the joy of welding

OP
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bls

bls

3rd mot since all the welding, seems to be doing well, a lot of the underbody and running gear to knock back and respray this year though, last mot all she got was a wash and
vacuum so I don't mind?
 

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3rd mot since all the welding, seems to be doing well, a lot of the underbody and running gear to knock back and respray this year though, last mot all she got was a wash and
vacuum so I don't mind?

A remarkable labour of love DIY achievement welding rebuild, to restore such a badly rotted K11!

I felt exhausted just reading & thinking about all that work crawling around under a car.

How many man hours did you spend in total on it?
 
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From memory about two weeks, 3 days welding but a lot of cutting out the bad and even more on the sealing and preserving,, the car was in use the first week of work too. All the welding has lasted really well, the back end around the spring seats will probably get some strengthening work done next summer, meant to do it this year but our kid decided to get married! I have her 7 years now, down to 370 on the road
 
From memory about two weeks, 3 days welding but a lot of cutting out the bad and even more on the sealing and preserving,, the car was in use the first week of work too. All the welding has lasted really well, the back end around the spring seats will probably get some strengthening work done next summer, meant to do it this year but our kid decided to get married! I have her 7 years now, down to 370 on the road
Thats a great job, been doing that area on mine over the last few months.
I am as far back as the rear valence now but its been more in patches.
I am looking at doing the rear axle next in that area.
Also, ordering some dynax s-50 to finish off spraying in the sills..
Alas, the joys of motoring..:giggle:
 
Very interesting stuff. Did exactly the same weld list on ours last year ... is hard work but I love making this stuff last another 10 years.

Made the mistake of welding over the sunroof drain point! Now fixed.

Have always in the past used waxoyl but this time used the Dintrol products. Have to say they very good, they set harder (still waxy) and bond better than the waxoyl stuff. Cost a little more but appear (so far) to be better. Definitely worth a look if you aiming keep yours a good while. Totally agree your comment about old Ford's .... long shift Micra's evening with a catalog of welding are far easier to keep glued!

Attached some photos of my work .... pretty much the same as yours but a different colour! And the finished product....
 

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Never seen this ... is really interesting although cannot see any before 2001?

Ours was called a Micra Lime Light ... some weird limited model .... limited model being it's an absolute base model 1.0 with stickers on saying Lime Light. Cannot see that on the web site.

Amazing so few left. Sad. Mind ours is parked alongside a 95 106 which I guess there will also be not so many left no either
P1120388JPG.jpg
 
OP
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bls

The dynax is new to me, I have been trying to source boeshield t9, meant to be the best protection you can buy but no one will post to belfast as it is classed as explosive! I knew the very rear chassis box sections needed strengthening but I am happy enough to run her through the MOT and get stuck in next summer, found this nice wee hole, I love my dremmel! Sanded it into an oval so it looks like an original gap :)
 

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The dynax is new to me, I have been trying to source boeshield t9, meant to be the best protection you can buy but no one will post to belfast as it is classed as explosive! I knew the very rear chassis box sections needed strengthening but I am happy enough to run her through the MOT and get stuck in next summer, found this nice wee hole, I love my dremmel! Sanded it into an oval so it looks like an original gap :)

The T9 stuff is great but mad expensive .... I got a tin here and even at ebay prices it was steep. But yes supposed to be very good. Don't think you'd want do more than very small areas with it.
 
hi all i am new here. i have a k11 that i have re built it was rotten mot man scrapped it. i thought no.so i got stuck in and done all the welding and new sills etc. now 12 month mot i have 3 of them i am a micra geek lol
 

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I used a gas camping stove and tin of hot water to maintain the heat but if you don't like naked flames I used to fill an old electric deep frier with water and keep the waxoyl at the lowest heat (below boiling) if you spray over old underseal, make sure it is not hiding rust. If you can, clobber anywhere suspect with a rubber mallet, loose underseal should fall off. I cleaned the rust off with a drill and wire brushes then treated with a combination of hammerite rusteater, etch primer, stonechip paint finished with 3 or more coats of clear lacquer. The waxoyl was used up in box sections. If you are painting, keeping the tins in warm water after the 1 minute shake will give better adhesion and finish. By warm i mean you should be ok holding the tin in your bare hand.
 
OP
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Never seen this ... is really interesting although cannot see any before 2001?

Ours was called a Micra Lime Light ... some weird limited model .... limited model being it's an absolute base model 1.0 with stickers on saying Lime Light. Cannot see that on the web site.

Amazing so few left. Sad. Mind ours is parked alongside a 95 106 which I guess there will also be not so many left no eitherView attachment 59495
I reckon you caught the rust on this one at a good time, it is handy to have good metal to work to :)
 
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hi all i am new here. i have a k11 that i have re built it was rotten mot man scrapped it. i thought no.so i got stuck in and done all the welding and new sills etc. now 12 month mot i have 3 of them i am a micra geek lol
Half the battle getting at the upside down inside out sections! I like the way you get the work done
 
i used the black,but it was too messy so usd clear.i put in on with a sandblaster gun i got from lidle it is just the job that was after i sprayed red oxide first
how do you like my jack lol
 

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I reckon you caught the rust on this one at a good time, it is handy to have good metal to work to :)

Yes and no bls, were patches on all the same touch points you describe so well in your posts. The sills and inner edge sill mounts and the rear arch inner shaped ends and some of the wheel arch OSR were pear like. Oh and the cross member.

The floor pans were not too bad and front end in general not too bad. I bit the bullet and resprayed it ... first time I'd picked a spray gun and compressor up in a good 25 years. Was amazed how well it came out. Mind I did find that there are 3 or 4 raised paint dots have formed now .... never realised that you supposed to bleed the compressor .... was over 2 pints of water in it!!!! Live and learn :)
 
i chopped all the rot out.and made panels etc from sheet steel. there is a fridge side. metal roof,a washing machine in there somewere lol
 
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Can hardly believe I did all that work 3 years ago! 4th mot on the back of the work done ? pretty sad that only 284 remain on the road.. The old girl is holding up fairly well I reckon
 

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Never seen this ... is really interesting although cannot see any before 2001?

Ours was called a Micra Lime Light ... some weird limited model .... limited model being it's an absolute base model 1.0 with stickers on saying Lime Light. Cannot see that on the web site.

Amazing so few left. Sad. Mind ours is parked alongside a 95 106 which I guess there will also be not so many left no eitherView attachment 59495
Looks like turquoise to me. I think the brexit party want your car as it is their official colour. ;p:p
 
Do cars that are standing still outside rust slowly more slowly?

Like does the rust set in from driving in spray or is it the rain/humidity that does it

Put it like this, I left my micra in humid conditions in Autumn around this time of the year with the front end about three foot higher overnight. The next day about a quarter of a cup of water had collected in the back of each sill. That is how much moisture at least condenses and can collect in the sills. It is no wonder they rot out if the car is parked so the water cannot run out.

If you the car had been kept in a garage, especially a house garage, I doubt it this amount of condensation would collect. The micra achillies heel is the back of the sills. and they rust from the inside out.
Any surface rust underneath can be treated easily enough though.
 
OP
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That undersealed? Maybe some of the problems ,

this is the last time I am going to use underseal, I have knocked it back to the metal each year in the constant fight with rust. underseal does not seem to be an answer.. from now on when I clean the under side I am going to try primer and a good paint applied warm/hot the same way I applied the waxoil. the wee car is pretty solid from the new front crossmember to at least the rear cross chassis in front of the spring seats.. I aim to double skin the seats and some areas of the boot chassis legs to extend the life of the car
 
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Fourth MOT passed from I did the welding, I have kept it so clean that the examiner thought the welds were fresh for this test?
 

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OP
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Jobs a goodun for another years cheap as chips “Bangernomic”s motoring.

Worth a read for a lifetimes cheap as chips motoring guide lines that I have followed for 22 years thus far.

Reference; http://bangernomics.tripod. Great link! I will be reading that?
 
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11 years of faithful service, barbecues in the boot in the pouring rain down the Newtownards peninsula during Sharon’s cancer treatment, learned to play hide and seek in her with the grandkids Arya 3 and Eirik 1 ?? Rebuilt her from rust to steel and Jeff’s 40ft of seam welding Back in 2016,, where would you get a car for the £300 it cost to weld her and drive and enjoy it for 6 more years!?
£380 purchase price in August 2011, and she is away for £540.
I even got £200 for the original piw4670 number plate from regtransfers??
So many cars are bottomless money pits, this little lady owes us nothing. Thank you for the memories!!
I think I got the newest, keenest goverment mot inspector ever born! 15 items on the fail sheet!? There were 657 left on the road when the work was done down to 127??
I thought I was gonna have her up to 30 years old? though I still have the zx just through the mot at34 years old?
 

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11 years of faithful service, barbecues in the boot in the pouring rain down the Newtownards peninsula during Sharon’s cancer treatment, learned to play hide and seek in her with the grandkids Arya 3 and Eirik 1 ?? Rebuilt her from rust to steel and Jeff’s 40ft of seam welding Back in 2016,, where would you get a car for the £300 it cost to weld her and drive and enjoy it for 6 more years!?
£380 purchase price in August 2011, and she is away for £540.
I even got £200 for the original piw4670 number plate from regtransfers??
So many cars are bottomless money pits, this little lady owes us nothing. Thank you for the memories!!
I think I got the newest, keenest goverment mot inspector ever born! 15 items on the fail sheet!? There were 657 left on the road when the work was done down to 127??
I thought I was gonna have her up to 30 years old? though I still have the zx just through the mot at34 years old?

A first class Micra story bls. They really play such a roll in people's real world stories.

The number of times our unit has come to people's rescue I cannot count. Divorces, learning to drive, money issues, you name it. They throw it back each time the 'life emergency' has gone but it is always there to come to the rescue.

So I was wasn't quite sure if the car will live on with someone else or sold for parts?
 
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A first class Micra story bls. They really play such a roll in people's real world stories.

The number of times our unit has come to people's rescue I cannot count. Divorces, learning to drive, money issues, you name it. They throw it back each time the 'life emergency' has gone but it is always there to come to the rescue.

So I was wasn't quite sure if the car will live on with someone else or sold for parts?
The young guy who bought her is a keen welder and had went over the work required and the work done on here, the mot work is do-able, the main job is the panhard bracket on the chassis.. he tells me he will send photos of the completed job? so here is hoping!
 
The young guy who bought her is a keen welder and had went over the work required and the work done on here, the mot work is do-able, the main job is the panhard bracket on the chassis.. he tells me he will send photos of the completed job? so here is hoping!
Yeah that would be good to see. I hope he's true to his word. In a way, passing on these things is an even better accolade of their durability and fitness for purpose.

I wander if given the price of fuel and the state of the economy upon people, if there might be a return to keeping older efficient and simple cheap to run cars going longer? Wouldn't that be great?
 
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I wander if given the price of fuel and the state of the economy upon people, if there might be a return to keeping older efficient and simple cheap to run cars going longer? Wouldn't that be great?
the classics have been coming out of the woodwork over here since the first lockdown, cars I haven’t seen for years. there have been quite a few k11’s pulled out of storage after failing mot years ago and selling in around the £700 mark? thats why I put mine up. Would have fixed her up next summer if she didn’t sell? who would have thought you can miss a car! Already been looking to see what is out there, I am tempted by that March just brought in from Japan with 600 miles on the clock for £7k on eBay! Don’t know how the wife would react though, she loved Maisie and didn’t want her sold
 
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the classics have been coming out of the woodwork over here since the first lockdown, cars I haven’t seen for years. there have been quite a few k11’s pulled out of storage after failing mot years ago and selling in around the £700 mark? thats why I put mine up. Would have fixed her up next summer if she didn’t sell? who would have thought you can miss a car! Already been looking to see what is out there, I am tempted by that March just brought in from Japan with 600 miles on the clock for £7k on eBay! Don’t know how the wife would react though, she loved Maisie and didn’t want her sold
Seems to be the case. I'd been having a steadily increasing stream of folks knocking on the door asking if we want to sell the Micra or the same age 106. We are regularly getting a couple a month now and they seem serious about it.

Yeah I also do that every now and again ... an ebay search for a perfect fresh out the box one. I wander if they would have the same appeal as those that need a little TLC.

Going to take a look at that just now.
 
3rd mot since all the welding, seems to be doing well, a lot of the underbody and running gear to knock back and respray this year though, last mot all she got was a wash and
vacuum so I don't mind?
Looks like the micra I traded in a few years ago. I painted it exactly the same colour underneath.
 
As a banger enthusiast I tend to enjoy doing simple repairs & routine maintenance saving money keeping my 25 year old K11 passing MOTs that is becoming ever more marginal & of questionable value as well as “getting one over the motor trade”. When is enough enough?:confused:
 
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