Lagoonblue's MK2 1600 deluxe

[LagoonBlue 145]

Vacation at last! :winner:

 

I have already had couple good days at the garage.

 

 

I realized that there is no lip in the rear wall of the box since it is same part as the bottom of box so removed the lip.

 

 

Made plate to suit, i decided against adding a reinforcement swage to this panel as per original because that will only give another path for dirt to find it's way to the rather convoluted maze like design of this area <_< Compensated the missing swage by using 1,5mm steel.

 

 

Welded in place. Seam weld to the back wall and spot welded in other areas. Also before this i finished the chassis rail, i thought that i had pictures of that but could not find them anymore :headscratch:

Hole is for rustproofing.

 

Next the part that i dreaded the most, rear jacking points.

Try as i might i could not source replacements anywhere, so as per usual if you want something done you have to do it your self :P

 

Bear in mind that i only had the bottom of one jacking point (well top actually when in place) and few fuzzy photos to decipher what this part should look like, so this is only my best guess.. More sculpting than recreating really.

 

 

 

 

Done in only three main parts and little pieces of halved pipe for the corners. I added 5mm drain holes, no idea if originals had any but made sense to have them.

 

Little difference in radiuses between these but other than that look pretty darn good, even if i say so myself B)

 

Took time to do but i really want to give this car my best effort, so if it takes the extra time to get things right then let it be so! :thumbup:

[jonsey 0]

Once again, top quality repair. Well done. I think I will steal your idea of the drain holes.

Edited July 28, 2015 by jonsey

[LagoonBlue 145]

Once again, top quality repair. Well done. I think I will steal your idea of the drain holes.

 

Thank you! :thumbup:

 

And by all means do, in the original design if not plugged by generous amount of underseal or somesuch (will do that to) crud will fall into the jacking point via the flutes on the back wall of the box section and has no way of coming out. No wonder these rot the way they do! :shocking:

[MLI 8]

Again, top job, and an inspiration for others :thumbup:

[LagoonBlue 145]

Again, top job, and an inspiration for others :thumbup:

 

Thank you! :cheers:

 

 

 

Left spring hanger and spring mount are done!

 

Glad to have this job sorted :)

 

 

Right hand side is luckily in slightly better nick than other and i have most of the parts needed already made. This one should go together much easier.

[LagoonBlue 145]

Bought the workshop manual for the Cortina, great deal at 20€ incl. postage :thumbup:

 

 

Written by Ford himself, illustrations are top notch but the plot is hard to follow at times :lol:

 

Will come handy when i get around to the oily bits. Only negative thing is that the book reeks of cellar, blech.

Maybe there is a way to deodorize it? Anyway i will copy the needed pages to work with so not to soil the original too much.

 

Took a break from the car today and made a trip to the big city as my supplies were running low, back to welding and grinding tomorrow.

[LagoonBlue 145]

It took some effort but the other side is now done! :winner:

 

 

Repaired the chassis rail.

 

 

"Backwall" patched.

 

 

Bottom plate welded in place.

 

 

Jacking point and spring mount sorted.

 

Might take it easy for a day or two while i figure out where to continue.

[LagoonBlue 145]

I started repairs on the strut tops. As i had no idea how deep of a rabbit hole this is going to be i decided to make a locating jig;

 

 

Made from scrap that i had laying about, did not take much time to slap together.

 

 

Jig was welded together whilst in position, it bolts to the strut bolt holes, chassis rails, roll over jig bracket and hood bumper holes. The jig can be removed for easier access for work and after that panels can then be registered to their correct places.

 

 

Not looking good so far :( I will have to remove the reinforcement panel and under wing pan to repair the inner wing which has rotted away.

 

I think i can save the reinforcement panel but under wing pan is too far gone to repair. I suspect that as usual replacement parts are not available (at reasonable price anyway) so most likely will have to make my own again.

 

I will also look about making reinforcement panels that mount to the side of under wing pan and inner wing as in export models. I have an fairly solid example from my parts car that i can replicate.

[LagoonBlue 145]

Last day of my vacation, so let's get this thread up to date.

 

I had difficulties in figuring out how to get started with the strut top repairs, in the end i decided to just crack on with it.

 

Despite my first impressions i was able to save the under wing pan.

 

 

Affected areas cut out.

 

 

First patch let in. Material thickness is 2mm.

 

 

Second patch going in, trying to maintain the original shape.

 

 

Repaired pan. Vertical supports were in better condition than i expected.

 

 

Only a small patch was needed here.

 

 

Inner wing was beyond salvation.

 

 

Not exactly seamless but luckily this area will be hidden :sofa:

 

 

Inner wing patch panel. I am not skilled enough to make this in one piece so to make the "valley" for under wing pan i cut slots and filled them with triangular pieces.

 

 

Welded in place. Could not get the upright section for the drip rail to line up properly so off it went :chain:

 

Note the spacers under the locating jig mounts to get it in the right height as reinforcement panel will need to go in next.

If i were to make the locating jig again i would make it from heftier material as this one has a tad too much flex in it. Though this will work too, just have to bee mindful when tightening the screws.

 

Continues...

[LagoonBlue 145]

..Continued

 

 

Welds linished.

 

 

Repaired support panel. Heavily pitted areas were cut out and the rest i sandblasted.

 

 

Starting work on the drip rail. Again had to make these in multiple parts.

 

 

And done! :winner: Needs a skim of filler to the side of reinforcement panel and minor cleaning in few other spots but otherwise not too bad.

 

Happy to have this side sorted. Took a lot of work, a bit too much at times.

 

I did not get nearly as much sorted in this vacation than i would of have hoped for but i am nevertheless satified in the amount i did achieve as these were not easy parts to do.

 

Now i need a small break from working on the car, a vacation from vacation as sorts :lol:

[MLI 8]

Top job again, keep the MIG zizzling :thumbup:

[myle087 2]

Great job well done

[LagoonBlue 145]

Top job again, keep the MIG zizzling :thumbup:

 

 

Great job well done

 

Thank you :thumbup:

 

Taking it easy for a while, but i did remove the right hand reinforcement plate.

 

 

I had to chisel two spot welds to preserve the chassis number, otherwise came off without too much trouble.

 

Needs some repairing of course but not in terrible condition, even the vertical section of the innerwing has some shiny metal on it despite being just plain steel.

 

Found out that on the upper rear portion only one spot weld had taken from the factory :blink:

I guess that strut mounting bolts helped in keeping the panels together.

[LagoonBlue 145]

Some more work done;

 

 

Reinforcement panel needed only a small patch. One plugweld hole is a little too close for comfort to the chassis number, i must be extra cautious when reinstalling the panel.

I had to use a different spot weld drill on this panel, hence the larger holes but these will work for plug welds too only a little more grinding than usual will be needed.

 

 

A little larger patch for the underwing pan.

 

 

Linished and primed.

 

 

Recreating sides of the pan.

 

 

And linished. Next step will be reinstalling my locating jig and repairing the vertical support.

[Captin Crayford 2]

Great job there Mr Blue.. :thumbup: you are making progress now. Your right there is a lot to make up in these areas and you have to

keep it all in line too. keep it up.. :)