Lagoonblue's MK2 1600 deluxe

[LagoonBlue 146]

Nothing noteworthy to report this week, day job has kept me busy. Should have some vacation time coming up after the next week though.

 

In the meantime here are couple pics from month or so ago;

 

 

I visited a friend of mine to check out his project car, no prices for guessing it's make and model :lol:

 

 

 

Also had to try out his blasting cabinet with couple parts of my own.

 

 

 

Three brake backing plates almost done and one to go. Came out fairly nice in much less time than i have been able to do with my dinky compressors, much more comfortable too with the cabinet and all. Aluminium silicate seemed to work great as a blasting medium, should last longer too before turning into dust than the olivine sand that i have been using. Will buy some next time i go to the city.

[LagoonBlue 146]

Last day of my vacation. Week passed by so quickly :( But the weather was great all the way through and i did sort out couple difficult spots, loads of pictures to follow.

 

Though first thing i did was to go on a shopping spree to the big city.

 

Shop #1 Also pictured; my current daily ride '99 Nissan MaximaQX 2.0 5spd. Very cheap and reliable car, when not broken.

 

Shop #2

 

Shop #3

 

Shop #4

 

Shop #7

 

Shop #10

 

I try to buy locally whenever possible but the things i wanted just were not available where i live (in reasonable prices anyway).

 

Back to welding now..

[LagoonBlue 146]

Tool well area was in rough condition. Trying to keep the position of panels in check i started from the center part.

 

Most of the rot cut out.

 

Luckily the most diffucult areas were in good nick.

 

Another patch, small hole is for the hook..

 

Which i also recreated :rolleyes:

 

Inner wall to the tool well also needed some repairs.

 

Next to go was the rear corner area, took a long time to bash that panel to fit. Still some smoothing to do but came out ok. Should of measured twice since it came a tad short. Good thing that i am working with metal rather than wood :sofa:

 

Mostly welded.

 

Bottom lip plug welded.

 

Not too bad. Only modest amount of warping to be sorted later on.

 

When i made the sills i did not know what the drain holes should be like and that has bugged me ever since. Time to fix that, took a chisel between spotwelds..

 

And continued with a scrap piece of steel all the way through the lip.

 

Made six drain holes in total (circled in pic), still not sure if they are correct but will do the job nevertheless.

 

Right hand side B-pillar was also little worse for wear.

 

Off with the rot as usual.

 

Luckily i had saved the B-pillar from my parts car so i cut a small section off it and welded it on.

 

And done.

 

Phew, that was it for this vacation :thumbup:. Loads of more to do but less than week ago!

[GhiaMk4/5 207]

Brilliant as per usual 👍

[Beowulf 87]

Always look forward to your thread, great work!

[LagoonBlue 146]

Brilliant as per usual 👍

 

 

Always look forward to your thread, great work!

 

Thank you! :cheers:

 

I hope to get the main bodyshell done by the end of this summer, no promises though :lol:

[Captin Crayford 2]

Great to see you are back on the Case.. :thumbup: Love following your progress.

[LagoonBlue 146]

Great to see you are back on the Case.. :thumbup: Love following your progress.

 

Thank you! Sadly back to doing weekends only, for awhile at least since dayjob has kept me busy after the vacation. Clocked 12,5 hours just today :wacko: Keeps the project funded so can't complain too much.

[Duke Blues 15]

Neat repairs,

 

I work away so i know what it's like when you only have the weekends. :(

[LagoonBlue 146]

Neat repairs,

 

I work away so i know what it's like when you only have the weekends. :(

 

Thank you!

 

Sadly this weekend the weather was not too great so i did not get around to do any major work, instead i did some sorely needed cleaning in the garage and started preparations for making the front valance repair section.

 

For making the step on the bottom part of the valance i cobbled together a tool from junk.

 

 

This is not really a bead roller as such (bottom die is not coupled to the upper one) but in principle functions the same.

I volunteered my brother to crank the handle and guided 1mm sheet myself.

 

 

Came out good enough but a little wobbly. Might give this one a second attempt, more practice needed :lol:. Still miles better than what i have previously done with hammering. Next i need to curve the panel, that i should be able to do carefully in a sheet metal brake.

 

After the front valance is done i need to take a good long look on the remaining repairs and work out some sort of plan in what order to tackle them.

Edited May 15, 2016 by LagoonBlue

[MLI 8]

Top job :thumbup:

[LagoonBlue 146]

Top job :thumbup:

 

Thanks!

 

Continued my work with the valance.

 

 

Made a new panel (i can use the practice piece in some other place), this time the result was more acceptable.

 

 

Profile for the step.

 

 

Close enough B)

 

 

Made the curve to the panel with my sheet metal brake. Not too happy with the results but that was the best i could do.

 

 

A little side step, bought me a pneumatic nibbler. Cuts sheet metal fast but not very precise. Good for places where angle grinder won't fit and will not distort the workpiece.

 

 

Makes these nasty crescent shaped shavings though <_<

 

 

Test fit, i started welding from the center because the panel crowns forward slightly. Forgot to make the plugweld holes for flanges just below bumper brackets but luckily i was able to do them afterwards.

 

 

And done, sides droop a little bit now but they will be pulled upwards when the wings are fitted.

 

 

This job fought me all the way to the end and to be honest i am not overly satisfied with the outcome :sofa:

Still, better than having a huge gaping hole in the valance and with a dab of filler should be ok.

 

 

After all that work i took it easier today and made a short trip to my spares stash in an undisclosed location :ninja:

I removed the hinges from my spare doors, hope is that they are in better condition than my current ones. Should be since they are a year younger :lol:

 

 

And though not a Cortina a quick artsy pic from one of my old cars. Sadly this one is a total shed (literally, i store junk in it) and will not see the road again, just too far gone. Nevertheless has a working engine in it, those B20's were made to last.

[LagoonBlue 146]

I needed to change brake pads on my daily driver. Was supposed to be an easy job, maybe 20 minutes tops..

 

 

Right side driveshafts outer boot had ripped completely and the left side was almost gone too. And i had changed these less than three years ago :thumbdown:

 

 

Luckily the joint was ok, local motor factors had the needed parts in stock and i was able to disassemble the joints in place so that I did not need to drain the gear box.

Took me whole Friday to get this sorted :angry2:

 

 

To complete the front valance I made the lips where wings mount to.

 

 

Next on the list of things to do. Rear frame rail does not look too good..

 

 

But actually not so bad after all. Most of the damage was from horrendous hack job trailer hitch installation.

 

 

I had hoped to avoid doing this but to make a proper job the rear valance has to be removed :( Rot wise it's not too bad but it is very dented and warped. I am not sure if it is savable, would be a tricky panel to make. On the plus side removing it gives me better access to work on the ends of frame rails.

[LagoonBlue 146]

Rear valance had to come off :(

 

 

 

Welded a longer shaft to spot weld drill.

 

 

 

Which worked a treat. Loads of room to work now and not so much of a job as i had feared.

 

 

 

The offending article. Has definitely seen better days.. Could be savable :juggle:

 

 

 

I got tired dealing with cheapo grinders so bought me a genuine Makita (was on sale, 49€), back in the day these were reputable machines, remains to be seen how this one fares. First impressions are good, light, fits hand nicely, ok trigger and no excessive vibration. Even came with the guard pre-removed :sofa:

 

 

 

Saturday was cut short because my friend bought himself a project car, '79 Buick Skylark. Picked it close by to my place for temporary storage until his vacation starts. Had to trailer it since MOT was 5yrs. out of date, otherwise not in bad nick for the price, which was not much :lol:

 

And i should wash my car! :bag:

 

 

 

Anyway, back to my project. Removing the valance revealed some unexpected rot near the vertical middle support, seems that underseal and/or paint had not covered the outside completely. I had to weld in two patches and do a small repair to the end of support panel.

 

Might take a small breather from welding but after that frame rail ends are next on my list.

[martog 149]

Looking good mate. :thumbup:

 

Love the Volvo, maybe it should be in the next Mad Max movie with some sharpened telegragh poles poking out the roof or something. :sofa: