Another 90 Rebuild

Ooh, Shiny bits Nice

Al2O3 said:

Some shiny bits have arrived
Thanks to greyhair for the stainless piston advice and to james6546 for the brake pipe kit advice. Very much appreciated.

Quite sunny here today, so I'm going to spray the new rear tub panels. Keep the caliper assembly for a rainy day

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No worries mate
thats what we are all here for
to help each other out

No worries mate
thats what we are all here for
to help each other out

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I certainly does help. Saves a lot of time and some worry when people can point you in the right direction.

Been cleaning bits up. Buying new front hinges, but decided to clean up rear ones and the screen to bulkhead clamps.


Been working on the rear seat belt mounting bars too.


The screen to bulkhead clamp cleaned up nice and shiny with a belt sander, once the paint was off. They're now etch primed and look mint. The seat belt mounting bars are now shiny with gloss black rustoleum.



Did the rad surround too.

The rear hinges are going to be a pain to clean up cos they're so intricate. Might look up that electrolysis thread

Drop in vinegar malt is ok u will see the bubbles will do a great job shifting rust

Might just give that a go. The electrolysis looks good, but a bit of a faf to set up.

Hinges have been in vinegar for two days now. Used clear vinegar which is thick brown colour so must be doing something in there.

I have been putting the new rear panels on today and it has been a nightmare.

The tub has been been rubbed down, shot blasted and etch primed. I decided to paints the surfaces that would be joining with rustoleum.





I ran a bead of sikaflex along the edges of all joining surfaces and started riveting them on. Started with the outer corner on one side then moved to the door seam edge and there was a massive gap



I still had the old panels and so got one to compare. The section I have shown with a line and arrow was about 4mm deeper on the new panel. I had already had to modify one of these panels and I showed that earlier in this thread. Mild panic started to set in as I had loads of rivets in already and the sikaflex was going off.
I decided to get the angle grinder out and cut along the line shown in the following pic. I drilled out the rivets I had just put in on that section and removed that edge of the inner wheel arch.



This allowed the rear panel to drop in to what I hope is the right place so that the door will line up!

The bit I took off forms one half of the double ali seam that the door seal pushes over.

It was a nightmare job. This is what it looks like now. I was losing light, so it will be interesting to see how bad or good (fingers crossed) it looks in the morning.

Did you not dry fit it before you started with the sealant and rivets?

Southernlandy said:

Did you not dry fit it before you started with the sealant and rivets?

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Yes. But not with the rear body mounting in place. Which obviously was the mistake.
The dry fit highlighted this issue


But, I think to be fair, it was a difficult thing to suspect or predict. Ok, I just got too excited about putting new bits together instead of taking old bits apart.

new bits get the better of us all ,especially when all we have had to play with is oily and rusty stuff ,,looking really well matey ,keep up the great work :rolly:

Cheers, GATSO. That's much appreciated because I'm getting a bit sick.
I'll put something on here about how those hinges get on in the vinegar

GATSO said:

new bits get the better of us all ,especially when all we have had to play with is oily and rusty stuff ,,looking really well matey ,keep up the great work :rolly:

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Definately ^^

I have a long list of "boring things" to put on that I forgot about in my haste to put it back together.

I still manage to get just as dirty putting shiny new bits on though...

Well GATSO this what the clear vinegar looked like by this afternoon - 3 full days soaking.


Took the hinge bits out and they looked great. Gave them a quick rub with the wire brush and the difference was amazing.


I've put them back in some clean vinegar for another night and I'll clean them with UPOL tomorrow and etch prime them. Cheers :clap2:

I've been lining the floor up and drilling the holes through today. The forecast is for a good day tomorrow, so I should get it sprayed up and riveted together.

For the top hats I'm planning on only putting rivets through the brackets near the centre bulkhead end and through the door thresh end. I think I'll go for bonding them to the floor with sikaflex along the main length of them. I don't fancy lines of rivets along the floor to replace the spot welds of the original.

Bloody hell, That vinegar really did do a good job, One to remember for the future

aaronmorris said:

Bloody hell, That vinegar really did do a good job, One to remember for the future

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Honestly, Aaron, they looked that good I was really laughing out loud. No elbow grease needed either

I have a new floor to put in at some point, so I'll let you do this one then you can tell me how to do it!

james6546 said:

I have a new floor to put in at some point, so I'll let you do this one then you can tell me how to do it!

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No worries

forgot to say ,,don't put it on ya chips after ,,lol,,,its great did my calipers in 4.2%acidic malt came out great was going to do the axles but couldn't get hold of a barrel ,,got plenty of vinegar tho £2.65 for a gallon at costco ,,happy days :rolly:

What kind of vinegar? White?

I want to go find something that needs cleaning up now just to play...

Yeah. Clear, malt pickling vinegar. Just used pickling vinegar because I sent my son to the corner shop and that's what he came back with. I think any vinegar will do the same, clear or otherwise. Worked a treat though!
I soaked them in paint stripper for hours, but it didn't take all of the paint off.
When I took them out of the vinegar the remaining paint rubbed straight off.

How did you separate the old panels off your rear tub to replace them? I've got new rear wings for mine to go on