back again

Had some time in the man cave today.

I did some more cutting and decided on first patch..

So I chopped out all the offending brown stuff...
















And put some clean zintec in...

















This is going to be a headache, behind this panel is the rear suspension mount, you can see the vertical spot welds. Three panels thick including the mount and access isn't good except from here.

Intro

My name is Grunty and I am addicted to rusty things :)
I learnt to weld many years ago when my boss said " there's a rusty Transit in the yard and there's the welder" Oh I said and set to it, always up for a challenge :)
Very quickly I started on other peoples cars so bought my own welder and haven't looked back.
That was the start of a hobby that has allowed me to repair some lovely old cars and keep many out of the scrappy.

This is just a record from now as I want to build a portfolio of my work.

I am not a rivet counter and am not put off by a car that has been welded as long as it was done properly. There are welders that will weld a car and you won't know they have been there but unfortunately I don't have the patience for that. My welding is done to a high standard and I do not hide it unless it is exterior body work.

I also do fabrication of other stuff as well, tractor linkages, gates, security doors and even wooden structures too.

If you have a car that needs love you know where to come.

warming up..

warming up..

As my shed is getting cold I thought a source of warmth was in order.
I visited a local scrap yard and found an old gas bottle that he was stuck with so only to happy to lose :)

After carefully removing the valve and filling with water for a week I set about modifying it.

First job was cut a hole in the top to fit a flue stub, I fitted the stub with a flue damper so the chimock could be shut off.


I cut the bottom ring off the bottle and cut in into 4 sections, 2 large and 2 small. The large pieces were to make a stand, or legs, for the burner so I could stand it on any surface without worry. The base of a wood burner does not get too hot as the wood burns on a bed of ash which keeps the base insulated.
I then cut a hole in what was the base to make a door and the 2 small pieces of the base ring were then used as the hinge along with some m10 nuts and an m10 bolt.

This is where it is as of today.

Next time i need to fit a door catch and some method of sealing it. Also an air control so along with the chimney damper I can control the heat output.

3 wheels on my wagon, sorry, trailer :)

3 wheels on my wagon, sorry, trailer :)

On the way back from Lancashire we had a trailer wheel seize up so I had to remove the wheel to get home.

Today was the day to sort it out.
The problem turned out to be a seized bearing on the inner side of the hub.































I had to get a grinder and very carefully grind a flat on the inner race all the way through to the stub axle in order to remove the race as it had spun on the axle and welded itself on. The damage to the stub axle was only minor so after a bit of fettling the new race was fitted and all was ok.
While I was doing this I thought I may as well do the lot. The brake shoes were well past their sell by date, so much for the trailer being serviced just before I bought it!!































A good clean of all parts,































And the back plate































Then all was reassembled, adjusters and all nuts greased with copper slip, new bearings packed with fresh grease.
Brakes came with new shoes and all new springs so now adjusted and now all running free.

GRP and pretty lights

GRP and pretty lights

Well we had fun this weekend!! ( that was sarcasm !)

I got an offer of a classic car shell to make some Fibreglass molds so I can make some new panels to hopefully sell on. The biggest problem was the 200+ miles between me and said shell!
The kids were away already so I grabbed the Mrs and off we went, that was after many phonecalls to try and find a BnB in Blackpool on a bank holiday weekend at short notice that would allow dogs!

We didn't leave till gone 3pm and after a steady trip up the M5 with the Landy temperature gauge hovering just under the red we got there about 8. As it was a bank holiday weekend we found parking difficult, ended up taking the trailer off and pushing that into a space with the landy parked across the back of it. A short wander around the sea front and a pizza for tea we headed back to the BnB for bed.
The following morning we could move the Landy and trailer into a better place while we walked the dog on the beach.





















We left the carpark and immediately found a lack of clutch which turned out to be a lack of fluid due to a leak some where, found a garage a few miles down the road where I managed to find some fluid and all was well again.
I also noticed some squeeking noises coming from underneath the truck which on inspection was a blown UJ on the front propshaft, oh joy!!
We met the seller at the arranged place and then followed him to his yard. I checked the prop and the fluid while there and there was no change for the worse so I decided to carry on.
The shell was loaded onto the trailer, straps tightened and trailer lights checked, after a cup of coffee we were away. several hill starts to get of his estate did not do the prop UJ any favours but once we found the motorway it quietened down and we could sit at around 60/65 with out to much fuss. Temperature gauge was still hovering just below the red but showed no sign of climbing.
The UJ did let out a scream just after we left the M6 but after slowing down on the hard shoulder it went quiet again so I pulled back on to the carriageway and carried on.
Then as we just passed the entrance to a service station I happened to glance in the mirror to see a cloud of smoke coming from the off side of the trailor. I quickly pulled onto the hard shoulder to investigate. Nothing was obvious so I jumped back in the truck and slowly drove to the exit slip of the services so I could cross over to the inside hard shoulder were I could inspect the trailer in more safety. After a poke about it turned out to be a seized hub which stopped the wheel turning. I chose the easiest option which was to remove the road wheel from the offending hub and carry on with a 3 wheeled trailer.
































The propshaft continued to make odd noises and vibrate occasionally but it held together and we arrived home around 8pm.
All in all an experience of a weekend :)

Modified wheels

Modified wheels

A place I work at have some large jigs for painting on, 3m long near 2m high + wide on 4 steel castors. They get filled with painted items and pushed in and out of the ovens. Doing this means they pick up paint on the wheels which breaks off randomly meaning square wheels that rattle the jigs and the items that were just painted can fall off
soooo
My idea is to make the wheels pointed in the middle so the paint can be pushed out sideways when hot and soft and the higher pressure on the centre ridge should break the paint off when cold and hard
First job was to mount the wheels in the lathe. I made a mandrel out of some steel bar, turned the end down so the wheel slide on but leaving it over hanging, a 12mm thread was put in the end, aftera 10mm stripped to easy as it wouldn't hold tight enough. The wheel was then put on and bolted up using suitable spacers.

SAFEtey on the stairs

SAFEtey on the stairs

Can you give me a hand he said!!
I need to get a safe up a flight of steps into the office, 2 chaps lifted it into the back of a van so its' not that big he said...

Well not that big turned out out to be very big! also the flight of steps turned out to be 2 flights of stairs with a 180' landing half way.
After a quick look at the job we had some idea of what we needed so into the van and drove to a couple of places we know to pick up a bit of kit, a wheeled trolley and some ratchet straps is what we ended up with.
We manhandled the safe onto the trolley to get it along the side alley and into the front door of the building with a brief stop to remove the bottom plinth as it was full of rather smelly water.
We attached a ratchet strap round the safe then another strap led to the hand winch cable, the winch was attached to a 4x4 timber placed across the entrance to the loos.
With 2 planks on the stairs we started to winch. Slow but steady to the end of winch pull, wedge safe with 3rd timber plank while winch and strap were adjusted to get second bite then third.
At the top of the first flight was a narrow landing and straight ahead was a set of 3 step which we had to get the safe up so we could then stand it up to maneuver it along the landing to the second flight we had to climb. This was the most difficult part as we had no where to attach the winch so had to use a ratchet strap and pull a bit at a time.

After a struggle we got it stood up and were able to move it to the base of the second flight. Due to lack of space we rocked the safe onto a 4x4 timber then a second so we could get it onto the first step and have enough room to lie it down for the final winch. This pull was easier as we now knew what we were doing and we could also place the winch further back due to another room further back. In the picture you can make out some timbers with the jack in the middle, this was a method of transfering some of the strain from one stud wall to another to stop the walls from pulling off the floor.
After all that a well deserved cuppa, white and one please :)