Front end

Sills now all welded, just a little trimming to do before paint and seal so took a look around for other problems.

Rear valence could do with replacement as it looks rough, not MOT item but it won't get better.

The front is a different matter. The front crossmember below the rad looked a little crusty so I had a dig and found lots of weevils :(
Didn't have my camera with me tonight so I brought a piece home :)

This is the underside of the crossmember where the suspension bolts too :(

And the inside was worse, the plate with the thread in is supposed to be right angle bracket for reinforcement!


After a bit of measuring I cut the back and bottom off so will start reassembly wednesday as I have a Scooby in tomorrow :)

Another toy

I bought a 65 Zephyr a bit back and soon after went to look at another for spares, he wanted too much as it was incomplete so I left it.
Then out of the blue he contacted me, he had sold to another guy but the courier company arrived and refused to take it as the passenger side strut was not attached so they couldn't drag it on the trailer.
So still having it sometime later and knowing I had seen it and knew what to expect he offered it at a lower price, I offered less again which he accepted so plans made we set off with a lot of kit including a strut from mine :)






Safely loaded and now nestling in my care :)

Not all stripping this weekend

Did manage a little welding to Datsfun :)

Inner sill drilled for plugs to outer sill..
Edge will be straightened after outer sill is in place.
Outer sill tacked in place with wide spaces getting closer until....



I could join em all up.
Outer sill is now in place with just the rear end lip to finish :)

strippers ahoy :)

We spent some time on the yellow Datsun today and got it ready for the yard :)

Plasma cutter was invaluable..


Chopped out several useful panels as well as the mechanicals..


does my bum look big.. oh wait :/
Both inner wing tops were in fair condition so we kept them..


The roof was also wanted so off it came, we managed to keep the glass intact which surprised us. We chopped the B and C pillars and cut as far as we could through the A's then lifted the back of the roof to break the bonded seal at the base of the screen, when it was part way off we could get a knife in and finish it off then lift the roof clear :)


Now ready to go to the fraggers in the morning :/ might be enough to cover the diesel :)

Due to singeing a door card :( we wanted some spares so with help from the owner we located and brought back another Violet, it was going to be fragged the next day so we were very lucky. We stuck an advert up and have ended up with a pretty much bare shell in a matter of days :)



The barn you see above is a car storage facility in Gloucestershire, £25 per month if you need dry storage :)

Back to the Datsfun...
Drivers rear floor sorted and seam welded ..



And a couple of hours tonight got the front sill closing panel sorted ..




Outer sill lines up sweet so rear closing panel tomorrow night and probable finish over the weekend.

end in sight

Domestic work took over the weekend so back on the Datsfun this eve took us here...



Not quite as bad as the passenger side but still tricky.

Inner sill now finished, reinforcing plate sorted just the final floor plate to glue in.
I can then get on to the outer sill.

Rear sill area dissapears :/

2 new bottles of gas arrived today so hopefully they should see this little job through to the end now :)

The drivers side rear sill closing panel, inner sill and floor was a lot worse than the passengers side :(
The flange at the bottom of the rear door shut had to be split to let the individual panels be separated..


So they could be removed..

Ready for new tin in the floor and inner sill ..


Then inner arch and middle sill..

And all rejoined at the door flange ..

Drivers side.......

Passenger side refitted so strip out drivers side and start the grinder ..


And stick some slightly less rusty tin in...



Sliight lack of go pedal to sort out :)


Inner sill replacement

From underneath looks good too :)

sills :) big post :)

Got the sills this morning :)

Bit better than the originals :)

Bitmore expensive than I hoped but less than the pattern alternatives we found and to be honest probably a better quality, zintec 1.2 mm :)

Not quite right on the closing panel so a quick modification needed..

Now sits nice all the way along..

Best get on with it then :)

Looks good..


I had to replace a small piece of door step, I left it till the sill was welded in place to keep the strength, finished pic above, this is how I did it :)

Managed to cut the drivers sill off, filler and rags :/




Got the interior sealed ready for passenger side refit tomorrow


Also dropped the fuel tank to find the leak, turns out it was some rather tired chemical metal


Which was covering some less than perfect welding

quiet day

Today was a quiet day but I did make a profile pattern to take to my steel supplier on tuesday to get the sills folded:)

I also fitted 2 strengthening ribs in the sills to hold up the step until the outer sill is fitted.

Pete came round and was trying to steal the wheels for his Scooby while I was drilling holes in his wings for some mirrors :)


I got Sams manifold into the press and straightened it up, near as I can tell it now has only about 1/2 mil twist which should be taken up in flex when bolted up. The pic just about shows the amount of bend I had to put in to get it to stay straight :/

I was also pleased to get my Triumph wings delivered by Mark, bought these off ebay a while back and the RR pony express has come good :)