Bordfunker

I stepped on a Adder once when I was a teenager, stepping over a style, it had been sunbathing when I placed my foot on it and it hissed and slid off into the long grass. I saw the movement and looked down and instantly clocked the diamond pattern on the back which marked it out as an Adder! Surprisingly no pee cam out! And I didn’t grow up in the countryside, this was around Heathrow in the early 80s. Karl

That all looks very solid. Nice progress. Karl

Long time no update because I've been under the weather for the last few weeks, certainly not the Rona, but certainly something that I could have done without, particularly as it is currently the busiest time of the year at work, so the weekends have been spent taking it easy in order to get through the next week. Having said that, this week has finally seen whatever it is sling it's hook, and allow me to get back into the garage. I'd left things with the sill area still needing a number of small patches to make good the localised rust at the back of the B-pillar base. First two patches made up and tacked in. Not sure what happened here, but I managed to blow a hole in a brand new piece of steel! Not sure how, but that had to come out and a new patch made up, and welded in. My welding is still feeling a bit hit and miss, but we'll get to that in a bit, but I did finally end up with this. This will get a skim of filler at some point, but for now is solid and relatively tidy. Next up was sorting out the fit of the lower rear arch edge to the section between B-pillar and arch, as although I had made up a repair section, the fit wasn't quite right. So stealing a solution from another forum, I cut a slit in the panel, allowing me to move the lip back a milimetre or so. The slit was then welded back up, leaving me with the lip in the correct place. Pic taken mid clean up, but note the missing chunk at the top. Another victim of my welding. Turns out, I'm out of welding gas again, less than 2 months since getting a new bottle, so not sure if the bottle wasn't full, or I've got a leak. Either way I'm off to get some more gas before the Xmas break. It explains why I was having issues with the welds. So overall, not a lot of progress, but I've got 11 days off over Xmas, so hopefully with a refilled bottle of welding gas, and a lockdown in place, I might actually get the rear arch finished off. Karl

On the one hand that sounds like a result, but does leave that niggling doubt in the back of your mind that it might come back. Karl

Conor, really sorry to hear that, but as Pete says it may be something simple and easy to fix. Heres hoping it is. Karl

Welcome aboard. If I can guarantee anything, it will be that the rust is worse than expected, but you won’t care because it’s your car, and you just want it running again. That has certainly been my experience. Karl

My sister in law lives in Lincolnshire, I’m not so sure you will be! Karl

Good to hear you’ve sorted that out, but all that because of a labelling error! Karl

No updates for a few weeks, not because of a lack of activity, but more a lack of progress on my part. I did manage to get the last of the inner wheel arch repairs welded in, but that is where progress appeared to come to a grinding halt for the next few weeks. When I'd finished this, I turned my attention to the horizontal sill area that sits between the B and C pillars, and which had rotted from underneath the body to chassis mount, i.e. this bit. This is where the lack of progress comes in, as I struggled to understand the relationship between the various elements of this area of the car's structure, most importantly the vertical portion of the sill which forms the closing panel behind the bottom of the rear wing aft of the door. With me so far? So I thought I understood how it all slotted together, having pored over the photos I had taken when stripping it all down, so decided to weld this reinforcement section in at the base of the B pillar. That would at least move things forward, right? Apparently not, as this then meant that the repair panel which sits between the trailing edge of the door and the rear arch wasn't even close to fitting. Bugger! What to do, all of the datum points in this area had been cut out with the rot? At this point I remembered that I still had the original cosmetic lower sills which bolt between front and rear wheels! Cue this. This then provided me with a point to work to for the inner horizontal sill section. Having said that, it didn't stop me having to make the repair sections twice as the first one was undersize. I told you there was no lack of activity, just an absence of progress! This was last weekend, so I returned to the fray this weekend with a game plan, and a decent datum to work to. So I made a new repair panel, which fitted this time, gave it a coat of zinc weldable prior, and then set to with the welder. Which then got a going over with a flap disc and the finger sander, particularly where the new body mount was due to sit. With that in I could then trial fit the lower wing repair panel, and the body mount, using the ever handy Clecos and Mole grips. That is now starting to look a lot like progress. There are still at least 4 small repair panels which I need to make up and weld in before I get to fit the outer repair panels, but that now at least looks like a realistic ambition now. Happy days. Karl

Conor, that is looking amazing. Great to see it all coming back together. Really liking the wheels. Karl

Great progress. Its amazing the difference NOS panels make when performing repairs. Karl

Colin I can’t recommend them highly enough as mine has been excellent for tidying up welds and cut edges where an angle grinder just won’t reach. I got mine from MachineMart for about £60, but they do a cheaper one for £50. You will need an oiler as well to ensure everything remains lubricated. Karl

You remember I removed the body mount the other week, and I found out that the metal between it and the rear seat heel board were a little sketchy? Yes? Well that's what I've spent the last 2 weekends attempting to fix. This was take 1 before I started welding. Looks fine doesn't? What could go wrong? Long story short, I ended up blowing a wealth of holes in both the car and the repair panel. Cue take 2. No pics this time, I wasn't in the mood for them. Same result! It was at this point that I realised that I was out of welding gas! That would explain the blowing holes then. Schoolboy error on my part, should have checked the gauges before I started welding. Well that was last weekend, I ended up exactly where I started out. So this weekend I went back to the drawing board and cut out a larger section, and started making up a repair panel for the heel board. Larger hole! Repair panel, made up almost ready for fitting. Final tweak, to tidy up the fit. And time to set the panel up for welding. # Time to break out the welder. I'll admit it's not pretty, but it is all nice a strong, and in the right place. And after a going over with a variety of sanding discs in the angle grinder. It needs a further clean up when the sanding belts arrive for the finger sander, and there are a couple of little pin holes which need to welded up, but overall that was a good 5 hours spent over the weekend. One fly in the ointment though. Remember that replacement mounting bracket? Well I offered it up to the car. Spot the issue? All the other mounting flanges are in the correct place, and in contact as they should be, so it looks like the flange in the pic above is in the wrong place. Looking at the one on the Chick Doig site, it looks like it's the same, so I have a strong suspicion that they are all the same. Nothing I can't fix, but a shame all the same. Next job is to attach the inner wheel arch repair section so that I can then make up the horizontal section at the base of the B-pillar. Karl

Tony, many thanks, bookmarked. Karl

Paul, where do you get your Norton belts from? I looked online and found a supplier in Germany that was reasonable, until I checked the postage, which was double the cost of the belts! I know I live on an island but that taking the p. Karl

Amazing the difference having the car in one colour makes, even when it’s primer grey, but the red looks stunning! Given the passion for 70’s Fords at the moment I wouldn’t imagine you’d have much difficulty shifting those Cosmics. I’m pretty sure they were used on Gilbern’s, as well as a number of other Ford based specials from the period. Karl

MBS, nice job on rebuilding the dash panel. Looking forward to seeing your progress, and good to see a realistic timescale set on the resto, something I know I didn’t do with the Herald. Karl

Bizarrely enough, my welding gas ran out this afternoon, and it’s HobbyWeld, however unlike yours it has lasted over 2 years. Does sound very odd yours running out after only a month. I’m assuming you shut the valve on the bottle after every welding session? It has been known for solenoid valves to leak before now, wasting all that gas. Karl

You sell that little lot at that price and you can have a gold plated Herald! Karl

Looking very good! Whats with the letters and numbers on the rear inner wing? Marking it with your post code? Karl

Thanks Colin, but I think my glacial rate of progress might prove a little frustrating long term. Karl

Thanks Pete. I’m quite enjoying the cutting out and welding, as although the rot isn’t great, it’s all fixable, and at least I know it’s fixed. Paul, I don’t find the belts on my snap, more so much end up bald! Now that may be user error, but having found the Norton belts at a similar price to what I pay at MachineMart , I’ll give those a go. Thankfully the rest of the welding in this area is fairly accessible, so it’ll be flap-disc in the angle grinder territory. New body mount has been ordered today. Karl

I was supposed to be decorating this weekend, but Mrs B wasn't feeling it, which meant after mowing the lawn, doing the shopping, and a trip to the tip, spread over two days, I was free to play in the garage and continue what I started last week. During the week I spun the tub through 180 degrees on the dolly, to make access a bit easier, rather than working up against the garage wall, which allowed me to take a closer look at the job in hand. I decided to give the area between the two arms of the body mount a going over with a wire brush. Oh dear! That all looked a little frilly, with no option but to replace it, which meant I would need to remove the body mount in order to get access. Given that the body mount was perfectly serviceable, I decided to try and remove it intact by drilling out the spot welds. Well that was the plan at least. The plan worked perfectly for the spot welds in the green oval, where I was able to just tap a sharpened wood chisel through the remaining weld to release the mount. That plan is however, very much dependent upon the underlying steel being sound. When I adopted the same approach with the welds in the red oval, the metal of the floor pan proved weaker than the welds and so split. Nothing for it but to cut out the mount in sections. Bugger! Which left me with this. Note the state of the metal where the mount attached to the heel board below the back seat. Nothing for it but to cut out the offending metal, back to something solid. With the mount out of the way, I was able to cut the offending section of floorpan away, exposing the base of the B-pillar, which thankfully was extremely sound, as I was having nightmares about finding rot going up into the pillar itself. I'll need to weld a new flange on the left hand base of the B-pillar, but other than that, it was in good condition thankfully. Which was as far as I got yesterday, but after my trip to the tip, and mowing the lawn today, it was back to the garage to start making good. I decided to patch the hole in the floorpan first, starting by cutting out a suitable patch from sheet steel, and holding it in place with a welding magnet. Then it was out with the welder, and an hour an a half of welding, grinding, and sanding to leave me with this. Now that may not look much, but I am well pleased with that outcome. There are a couple of pin holes which need addressing next week, but given the trials and tribulations I have had with the welder, this is a good result, and achieved relatively swiftly, by my standards. To make this one more awkward, I couldn't just leave the welds as is, because the mount sits here, so it had to be flush, but sitting between the two strengthening ribs, couldn't be easily reached with the angle grinder. Thankfully, last month I bought an air powered finger sander, which apart from its appetite for sanding belts, is fantastic at getting into tight spaces, and thus ideal for this job. Next week I'll add the flange to the B-pillar, and then take a look at the area on the heel board as I have a feeling that will need patching as well. Oh, and I need to order a new mounting bracket apparently. Karl

Colin, glad that has made you feel better about your tub. Given that these panels were formed on high pressure presses, replicating a complete panel would be very difficult, and therefore it is much easier to build them up a section at a time, an approach that I note Chic Doig use on some of their replacement sections. Therefore, as long as it’s all properly seam welded, not an issue for bodywork. Karl

Aside from the split portion below the body mounting bracket, that doesn’t look too bad, and you’ve seen the state of the tub on my Herald. Given the lack of repair panels for many of these areas it’s not too surprising it looks a little Frankenstein, but as long as the welds themselves are good, you can always grind them down to improve the look. The section that has split should be an easy enough fix for a half decent welder as it’s not an overly complex shape to fabricate. As for strength, the weld should be stronger than the original metal, so again shouldn’t be an issue. Karl