t-stag

Hi Gary. Thanks for your help. I think that the handbrake primary to secondary cable bracket is under this welded on nut, on the floor under the rear seat. The clip is certainly for the brake pipe and was easily detached. The 2 bolts were removed, RHS 1/2" spanner and easily came apart. LHS 14mm spanner, rusted solid and drilled out. Still not sure what they were for. Will find out when I lift the rear tub off the chassis. Mr Rust is certainly fighting me every step of the way. Will be interesting to see if the chassis is saveable. Steve

Continuing my Vitesse MkII Convertible stripdown. I have removed all the bolts, nuts, washers between the Rear Tub and the Chassis (a bit of a battle against Mr Rust after 52 years). What are these 2 bolts behind the rear seat and just below the springs access? Plus there is a clip above them which retains a cable (Handbrake?) behind. The other 2 holes were for the rear seat lap seat belts. The Heritage Certificate describes the paint as Valencia Blue, but I haven't found any. Old invoices for Signal Red, so maybe it is a replacement Rear Tub. Also had a mixture of imperial and metric fasteners from previous work. Thanks Steve

Continuing saga of my body off chassis Vitesse restoration. 2 bolts hold each hinge to the door, but the door doesn't come off so there must be something else holding the hinge on. So remove the 3 bolts holding the hinge to the A Post. A bit concerned that the plate inside the A Post might move downwards. Is this plate retained somehow? Steve

Bought a set of Heller cobalt drill bits from Toolstation 94153 for £38-32. Still hard work, but they drilled the bolt heads much better. Used a hole punch first to mark the centre, then worked up in order of sizes. Laborious and had to fix a ring spanner on to the head to stop it rotating. The rear overiders and all 3 valances are now off. Progress!

Have ordered a set of cobalt drill bits, will see how much better they are. All the fasteners should have been UNF (fine) or UNC (coarse) imperial and zinc plated. Stainless steel is recommended alternative but more expensive.

Thanks all. Will check out helicoils and rivnuts. Depending on access, my angle grinder/cutter has solved a few issues. Previous garage work has been variable with some obvious bodges. Drilling out fasteners is hard work as the drill bits get blunt so fast. Is there a special tip version for this?

My Vitesse Convertible project is progressing with most of the rear tub stripped down. Lots of seized rusty bolts & nuts though wherever exposed to the exterior. I assume that all the factory fitted fasteners were imperial specification? I'm a bit surprised how many metric fasteners have been fitted, presumably from previous bodywork. I am intending to replace them all with imperial and possibly stainless steel versions to help in the battle against rust.

I need some sharper drills! The bottom overrider bolt will eventually drill out and yes the nut is rotating inside the cage. Good idea to replace it with a stud and wing nut, plus plenty of grease. The overriders need to come off to gain access to the 2 fixings for the centre valance. The 2 side valances have 3 bolts inside the wing and nuts underneath which are almost inaccessible. More fun! The valances all have surface rust and are probably saveable, so I don't want to damage them. Maybe easier to do when the whole rear section is off the chassis. Surprisingly all the valance fasteners are 10mm, not imperial, so I guess someone has already done this. Thanks for the comments.

Just starting the restoration of my Vitesse MkII Convertible. MOT failure due to chassis corrosion, not surprising after 52 years! So time for a total strip down with body off chassis. The bottom bolt of a rear overrider just rotates. The bolts holding the rear side valances are rusted solid. Assume my only solution is to drill all the bolt heads off?