johnnys series 3 resto project

after a lot of swearing fires and false starts ive finaly got round to stripping the series down wich im now gonna call minnie after a little discovery i made during the stripdown process but first a few pics of what ive done and found along the way



the evening she got home



jaymie decided it needed a good scrub with the excuse that it looks messy

unbelieveably the paint dont look too bad under that crap



ive only got this far before the rain stopped me but i got a few pics of the main rot spots on the bulkhead that really dont look too bad to me











this last pic is how i got her name as i found a small froze to death mouse inside here looked like it had gone in its sleep so hence the name minnie

see how far i get with it tomorrow

i think that will be quite tricky around the vent flaps, i have just got to that stage and cant make my mind up wether to get a bettr bulkhead, will you do the welding yourself?

peter8315 said:

i think that will be quite tricky around the vent flaps, i have just got to that stage and cant make my mind up wether to get a bettr bulkhead, will you do the welding yourself?

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i like a good challenge and yes i will be doing all the welding meself and the bits around the vent holes cant be much trickyer than de-seaming the back of an old mini

at a guess its just gonna be a matter of time taken to fabricate the nesecarry profile to recreate the edges of those vents

i thought about cutting good flaps out of another bulkhead and welding them in, i have got a couple of spare bulkheads, but at the moment i am busy stripping it down to its bones

if i get chance tomorow ill have a dry run at making a few various bits and plenny of pics to see how i get on maybee it could help others in this situation

Gosh, you have stripped that down quickly. Keep up with the photos.

crashbox said:

Gosh, you have stripped that down quickly. Keep up with the photos.

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really do you think so ive only done 4 hours on it today

usualy takes me 3 days to strip bag up lable and sort a disco from first nut off to last bit in the back of the van and gone

i used to work in a scrapyard during the summer holidays stripping and shelveing cars

johnny curt 1 said:

really do you think so ive only done 4 hours on it today

usualy takes me 3 days to strip bag up lable and sort a disco from first nut off to last bit in the back of the van and gone

i used to work in a scrapyard during the summer holidays stripping and shelveing cars

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I never seem to get peace to work on mine without someone wanting to stop and blether then its tea, coffee etc.

ive told me missus that if i get stopped too many times during the days im working on it ill do a night shift to make up fer lost time

theres no way shell have that so she lets me get on with it during the day and if jaymies out with me she can have a few hours peace in the house so it just about balances itself out really

How are you gonna fix the window support? Will you make up a new one or weld bits into it? Common problem on Series. Do they sell a replacement?

i think im gonna cut the support off then repair the bulkhead behind it and maybee copy the old one in the shed ( something to do when it rains )

its just a shame i dont own the derelict garages at the back of our house ( the ones in me first pic ) i could sure make good use of one of those !

johnny curt 1 said:

i think im gonna cut the support off then repair the bulkhead behind it and maybee copy the old one in the shed ( something to do when it rains )

its just a shame i dont own the derelict garages at the back of our house ( the ones in me first pic ) i could sure make good use of one of those !

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You can have the vents off my old 110 if you come an cut em off mate

got a complete bulkhead as well as door glass, needs some work but less than yours.. if your passing south at all.. pm me if your interested..

right as some of you have asked how im going to rebuild the vent holes i thought id do a bit of a show n tell since i had half an hour on me hands between rainshowers

first i picked me first victim (hole )



i copied all measurements to the flat steel sheet i have hanging around ( zintec coated of course )



i then ( coz it started ****in down ) buggered off in the shed and began bending it in the vise starting with the smallest lip edge and working my way back useing an old scrap of steel flat bar and a 2" bolster to keep me bends nice and sharp





next up was to trim me patch profile to suit the area better and finesse it to match the angles of the bulkhead perfectly this time useing the bending machine i made the other week then sat the patch plate on the rotten area and drew round it to show exactly where i needed to cut



after a little more grinding and fettling i tacked the piece in place at either end following first the top front edge as a starting reference point then began tacking it once evry 2" round the joint





now just an ickle tickle wiff the 4" grinder and a run over with the sander produced this



now a little blow over with the grey primer ( temporary coat as ive not finished in this area yet ) and i got this



got a bit of a flagging job tomorrow so i doubt ill get anything done on her till sunday lol

hey hey hey ive had a few hours progress on her today thing is as im outside with this and have a hell of a lot of welding and god only knows what else ive found myself haveing to do a bit of repair work welding and fabricating and then red oxideing and por15 painting right behind where ive just been but slowly i started getting somewhere with it today

i agree, you have made brilliant progress!
loving the metal work to, its very satisfying when you do something like that isnt it

keep the pics coming!

ieuandavies said:

i agree, you have made brilliant progress!
loving the metal work to, its very satisfying when you do something like that isnt it

keep the pics coming!

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I agree.

ive been useing the mot testers methods to my advantage with the chassis they use a toffee hammer to test for rot i use a 10oz ballpein hammer and give it a good tw@tting if i cant put it through with that and a big screwdriver its not going through

however if i get a small hole out comes stage 2
the mig welder set for 2mm steel and begin blazing till the hole wont go no bigger and begins building back up on the edges then trim it up and fit a plate in the hole and weld back up well thats how i sorted that outrigger

and ive given up on the bulkhead for now as its gonna take some serious fekkin about to get right so i might aswell do the back half get that out of the way then remove the bulkhead since its gone this far ( easier to work on on the bench...err that trailer in the garden )

If you are removing the bulkhead, be careful you dont lose the shape as they can sag a bit after being welded up on the "bench".

crashbox said:

If you are removing the bulkhead, be careful you dont lose the shape as they can sag a bit after being welded up on the "bench".

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cheers fer the heads up with the bulkhead mate ill use some of that angle iron off the dumped road sign frames that followed me home to brace the bulkhead while its on the bench