Retro Power Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 Right, Curt popped by the other day and dropped off a pile of heavy and oily parts ready for some attention! Been working on other projects over the past couple of weeks, so not too much progress, but this is where we are at now: Completed nearside floopan, and front of sill/bottom of A-pillar. Next will be either chassis rails or the front end of inner wings... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cact1972 Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 Yep your not wrong when you say 'Heavy and oily' .The van flew home minus that lot! Good to see you both and the cars progress of course!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted April 17, 2010 Share Posted April 17, 2010 Nice work mate, fantastic fab, you must have a huge press to bend 3mm Can i have a job at your's restoring Mantas as i'm bored of dentistry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantamike Posted April 17, 2010 Share Posted April 17, 2010 those chassis leg repairs look absolutely stunning! Wish I had the skills and to tools to do that, then the hatch would be finished in not time Keep Up the good work! I'm learning with every pic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted April 19, 2010 Author Share Posted April 19, 2010 (edited) Nice work mate, fantastic fab, you must have a huge press to bend 3mm Can i have a job at your's restoring Mantas as i'm bored of dentistry heh... I think Dentistry pays better The inner was just folded with the manual folder you can see behind me in the pic where I'm holding the section - The green thing! It's about on it's limit at 3mm though. It's also nice to have a power guillotine that will cut it as well - that really is handy Edited April 19, 2010 by Retro Power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cact1972 Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 (edited) Have finally got a bit of time to post some pics. I collected some parts for the project from Andrew Turner (2nd registered owner i'm the 4th).Who kindly gave me this pic from when he owned it Can't beat getting a bit of history . He got if from a guy who was told he could no longer drive due to medical conditions, Had it for a while then sold to Peter Leary whom I have known for a number of years now(From when I used to have my kadett's).Pete did a bit of road rallying in her. then I got my mits on it, ran it for a good while. Had it welded up which has all been cut away and replaced now(was never happy with it) and a respray,then moved house (put it in the garage for far too long!!!) so all in all i know all owners apart from its original. A pic just before starting to strip her , as you can see a few bits had changed Anyhow this thread tells the rest of the story........Just can't wait for the Happy ending!!! Edited April 23, 2010 by cact1972 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted May 8, 2010 Author Share Posted May 8, 2010 Right, been putting hours into a couple of other projects over the past couple of weeks, but getting stuck back into the 'Scona for a bit now... Time to tackle the dreaded swan-necks! Got some repair sections from Dr Manta, but very dissapointed :glare: Decided to stick with fabricating my own :001_tt2: Did one side at a time, using old subframe to jigg mounting point. Cut out old rail fabricated and fitted inner reinforcers, including turning and drilling out the mount tubes in the lathe. Then onto outers. This took a bit of work, and a few attempts of templating and shaping to get right, but we got there in the end and I'm pretty chuffed with the results : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2908642343 Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 Looking good, have to agree with you Dr Manta swan necks, bought some of him many years ago and was not all that happy with them. My skills do not stretch to making them so bought some from another source in Germany. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cact1972 Posted May 8, 2010 Share Posted May 8, 2010 Cool, Still smiling here!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h0tr0dder_uk Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 wow - some top notch fabrication there. ill be building my rails similar to yours but without the outer covers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 Yea if you're not fussed on the completely original look then deleting the outers makes a great deal of sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Rails done at the front and various bulkhead repairs completed, and it's on to the rear rails/spring seat areas. These were quite well rotten, but thankfully the Dr Manta repair sections for here are very good. Drilled the spot welds on the old spring seats and removed them, repaired the rails underneath, and then plug welded the repair sections in place.... Simple :cheers2 Note the bare metal on the rail under where the spring seat was - I wonder why they rust so badly?!! Now that's done it's time to do something with the rear arches. First job is to clean the paint off the rear quaters, which previously seemed reluctant to be paint strippered... This is why....... Arch has been repaired one side, and the quarter evidently distorted quite a lot during welding - there is a good 12mm of filler in some places.... Much like my workshop floor after removing it :glare: Anyway, all back to bare metal now, and ready for cutting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 (edited) OK, progress report rear arches cut out and modified.... .... now it's time to address the ropey back-of-sill/floor/arch areas.... step1... Fabricate and fit replacement sill reinforcer step2... Fabricate and fit repair to outer edge of floorpan step3... Fabricate and fit inner sill repair section, and get plenty of zinc weld-thru over it all step4... Fabricate and fit outer sill repair section step 5... Repair end of sill section, stand back and admire Edited May 19, 2010 by Retro Power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 Nice work, coming on well fast I love pic heavy threads as they tell the story better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costasa Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Very good work i was looking and i'm drilling with the quality Hope to have yours skills and corage to do a work like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted May 26, 2010 Author Share Posted May 26, 2010 ^^ thanks Terrible day today - slipped twice with the grinder.... First slip and the front end fell off, then did it again and the roof came off Close your eyes Curt Replacement roofskin is quite well pitted, not the best, but no sunroof, and you can't be picky! Ground the frame-side of the seams off all the way round, leaving the seam totally intact on the skin (no danger of going through with the spot-weld drill - I want this perfect!!). Paint strippered all over, then sanded back the surface rust. Next step will be to grind the old roofskin remains out of the side-seams on the car, cut the pillars accurately, and get busy with my new toy - a spot welder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cact1972 Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 Popped into the land of retro yesterday to see the ascona:blink: ....................Thanks again for your time guys. Most impresive:thumbup These pics are very good but sure is good to see it real !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 Cheers Curt, good to see ya. Right this is where we are at.... Finished cleaning up the roof skin, and wire-wheeling all the surface rust off the roof frame. Good covering of zinc weld-thru again. Clamped up the skin, then cut through the pillars with a slitting disc (the extra height from the skin being on top of the old pillars means the gap from the disc will close up when the skin is in the final position. Then got busy with the spot-welder, spotted around all the original spot-welded seams, and mig'd up the pillars. Next job, is to start reconstructing the front of the inner wings and also weld up and smooth all the holes around the engine bay, as we are going minimal with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Fish Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 You should re-title this thread to: "How to build an Ascona from scratch" crazy work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted June 3, 2010 Author Share Posted June 3, 2010 You should re-title this thread to: "How to build an Ascona from scratch" crazy work. lol feels a bit like that at the mo!! Getting there though, certainly broken the back of the metalwork now........won't try and count the rest of the jobs........(hydraulic clutch conversion, omega box conversion, prop, 4HA axle with jag powrloc diff, "400 esque" 5 link, 400 kit fit, body prep..........oooh lots!! ) anyway, will keep it all posted on here! cheers Nat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cact1972 Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 SSSssshhhhhh! Don't be giving too much away Nat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith1200 Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Brilliant work (very impressive) Picture's are very 'informative' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 Top quality work as usual, a trip over to see your projects in the flesh may be a great manta day out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted June 7, 2010 Author Share Posted June 7, 2010 Cheers Kev! Would be great to see you down here, feel free to pop in any time (best call just to make sure we are in, though between now and Billing we're unlikely to be anywhere else lol!!) cheers Nat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Power Posted June 12, 2010 Author Share Posted June 12, 2010 Woohoo! Shell welding complete! First off, valance and front panel: The valance was a bit rough around the wing-mounting tabs, so the edges were cut off completely. We then dug out the extra set of wings Curt brought down, which are genuine wings, and pretty much mint - Took templates from the wings, cut out new flanges and welded them to the valance, thus ensuring a pefect fit to the wings Next the front panel - very rough around the headlights with previous poor repairs to sort. Got some headlamp surround repair sections from Klokkerholm which are an excellent fit. Once these were lined up and fitted, the whole front end was offered back up and aligned with the help of various measurments that were taken before it was cut off. Also wings and grille fitted to double-check the fit.... All good, so weldy weldy! Funny how much more complete they look with the wings on :lol Couple of wee repair sections at the front of the inner wings, and thats the front end done - These were quick too, as I have finally invested in a Shrinker/Stretcher - makes curved repairs a lot easier - much less swearing involved! Also fitted new spare wheel well, tidied up various 'frilly' bits around the back window, and lead-filled them along with the c-pillar joints. Thats it... Well, need to do the upper link boxes, but thats and easy job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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