PollyMobiles Rebuild

[pollyp]

Last night after a car meet, kassandra's clutch pedal suddenly dropped to the floor & broke down whilst driving home
pedal felt light, couldn't select gear and reverse kept crunching, so the clutch definately ain't disengaging.

I managed to tighten the cable all the way to make it barely work, but she squealed & shuddered badly so I nursed her home using minimal clutch

drained the dark gearbox oil

usual amount of debris on the plug

removed the gearbox

ah crap, so I guess the clutch fork had enough of the strain from the heavy pressure plate after 10yr of use/abuse and snapped off

I believe the cause of all this is the old grease I put along the release bearing/input shaft collar, which is now a very sticky dry goop mixed with clutch dust. I've had this issue all the time

This dramatically increases friction making it harder for the release bearing to slide along.
It explains why the clutch felt harder & harder in the past year, even after I re-oiled the cable several times.
Since I've already reinforced the pedal box, cable ends & cable mounts, the next weakest link to fail from all the stress are the thin clutch forks

After it broke and I tightened the cable really hard to get her home, it bent the release bearing plastic collar at a wonky angle which is why it squealed & shuddered.

the clutch itself looks fine

gearbox side of the plate wears more than the flywheel side

according to my records, it still has approx 21,000m or 2.5yrs of life remaining.
I best look for a replacement

swapped over to a spare gearbox to save time & make mondays trackday

 

[pollyp]

finished connecting everything onto the gearbox.
a minor thing to note are the drive shaft slotted into the spare gearbox diff very snug with minimum play, unlike the old sloppy gearbox.

filled up with 3.2L of 80w90 oil

intake installed

went for a drive and wow what a difference!

the clutch is definately a lot smoother & lighter after greasing the release bearing collar and doesn't rattle in neutral as badly.
this spare gearbox I brought from Stefan last yr was afaik reconditioned and wow it shifts gears very sharp & effortless (good synchros) and it's smooth & quiet with no clunking on/off throttle (good tolerances & backlash)

 

[pollyp]

so during the long cruise back from japfest silverstone, her new coolant bottle developed a small leak at the bottom

which I believe is caused by the solid metal pipe I used rattling around till it cracked through

replaced it with a small bottle of good asda vinegar
the reduced size/weight will also puts less strain on the neck

drilled a 10mm hole to pop the silicone hose straight through

so now the flexible silicone hose goes from the radiator straight down into the bottle with less risk of breaking the bottle

 

[pollyp]

2022-04-24
removed 35kg of rear interior to fit the X-brace to prep her for mondays track night

went for a test drive and ooh she's quite nippy from the reduced weight

 

[pollyp]

Teesside Autodrome - Evening Trackday 25-04-2022

Arrived early at 4pm to secure a spot in the pit lane with my m8 Dave in his blue civic

swapped over to the 595RSR semislick track wheels. wasn't sure where to start with these new BC BR coilovers, so I began at their hardest setting 30/30 clicks.

Car setup / changes
My last trackday was in 2020 with Jamie (LetsTorqueCars). since then, kassandra has been fitted with:

• BC BR coilovers with softer 4/3kg springs,
• Cold air ducting,
• Fresh GTIR oem front brakes
• Rigid bucket seat frame
• New seat belts
• New PAS pump
• Fresh CG13 gearbox, Open-diff
• 2.5deg front camber
• 0deg toe

#16.56 warm up lap
30/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.4/2.4bar start / 2.5/2.5bar end
60/40 brake bias
dry cool track
100% fuel
driver only

I noticed the track was quite bumpy with lots more patchy tarmac repairs. The tyres are also barely warmed up after those gentle 3 laps, also found my rear left tyre was almost flat so I pumped that back up

#17:16 run 1
30/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.5/2.5bar start / 2.95/2.6bar end
60/40 bias
dry cool track
100% fuel
only driver

@00.24 cold tyres oversteer
@02.56 180 bend oversteer
@03.29 corkscrew bend oversteer

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
60s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (2nd, 4th, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 2nd)
59s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)

The 8yr old rear tyres are really showing their hard age being really slippery when cold compared to the 6yr old fronts.
They take at least 3-4 laps to heat them up, clean the surface and reduce their oversteer.
With front & rear dampers at full hard & rear swaybar at full hard, the rear end is very light & sensitive to lift off oversteer.
Also noticed the 3yr old wideband sensor was showing E8 error during cooldown, heating element might be struggling with the intense temp difference & might need replacing someday?

#17:53 run 2
30/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.7/2.6bar start, 2.8/2.6bar end
60/40 brake bias
dry cool track
100% fuel
dave as passenger

@01.00 chicane oversteer
@02.20 lift off oversteer
@03.24 lift off oversteer
@05.27 oversteer

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 4th, 3rd)
60s (3rd, 4th, 3rd)
62s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
60s (3rd, 4th, 3rd) traffic

Brought Dave along for a ride to see if the passenger weight helps balance the car, but with all dampers at full hard it's still very sensitive to lift off oversteer. a slight amount of oversteer might've helped turn the car mid-corner so I could accelerate earlier down the straights but overall it still loses time.

#18.09 run 3
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.7/2.6bar start, 2.8/2.7 end
60/40 brake bias
dry cool
90% fuel
dave as passenger

@10.40 180 bend entry oversteer

Now that the tyre pressure & temp has stabilised and after softening the front end to 15 clicks & rear to 30 clicks, she's slightly more balanced through mid-corners. Rear end is more stable when driven smoothly. The fresh GTIR brakes bite really well when warmed up after 4 laps.

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
60s (2nd, 4th, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 4th, 3rd)
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
61s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) add more rear bias
60s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
59s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

Next I went for a ride in Daves civic. It's alot comfier & quieter than mine although the standard seats don't offer much support as I roll around lol. it was a few nice laps till we went past the 1st bumpy hairpin and then it suddenly lost drive

hazards on, we got tow'd back to pits to assess the damage

turned out the driveshaft had snapped off the CV joint where the spline is, seems to be a common honda issue I heard

he awaits the recovery truck home

#19.12 Run 4
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.7/2.6bar start, 2.75/2.65 end
57/43 brake bias
dry cool
90% fuel
only driver

Whilst dave awaits his recovery, I went for a last run with the dampers now set, slightly less fuel weight and no passengers.
Tyres are now stone cold so the out-lap will be tricky on these old tyres

@00.19 stone cold tyres oversteer
@01.20 lock front left
@01.25 corkscrew entry oversteer
@09.20 overtake black citreon
@09.30 180 bend entry slight oversteer

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
61s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd)
60s (3rd, 4th, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.36 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
57.32 (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
58s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

Once again the old rear tyres were very slippery when stone cold. The balance stabilises after a few laps & tyres heated back up.

Assessing & comparing my laps to the previous trackday, it felt quite good near the end.
My fastest lap of 57.32sec is approx 0.20s faster, mostly due to improved acceleration from the cold air intake ducting in the wing panel and can brake much later with the fresh front brakes.

 

[pollyp]

changed the oil & filter after the trackday. fresh front brakes still look nice & smooth and no extreme blue'ing so I guess they're staying nice & cool on track.

car was cleaned ready for the UNITY show at the NY500 cafe near the yorkshire moors

it was a fabulous, hot sunny day to view lots of cool cars & be with gr8 friends

Attach files

 

[pollyp]

guy wanted some spigot rings machining to fit 61mm bore Almera GTI discs onto the 59mm micra hub

 

[pollyp]

finally got round to fitting my 'Cos Nissan' xmas gift

looks cool at night how the brake light illuminates it gradiently

 

[pollyp]

visited a friend to try diagnose their mk4 astra electrical issues

before making a rushed convoy upto newcastle for a huge secret 'Summer Madness' car gathering. it was an intense, vibrant, loud, jam-packed car meet

 

[pollyp]

the new bottom arm joints were slightly knockly/moving within the housing, so I machined these 0.3mm thick shims to help take up the slack

It's reduced the knocking

 

[pollyp]

whilst using the lathe I normally turn the dial back to zer0 before turning it on/off (for a gentle stop/start),
but this time I briefly left the RPM knob at medium-rpm, pressed stop, measured part, pressed start which immediately spins the chuck with full torque to get up to the previous rpm and shattered the poor 6yr old plastic belt cog

modelled & printed a few test-fit pieces to match the belt teeth exactly, before making the final part

was a snug fit, it works

last a few hrs fixing all that but now I can carry on machining

 

[pollyp]

3yr old falken tyres are now worn down to 2.5/5.5mm front/rear.
time to swap them around diagonally

 

[pollyp]

recently realised I've lost my digital torque wrench and was pretty angry with how clumsy I was

the last time I remember using it was when swapping back over to my road wheels at the end of my recent trackday, packed everything into the car, must have forgotten I left the torque wrench on the floor and drove home

so this week I ordered the same torque wrench on ebay for £130 (it used to be £100)
this is the newer STW306 v2 version

they've tweaked the user interface.

on the old one I could easily quickly cycle through all the stored torque number pressing '+' and edit the value holding '+'
whereas on this v2 model, pressing '+' edits the value and holding '+' cycles through the 5 pre-sets, which I find very slow & annoying

before swapping my GTIR brakes from my "trackday" set back to the old "road" set, I wirebrushed all the crusty rust off

 

[pollyp]

over the weekend I went to melbourne raceway in York for Powerfest 2022.
the moment you walk into the venue you're surrounded by the deeeep lumpy rumble of v8's and all the classic muscle cars takes u back in time
in comparison to modernised Santapod, this place has a lot more casual, raw old-school vibe to it

 

[pollyp]

after the recent trackday a few hundred miles, the new disc/pads are looking nice & smooth.
the normal pads are still intact after the intense use (unlike the old black diamonds which crumbled)

swapped back to the older daily set

there's been an annoying rattle near the left A-pillar at a certain rpm, which stops whenever I brake/accelerate/corner or press against the A-pillar/windscreen.

it turns out the bottom left of the tigersealed windscreen is once again slightly peeling off and rattling
nothing major I can do about it so I'll just ignore it

replaced the studs on this spare rear bumper frame that I recently got off Jack

primed & painted it

 

[pollyp]

2022-05-14 Velocity North East Car Meet

began our convoy from northallarton with TeamWhiteCustoms

several groups gathered at Dalton Park seaham awaiting the final location details

another mad scramble to sunderland for the velocity meet

 

[pollyp]

the 2yr old needle bearings in this custom gear selector joint have worn loose after water got inside & corroded it, resulting in 23mm of side-side play

can see all the rusty rollers inside

pressed the bearings out

ordered some new bearings with rubber seals on both ends rather than the one-side on the old ones, hopefully keeping the grease sealed inside

pressed new bearings in

new joint feeling much sharper reducing the side-side play to 11mm

 

[pollyp]

2022-05-15 Custom Spigot Rings

my wheels have been shaking the car above 60mph due to the missing old spigot rings and the tapered lug nut holes on the alloy wheels are not perfectly concentric to the wheel, making them wobble up/down by 1mm

since I need a spigot ring for both the GTIR discs, rear spacer & the alloy wheels, I brought this 70mm Alu billet to machine the custom rings.
finding some 55-70mm alloy tube was difficult or expensive.

took me 2hrs just to chop through this hunk of alloy

till the saw snapped

replaced blade and finished the cut

drilled a big hole through it

bored it out to the 59mm micra hub center

machined the outside down to 66.60mm for the alloy wheel center

machined this edge to 61mm for the GTIR discs & spacers

chopped in two

ready to fit

slipped onto the rear spacer to keep that centered on the micra hub

and this bit keeps the alloy wheel centered

and it's worked in reducing the wheel wobble vibrations

 

[pollyp]

made the front pair of spigot rings and most of the shaking has gone but above 65mph it begins to shake, so the wheels will probably need rebalancing

 

[pollyp]

chris hoodreaper needed some custom brake cooling ducts made to fit the corner of a wheel lining so I modelled & printed it

2hrs to print each one

 

[pollyp]

the rear bumper has always sat with the mid section bent up towards the bootlid

so I removed it

and replaced the old rusty bent bumper beam with a new painted straight beam

ooh now it sits flat with a nice equal gap underneath the boot lid

the front end also had this rattle recently, which I thought was due to a cracked crossmember, so I removed the front end to assess

turned out to simply be the power steering cooler not secured & rattling against the middle beam so no need to weld the crossmember yet.
whilst here, I undersealed the crossmember & wirebrushed the filthy clogged front of the radiator

 

[pollyp]

frustrated with the unreliable unconvenient power source of the old Drift X170 onboard action cameras.

each of the 4 cameras are powered by either x2 AA batteries (which only last 20min max, PITA to replace, costs lots of batteries, prone to vibration or water disturbing the power supply),
or a mini-usb plug (providing continuous power but it's still prone to vibration, loose connection or moisture disturbing the power supply)

so whenever the camera's power supply is disturbed during recording (even for a millisec) it shuts off and corrupts the whole recording

decided rather than relying on batteries or usb, I brought this voltage regulator on ebay which will be hard wired to the car battery to convert the 12-14v into a constant 3.3v & fed directly / reliably into all 4 cameras at all times, reducing video corruption.

tested it using a multimeter & oscilliscope on the battery with IGN off, on, cranking etc and the regulator output was a stable 3.3v

printed a casing for the regulator

 

[pollyp]

removed the AA battery holder inside the cameras, which conveniently provides the the 2 power wires

most of the tiny screws holding the enclosure were rounded and pretty annoying so I simply cellotaped it back together which also helps make it more water resistant

printed these removable caps to seal up the exposed end and fed the extended power wire through it

final testing of the circuit.
x2 AA batteries create 3.2v so I reconfigured the regulator to that voltage, turned on all three cameras and they work perfectly

installed the regulator to the car battery

installed the cameras, wired up and they're all working, ready for tomorrows trackday

 

[pollyp]

swapped over from the road-set of pulsar brakes

to the track-set of pulsar brakes

 

[pollyp]

2022-05-22

time to hard wire the old external cameras into a constant power source so it won't lose footage.
opened up the casing and removed the AA battery holder, which provides a convenient wire to connect onto

the tiny screws holding the case weren't meant for opening repeatedly and kept rounding off, so I decided to simply cellotape the whole thing together, which also helps create a waterproof cover

one final test of wiring all 3 cameras to the 3v regulator and it works

installed the regulator to the battery

and wired it up to the 3 external cameras

ready for the trackday

 

[pollyp]

2022-05-23 Teesside Autodrome - Evening Trackday

Weather forcast was forcasting rain from approx 5pm
I arrived early at 4pm to unpack & prepare, and then it began to rain

Since my last trackday on 2022-04-23 I lost my precious electronic torque wrench and was obviously angry at myself and brought a new one
but whilst unpacking, a guy who works at the track said did I lose anything? "erm yeah, a torque wrench from last time?"
and behold! he gave me my lost torque wrench
omg I was both soo delighted that he kept it safe for me but also silly & stubborn for not calling them first to ask if anyone's recovered it before I brought another one guess I have two wrenches now

My friend Karan soon arrived to ride along with me for the evening

Car setup/changes
The only changes since my last trackday in april were some spigot rings to keep the wheels centered, replaced the gear selector bearings, and the same alignment of 2.5deg camber & 0deg toe.

With a wet track, I decided to start off on my road tyres to see if the deeper grooves would help reduce aquaplaning considering my rear semi-slicks are at minimum depth

The hard wired cameras can now be left on constantly and I simply have to press the remote for all of them to record

#16.55 Warm up lap
15/30 damper
Falken ZE310
2.3/2.7bar cold pressure
60/40 brake bias
damp cool track
70% fuel
with Karan as passenger

Rain had turned into light drizzle. the track is also a little roughly patched with lots of bumps

#17.10 Run 1
15/30 damper
Falken ZE310
2.3/2.7bar cold pressure
60/40 brake bias
damp cool track
70% fuel
with Karan as passenger

Immediately went out on track since it's cold damp and nothing to check for in the pits.

P.O.I.
0.48 180deg bend cold tyre oversteer
1.02 chicane oversteer
1.24 bumpy entry oversteer
3.12 180deg mid-corner oversteer

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
69s (3rd, 3rd, 2nd) let car pass
75s (3rd, 4th, 3rd) let car pass, sliding

Holy crap these 2yr old Falkens are soo slippery on a damp track!
maybe the 15/30 clicks front/rear dampening are too stiff at the rear cos she keeps oversteering mid-corner and when changing direction

#17.40 Run 2
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.2/2.4bar cold start, 2.3/2.4bar end
60/40 bias
damp drizzle cool track
70% fuel
with Karan as passenger

immediately swapped back over to my semi-slicks

P.O.I.
1.30 locking RR under braking
2.35 locking RR under braking
2.43 oversteer whilst changing direction going over a bump
4.55 entry oversteer whilst overtaking audi going too wide
5.05 black mini broke-down with red flag

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
67s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
68s (2nd, 4th, 3rd) let car pass
73s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
67s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic & red flag

With semi-slicks it grips soo much better & consistantly even in the wet but it feels like the rear is too stiff making it oversteer mid-cornering when it hits a bump or changing direction.
Didn't have many clear runs before a black mini cooper broke down causing a red flag.

#18.00 Run 3
15/30 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.3/2.4bar start
60/40 brake bias
damp drizzle cool track
60% fuel
with Karan as passenger

P.O.I.
1.38 lift off oversteer
2.16 exhaust backbox rubber support melted, exhaust rattling to one-side
3.42 entry oversteer
4.10 blue yaris braking oddly
4.30 blue yaris spin
6.06 balancing lift off oversteer at corner exit
8.12 balancing lift off oversteer mid-corner

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
66s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
66s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
68s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
68s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) yaris spun
69s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
64s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
67s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
65s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
65s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
66s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
64s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
66s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)

Overall balance with the semislicks felt good & stable but it's very sensitive to the slightest lift-off-oversteer, so I'll soften the rear damper to try reduce oversteer. There was also a buzzing/rattle in the rear end, which soon turned out to be the exhaust backbox rubber support bobbins had melted coming off and a slightly open boot lid.

spotted this nice purple R32 skyline going around too

#19.40 Run 4
15/20 damper
Federal 595RSR
2.3/2.4bar start
60/40 brake bias
wet raining cold track
55% fuel
with Karan as passenger

P.O.I.
1.55 red MX5 spun
3.10 red MX5 joins circuit
6.55 lift off oversteer on exit
8.25 mid-corner oversteer over a river
10.37 locking rear during entry to 180deg bend
11.50 mid-corner oversteer over a river

Lap Times: (gears through 1st chicane, straights, 180 bend)
79s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
70s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) traffic
72s (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
69s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let skyline pass
67s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
67s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
70s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass
68s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd)
71s (3rd, 3rd, 3rd) let car pass

felt nice & balanced with a slightly softer rear end

 

[pollyp]

2022-05-24

whilst unloading the car I noticed hmm the exhaust is sitting lop-sided

ooh my, so that's why she was rattling on track. one of the v-bands near the front pipe got loose which allowed the cat-back exhaust end to swing around along with the extra heat of the backbox cooking those poor rubber bobbins during the last two trackdays till they eventually split apart and fall to one side

removing the exhaust for a closer look, yup they're cooked/delaminated

good thing I kept some spares

changed the oil & filter afterwards

collected another 10 cans of base coat for painting the car
(edit: ffs I think they made the wrong paint code, last yrs paint was B-5-00165-3 whereas here he's made B-7-00165-3 )
soon find out if the match is wrong

 

[pollyp]

2022-05-26

with the upcoming car shows being 3-7wks away, now it's time to strip the rear end, repair the rusty wheel arch and respray it

disconnect the rear suspension

suspension, exhaust & bumper removed

fuel filler removed

the rust around the fuel filler is worse than I thought. wirebrushed, & chopped the rot away

the rear left corner was also full of holes

rear right corner has a few rotten holes

front right arch has a few gaps

chopped all the rotten panels out

the spare rear 1/4 sections that Jack gave me still had some rust holes but not as severe

separated the inner & outer sections apart

trimmed the rotten parts out and test fit the spare panel against the old bit. most of the rotten curved sections at the top are covered but a few areas will need plating over

right side sits fine

these spare panels will help give me a head start but there's still a huge amount of work & time required to rebuild her and I have doubts I can get it ready for the next 1-2 shows.
The huge Gravity show in July 10 is really the main deadline where I'm show&shine

 

[pollyp]

ended up chopping the entire rusty outer section of the wheel well to rebuild from scratch

trimmed the rust off the drivers side too

positioned the new arch lip into place using the rear bumper as reference

marked the exact shape of the bodywork cut onto the spare piece

trimmed & fine tuned the fitment till it's a very close match for butt welding

didn't have any nor able to buy any C-clamps during the jubilee holiday, so I had to improvise with the few clamps I had in the house to hold the pieces perfectly flush to tack in place and butt weld

welding from the inside was very difficult so I ended up welding from the outside and will have grind it down a lot.
it also warped/rippled the join so all that careful "tack weld neatly from the inside" was pointless and I'll have to slap lots of bodyfiller all over it

another issue is the spare inner arch panel no longer lines up to both the fuel filler hole & arch lip
either the 3dr wheel arch is different to the 5dr,
the spare wheel arch piece is bent out of shape,
or I've welded the arch lip in the wrong place (I eyeballed the lip to line up to the bumper ends)

whatever the cause, I'll have to cut apart the inner piece into separate sections and reconstruct all of the wheel well piece-by-piece

this is gonna take a long time to finish,
I've yet to fill/sand/respray the body,
polish & detail,
respray the rear axle,
get the wheels powdercoated

cut open the sill ends to inspect the sills I rebuilt 2yrs ago, a bit of surface rust. needs coating in oil

also discovered my local paint guy had noted the paint code on the system correctely that I carefully spelled out over the phone but somehow 4 of them are labelled with B-7... while the remaining 6 are labelled with the correct B-5...

I really hope this is just a hand written typo and they all match colour

 

[pollyp]

chopped the inner arch apart.
the fuel filler panel ain't big enough for the new arch curve I'll be making, so I measured the required dimensions

cut out a new section

shaped & clamped into place

welded

welded the drivers side too. the MIG was very inconsistant and frequently blowing holes in the thinner rusty portions, notice the pigeon poop welds lol. the large gaps didn't help either. overall it was a very frustrating & exhausting job

the damn helmet was also annoyingly too bulky & tall to fit under the cramped wheel arch so I cut & taped the top side a little lower

 

[pollyp]

patched the rusty top of the inner wheel arch

designing the curved piece of the arch

cut out of the 0.8mm spare rear 1/4 panel cos it's already painted, it's the same material and is flexible enough to bend easily

fit's nice

 

[pollyp]

tacked

welded half of it. the painted back side of the panels plus the old seam sealer kept catching fire, which has bubbled the paint of the rear door arch just above it, but at least I'll be repainting all of that 1/4 section

got some butyl strips to reseal the rear lights that was removed

 

[pollyp]

welded the rest of the rear left arch

finished the back of the rear right arch

patched this rust hole

rather than weld a complex angled cap on this corner,
I decided to chop the useless bulge (was originally part of the exit vent column) and weld a simple L-shaped panel to seal it

 

[pollyp]

cornflake template of the panel needed

cut & bent the new cover

welded in

to slow down the rust inside the dry rusty sills, I mixed some old oil with white spirit into the pressure sprayer

sprayed all along the sills

welded the sills back up

 

[pollyp]

the old screw hole for mounting the rear bumper to the rear 1/4 was pretty exposed and simply rusted away.
so this time I welded these riv-nut enclosures at the end of the wheel arch to mount the bumper while keeping all the wheel spray away from the threads

patched another rust hole on the sills

painted all the new wheel arch panels with rust'ol treatment

soo much mess & dust everywhere

next task is tigerseal all the welds & open gaps in the wheel well,
underseal everything,
grind all the 1/4 panel welds flat,
bodyfill & sand,
paint rear 1/4 & rear interior,
fit suspension,
fit lights,
wash car

all within 7 evenings till sundays yorkshire modified show

 

[pollyp]

zinc primed

grinded the drivers side welds flush with a grinding disc.
the panel is heavily warped from the welding, gonna need quite a lot of bodyfiller

tigersealed all the welds to keep water out

 

[pollyp]

rust treated & zinc primed the wheel arch welds

bodyfiller on top

neatened the fuel filler hole

cleaned the butyl rubber off the rear light hole

mixed some Jotun jotamastic 87, which is a thick tough epoxy mastic grey primer

it felt like brushing dulux wall paint all over the new wheel arch

few hrs after applying bodyfiller, disaster.
it didn't cure properly and stayed soft in places

I could easily wirebrush the loose parts off and even peel the whole filler off the panel leaving a sticky residue behind

looks like the rust'ol and zinc primer didn't fully cure and so the bodyfiller had nothing to cling onto securely
only noticed the bodyfiller instructions said put on bare metal

so I had to wirebrush it all off with a huge mess, wasted a whole night of bodywork and having to start over

only 4 days to go and this hiccup, it doesn't seem like I have enough time to get the car painted & all prepped for YMS show on sunday

 

[pollyp]

next day I applied some Jotun hardtop flexi, which is a tough polyurethane top coat.
I also wirebrushed the wheel arch lip back to bare metal and mixed/applied the bodyfiller more thoroughly & in smaller manageable portions, which has cured hard this time

with time & stamina running out, it would be impossible for me to carefully sand, clean, paint the arches, reassemble & polish the whole car for YMS.
and even if I rush the job till exhaustion, it would look crap for the big shows later on.

I was about to skip YMS, but after much thought, if I simply ignore the rough bodyfiller for now (paint it black) and focus on reassembling the car then I might have a chance to attend the show.

afterwards I could then finish off properly sanding the wheel arch bodyfiller and carefully paint it all, ready for the big Cumbria autoshow & Gravity show

so cracking on with cleaning the suspension bolts

reinstalled the suspension, exhaust & brakes

few more steps to go and she'll be ready for sunday

 

[pollyp]

finished off installing the fuel filler, bumper & bleed the brakes

she's finally back on her feet after almost a months work, covered in dust

roughly sanded the bodyfiller smooth

and some black paint to hide it

cleaned the car and she's ready to make YMS show

 

[pollyp]

2022-06-19 Yorkshire Modified Show

Convoyed with Teamwhitecustoms to a meeting point just outside the Malton venue at 8.30

after a long queue we eventually entered the venue & parked up

after a nice day with the group, we all took some photos by the nearby pond

and a group photo by this mansion

it's been a good show & very tiring

 

[pollyp]

Before painting the interior black, I needed to remove the old insulation foam I glued to the panels.

The wirebrush wheel simply melted/smeared the glue around while scratching deep grooves into the paint
Only thing that worked was paint thinner which dissolved & removed the glue but was a very slow, very smelly & labour intensive process

Gonna leave this till the last stage. finishing the outside bodywork & engine bay is more important.

sanding down the bodyfiller tonight, the welding has warped the surrounding panels slightly so there's lots of bumpy metal high spots in the wrong places and some low spots didn't have enough bodyfiller

sanding away the softer bodyfiller is easy whereas sanding the steel high spots is harder & bad.
so I gave the high spots the old Jeremy Clarkson hammer treatment

and plonked another layer of bodyfiller to sand again tomorrow

this bodywork shaping process & painting is gonna take awhile