remove.
The challenge now is to graft in a new section harvested from a donor castle rail. I say challenge because the replacement panel is not a British Motor Heritage part, so the dimensions take a few poetic liberties.
The goal is to have the sills done in 20 hours. The fresh piece of tin represents the part where stuff is getting welded back in rather than cut out so that is a good thing!
Interesting to watch along as I will be doing much of this same work (albeit to a greater extent) on my 1800ES. Pretty satisfied with how the front frame horn turned out so far. I aspire to your level of craftsmanship though.
Here is a pic of the arsenal it takes to do this work. Yes, there are three separate angle grinders with different functions.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
I might have mentioned it on your thread, but if you have to do a sill repair like this one on your car, I did a tutorial where I show how to make the outer sill from scratch.
https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?333649-No-Sill-Panel-No-Problem&highlight=sill+problem
In reply to NOHOME :
I've studied that a couple of times. Appreciate the write-up.
I need to get my second angle grinder back on line. Nothing worse than having to swap blades back and forth. I do like having a cordless grinder though, one less thing to trip over. Although it does chew through even the big 5 ah battery.
i currently have 3 angle grinders as well. one has 36-grit stone, one has cutoff disc, and one has 60-grit flap disc.
carry on please cus sill replacement is better than...........
The sills are pretty much wrapped up with just the long seam weld to grind down. Next i move on to the quarter panels that the owner just delivered.
Either due to being cheap or too lazy to order them, I have never tried the brad-point spot wled cutters. Since I really want to minimize the damage to the wheel tubs when I remove the quarter, I gave it a try and ordered a couple of these bad boys.
Hopefully they dont just catch and edge and chip and become junk cause at $15 a toss they are not disposable.
Question for you- As an engineer, and an amateur welder, I've noticed that welding goes markedly better when the work is positioned so that welds are being applied downward. Welding along a vertical is somewhat less optimal, and welding upside down is downright frustrating. In the absence of a car-tisserie, what's the best approach to making acceptable welds in a non-horizontal, non-downward fashion?
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Understanding that molten metal is a liquid with some viscosity, and will act as such is a game changer. Gravity, surface tension and capillary action all work on that little drop of molten metal right up to the point where it is not molten anymore.
In any position other than going down, capillary action is your best friend when doing thin metal. You hit it with that dab of molten metal and let nature take its course by sucking it into the seam. If you are welding on the front face of the last dot you put in, gravity is also helping on a horizontal position.
Overhead freaks all of us out, but you still have capillary action, surface tension and viscosity working in your favour, so if you don't put too much mass of wire into the equation, it should still work for much the same reason the welding uphill works.
If there is a real welder in the audience, they can fill in the gaps, I am just someone who has learned a process that works for me and the work I do.
By the way, for those following along at home, the spotweld cutters I shoed above are a great tool, even at the price. I will be buying more to have them around. The ones that look like a little hole-saw were never that useful to me but these are the shizzle. Lets see how long they last.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Do you just use the spotweld bits directly on the weld or do you think it helps to pre-drill the center? Or do you center-punch the center first?
In reply to Ian F :
I center punched and did a shallow 1/8 pilot on the first 20 that I did last night. Then I went in with no foreplay and found out with the next 30 or so that it piloted itself on that little fang just fine. It was a that point I fell in love with the thing. You are going to want a few of these if you ever get around to the P1800. I got these from McMaster Carr.
Pete
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