In at the deep end

Today I have decided to do some repair jobs on my newly acquired 110.

I found a bit of rot in the driver's side footwell last week so prodded it through with a screwdriver to see the extent. I have today and next week off work but am off to Wales on tuesday so I have four days (well, three now) to do the following jobs:

Plate in both footwells (I originally intended replacing both complete footwells but having today stripped out my floor the rot isn't too bad - it's mainly across the bottom fold and the wall below the pedals is still absolutely fine so I'm gonna cut out roughly the bottom 100mm or so and replace with 2mm folded sheet.) I don't have the time to totally replace the footwells and it's overkill really, for now. Plus the replacement wells are 1.2mm - a bit flimsy if you ask me.

Replace the base steel sheet in the seatbox unit beneath the driver's side seat. The base of the battery box looks fairly solid but I'll fully clean it up tomorrow to examine the condition of the steel. What an absolute arse to remove the seat box. Most of the bolts & screws had to be cut off as it's a '92 plate so the fixings are corroded to hell. Some were really tricky to remove due to accessibility. Got there in the end though. It's taken me about 7 hours to remove the seats, seatbox, floorplates and do a bit of cleaning up around the parts I've removed.

Rear offside outrigger. I was cleaning this up with a rotary wire brush and it disintegrated on top so this will have to be cut out and replaced whilst I have the seatbox off and can access it ok to fully weld. My only concern is trying to not melt the wiring loom within the chassis member. Any hints on welding new outriggers without damaging wiring?

There is also a bracket on top of the nearside rear outrigger that has corroded away so I'll knock up a new one from 3mm plate and weld that on and bolt to the tub.

I intend to have all welding and plating done tomorrow and primed, ready for a couple of coats of topcoat on sunday then need to have it all assembled and seam sealed on monday morning ahead of my camping trip to Wales on tuesday.

Does this sound doable? It'd better be!

I'd have taken pics but both my camera and iphone are currently knackered.

Sounds like a nice weekend for you then! You would say that would be doable in 3 days, but you'd have thought the seats + seat box etc would have only taken an hour to remove. It depends how you go, and how you work. And where you work too as a lot of time can be lost looking for tools etc. Good luck and put up some pics if you time!

I have my fabrication workshop to work from so that's sorted.

I'll see if I can scrounge a camera tomorrow from the owd dear.

I know the feeling i had a pain removing my rear tub as the last owner had put bucket seats on custom subframes and they were a pain to remove

I've today finished plating both footwells and repairing the corrosion on the battery box and toolbox under my seatbox.

My outrigger will have to wait a couple of weeks and since I'll be removing my seatbox again I've not fully cleaned it up and sprayed it, simply down to time. I'll do a proper job cosmetically once I've finished all of the structural work that needs doing.

Anyway, here's a few pics.

Here's my handywork

Nice repaired Seat Box:

Further jobs are to replace both body cappings, offside rear outrigger and nearside front outrigger.

Also need to buy a steering guard so that I can build a nice tubular bumper around it and also a pair of tree sliders.

Should keep me busy for a couple of months.

Nice pics, keep up the good work.

And keep up the pics to. Would be nice to see more of the cutting and plating etc in action. You're clearly very good at it.

Your lines of weld bead look delicious

Looks smart that mate, the footwells are on the list for mine.. Pics of those home made tree sliders will be good, I'm unsure wether to make or buy...

I've currently got a couple of lengths of surplus 80 x 40 x 4mm RHS in stock and loads of tube lying about for the tree sliders so they'll cost nothing. My tubular bumper will be made from Ø75 x 5mm CHS.

I think that since I'm replacing one rear outrigger I may as well do the other side so that I then have two nice fresh, straight outriggers to cleanly bolt my tree slider rear brackets to.

The brackets on top of the outriggers have also seen better days so I'll replace them whilst I'm at it. I have one outrigger but need to buy t'other and also the four brackets between outrigger and tub, which will cost me about eighty quid so they'll have to wait a couple of weeks until I can be bothered to strip her down again!

The problem I have is that she's my only car and I use it for work also so I can't afford to have it off the road apart from weekends. It's gonna be a slow process to get it how I want it but it should be nice and solid once I'm done with her.

pos said:

Your lines of weld bead look delicious

Click to expand...

Christ, they're not that tidy - low power welding in confined spaces joining 2mm plate to 20 yr old 1.2mm pitted sheet isn't the most ideal task!

This is my regular standard

well I've got my arse into gear and started a bit more work on my 110.

I'm currently making myself a new bumper. I'd originally planned on a tubular one but to be honestn I think they look **** unless they're a full winch bumper and I don't have or want a winch, so decided to fab a standard one. It's almost complete, apart from just needing to make the A bar to mount a couple of big fat 8" terrafirma's.

I converted my old headlamps to halogen in the week too.

I will shortly replace my headlight surrounds, sidelights & indicators and also a new grille. i may opt for a mesh grille, despite not particularly liking them too much, to pinch a few mill behind the A bar as the Terradfirma spots are incredibly deep so my A bar will be pitched forward quite a bit as it is to give me room to fit the deep body of the spots.

Hey, love your work, and I love these kinds of threads.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of welding do you use generally?

I've been arsing around with mig for a few years now and have been promising myself a tig welder for quite a while (not that i can afford one). For some reason i just think it's the way to go for better welds.

Looking at the quality of your work from your previous post, I'd be interested to know your opinion.

Why do you want a TIG?

If its just mild steel then stick with mig and get as decent a welder as you can afford, although if it's just for car work you don't need anything fancy. common problems with welding are too low power and too fast wire feed. Get your set up right and you're 80% there. If you're looking for better welds, you won't improve with TIG if you're not happy enough with your competence at Mig.

I use mig but I do this **** for a living and have a workshop full of three phase sets blazing out 360 amps.

Happy to give you welding pointers if I can help, if you have any queries.

I've now made my a-bar and popped down to staffordshire 4x4 this morning to trial fit one of the 8" terrafirma spotlights I'll be fixing to it. Everything all fits nice, just need to move my number plate down a little to ensure it's not obscured by the huge spots then i'll whip it back off and get it sprayed.

Quite pleased with how it looks for a first attempt. Looking forward to seeing it on once painted with the spots in place.