Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[RichardW]

When we did the one on Mandrake's car, I had to weld a nut on the joint (cut from an old C4 Picasso joint!) - the 'proper' tool and an impact driver having already mullered the castellations, and then we had to apply 2 blow lamps, and well over 1000Nm (i.e. 100kg me hanging on the end of about 5ft of breaker bar and scaff tube) before it would relent. And we buggered the wheel bearing in the process....

[CitroJim]

Not a million miles from me either Van, just down the end of my road in fact!

[Zelandeth]

Today this happened...

Have made one good door out of two knackered ones. While the one previously on there was superficially in better shape, the lock mechanism was irreversibly seized it seemed and the frame had been damaged in several places historically by someone trying to free it off. While this door looks worse, it's structurally fine and the locks work as they should. The window frame on this one however was shot so I had to transfer that over from the old door.

Simple enough task...aside from the small detail in that I had to drill out every single screw involved on both doors. Took forever.

Need to pick up some suitable fasteners tomorrow then will hopefully get the glass refitted...then to do the same thing for the other side. While the locks on that door are fine it's got several holes in and more annoyingly the skin has separated from the frame so the whole thing is floppy. As such it flexes when you open it and wedges itself on the runner... really annoying. The external door handle is missing too. So I suspect tomorrow will involve further drilling out a thousand screws...

[CitroJim]

Great work Zel

[Zelandeth]

In a way it's a good thing I've had to take the doors totally apart, as the gap under the window runners is where one of the worst water ingress points was, and having them apart gives the opportunity to apply a suitable sealant when reassembling it. Looks like there was some form of putty in there originally, but it's long since turned to powder.

Also lets me rust proof the bits where the frame fastens to the door, which is usually hidden under the window runner channel and is inaccessible.

[Zelandeth]

That's one complete nearside door.

Refitting the glass single handedly was a faff but thankfully I managed it without dropping anything. I think I'll do this all with the door on the ground when I do the other side...less chance of dropping hard to source glass then.

Looks like the remains of the first Invacar will be getting picked up next weekend. Seems that someone plans for it to be a long term restoration project...I have told them that's a brave idea!

[Zelandeth]

Today I got the window and such stripped off the offside door from the Invacar (after drilling out another 8274662819 screws) and put the good door base on the car.

I'll hopefully get the window frame and glass reinstalled tomorrow. I'm slightly staggered by the whole concept of actually having two functional doors on the thing.

Ran out of patience with having to pump the front tyre up every single time I went to move the car, so finally dug out a spare wheel that actually holds air.

Still needs a full set of tyres before it goes near the road anyway but at least it won't go down in half an hour now! It turns out that it's totally impossible to steer a three wheeler with a flat front tyre...

[myglaren]

Still needs a full set of tyres before it goes near the road anyway but at least it won't go down in half an hour now! It turns out that it's totally impossible to steer a three wheeler with a flat front tyre...

[Zelandeth]

Had hoped that I'd have finished the Invacar door Rebuild today and would have been able to get the latches adjusted etc...

Decided I'd "save myself five minutes" by leaving the car in the garage.

Yeah...Absolutely stupid idea. Ended up spending far more time fishing tools back out from under the car when I dropped them and clambering around the car to get to stuff. Next time I just back the car out the garage. Ended up wasting so much time that I ended up just getting the frame done and not getting the glass back in.

I really do need to do a quick run around the car and just collect all the bits and pieces that have accumulated there. There are screws, nuts, bolts, tools, brackets, bits of brake pipe and such all over the bloody place and it's driving me mad.

I think the plan for tomorrow if time permits will be to finish reassembling that door then do a bit of a garage tidy as well as the whole right hand side is turning into something of a game of Jenga and I'd rather sort it out before it buries the Invacar. Also being able to open the nearside door will mean I can optimise things a bit.

Had the opportunity to show it to a couple of friends who have been visiting from the US this evening, suffice to say they were both amused and fascinated by it.

Really funny how getting a few jobs done can improve your mojo with a project.

I did have a good moment of inspiration earlier today with regards to sorting the bodywork. One of the biggest problems I've got is that some areas have quite large expanses of glass fibre just missing. The slightly mangled wheel arch and some general scratches and cracks are easy enough to sort. What I need for the larger areas though is - in the absence of an actual mould - is something to give some structure while I rebuild the areas in question. I'd experimented with some ally mesh, cardboard and chicken wire, but found they just didn't have enough strength and it was hard to get the precision I needed.

What I do have still sitting around from some earlier attempts at costume making are some nice chunks of high density closed cell foam. My plan is to sculpt a base to put behind the panel in question which I can then build the glass fibre over. Once there's a pretty thin shell there it's easy enough to actually build up layers over that for strength. Obviously the foam can just be removed once things are done.

Reckon it's got a better shot at working for the rebuilding of the "bumpers" than my previous approach.

[Gibbo2286]

"Ended up spending far more time fishing tools back out from under the car when I dropped them and clambering around the car to get to stuff. "

Think of the money you saved not having a gym membership.

[Zelandeth]

"Ended up spending far more time fishing tools back out from under the car when I dropped them and clambering around the car to get to stuff. "

Think of the money you saved not having a gym membership.

Not sure if the resulting chiropractor visits will make it worthwhile!

Today I did manage to get the offside door rebuilt, albeit after a massively annoying faff dealing with self-tapping screws which refused to self tap. Eventually I ran out of patience and pop riveted the window channel strip on. Wish I'd just done that in the first place.

Next step: get the door seals refitted and adjust the latches. Seals were cleaned up today too, so hopefully tomorrow will see the door chapter finished.

[van ordinaire]

I, for one, am very impressed with the progress - it should inspire me to get the replacement passenger door on the C15 (if only I could remove the sheared stubs of 2 mirror screws).

[xantia_v6]

Do the sheared mirror screws go into the sheet metal or into bosses? If the latter (or perhaps even the former), it is better to drill out the boss and replace it.

[Zelandeth]

Both doors on the Invacar are now pretty much done and the seals have been refitted.

The latches etc will need to be adjusted, and the runners all need to be cleaned and greased etc...but they're mostly done.

Windscreen wiper is next on the agenda. The bolt holding the motor in doesn't want to come out, so I said to make absolutely sure that it's getting power before I faff around removing it... especially as the donor part is similarly disinterested in coming off the other car.

[van ordinaire]

Do the sheared mirror screws go into the sheet metal or into bosses? If the latter (or perhaps even the former), it is better to drill out the boss and replace it.

I suppose one of the reasons for putting off returning to the job is knowing really that, at the end of the day, I'll have drill them out - but not looking forward to it, as will a will almost certainly ruin the paint preparing the ends for drilling AND the bit'll stray off-centre/perpendicular & so destroy the threads. Yeah, I know, excuses, excuses!