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Polar White and Rust - a restoration epic, can it even be done?


IanMc
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Despite what I said earlier, I did manage to find a spare hour this afternoon  :lol:  :thumbup

So 1) Cut out the Steel patches that I need to fill the hole in the floor:

 

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The 2), in preparation for the work to be done when I get back, I decided to see how difficult it would be to remove the front and rear screens...

Starting with the front screen, I removed the 'chrome' corners and infill strips and then I was ready to manipulate the rubber from inside the car. To my surprise, the screen came out easily after less than 15 minutes of messing about.

Ads expected the bottom corners were shot, but the rest was fine, with just a little surface rust to be treated. The corners will need some thinking about, but they dont scare me too much - how difficult can it be?!  :rolleyes:

 

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Have a good evening everyone.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK so we are back in the game again  :D

Not too much to shout about tonight though, just a couple of the OSF floor patch plates roughly tacked in position to see how things might work out.

 

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This area is going to need much more work, I can feel it already  :lol:

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The work on the Cavalier has been halted this week by another Vauxhall, my Astra J (2013).

It decided that the NSR caliper should start sticking, despite cleaning all four corners about 4 months ago...

Anyway, it seems to be sorted now and I can finally move on again with the Cav - cars eh?!  :rolleyes:

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Dear All,

A pretty good afternoons work today.

I am pleased to advise that for the first time since this car came into my possession (almost exactly a year ago to the day), I have no holes in the floor.

That feels like a milestone, a small one maybe, but a milestone all the same.


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Naturally all the welds will need dressing up with a flap disc, before adding panel seal and the usual other treatments, but I can get that done during the week.

Have a good weekend all.  :thumbup

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Just a small update today as we have been out and about.

The new metal welded in over the last few weeks was all buffed clean again with a wire wheel, yesterdays welds were dressed and then a generous coat of Black smooth Hammerite was put over the top.

I had to use Black because I had forgotten that I ran out of White before we went on holiday (Doh!). I guess it doesn't matter too much though as the underneath of the car will be covered in underseal and the metal inside the cabin will of course be covered by sound deadening and the carpet.

Once the paint has dried out I will add the panel seal and then go from there.

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I will also inject some cavity wax inside the jacking point to hopefully held that keep the dreaded rot at bay for as long as possible.

Have a nice evening all.
 

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A small boring update tonight.

Simply added some panel sealer to the outside and inside of all (accessible) welded joints.

Over the next couple of days I can apply the stone chip and underseal to the bottom surfaces and get the sound deadening and carpet down inside.

Onwards!

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Had a long day at work, but decided to dig in and do an hour before Dinner to keep things moving along...

I have just put some sound deadening/insulation material on the OSF floor, and cabin bulkhead area etc and then refitted the carpet and the drivers seat.

Have a good evening all. :thumbup

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6 hours ago, ®evo03 said:

Welding is better than any so called professional welder, keep er lit

I'm really not sure about that evo, but I am getting plenty of practice with this car  :lol:  :rolleyes:

Thanks as always for your encouragement though, it really does mean a lot to me when more experienced and skilled members pass on kind words  :thumbup

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A bit more progress tonight.

I managed to get the servo refitted, then reconnected the brake pedal hinge pin and return spring.

After that the master cylinder was bolted on, then the brake lines, vacuum connections etc were all re-attached.

I'm glad I decided to painted the servo and MC White, they look a little bit different to the masses.

 

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A productive hour tonight:

1) Refitted the centre console and the auto shifter bits and bobs.

2) Refitted the OS carpet to door trim strip and the door rubber.

3) Added the first coat of underseal to my recent OSF floor and inner wing repairs.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, chrisb said:

Absolutely love reading these updates,  so interesting, your dedication is amazing, keep up the good work.

In that case you really need to get out more Chris  :lol:

Seriously though, many thanks for your kind words. I will keep slogging on and maybe one day this baby will be finished  :thumbup

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Quick job done before going off to this evenings Archery session...

The brake pipe that feeds the OSF caliper from the MC felt 'wobbly' in the screwed fitting, so I decided to make up another pipe rather than keep tightening the thing and simply shear the flare off the end.

So that's all done now and feeling just right.

Hopefully some more updates to come over the weekend.

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OK, so the plan for today's little mini-project is to deal with this small area of rust at the top of the 'A' pillar, where it meets the scuttle panel.

The idea is to get some more strength into this area, before I proceed to the rust in the screen surround on this side.

This is what we are starting with:

 

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So its mission accomplished for today.

You can see from above what I started with, but this is how the job progressed:


The rot was cut out.


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Then the usual origami got under way and cardboard templates were sorted.

This is the first of the plates welded in and dressed with a flap disc.


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Then the overlapping top plate followed


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Then onto the next part of the jigsaw


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And after everything had another little tidy up


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So as that area is now nice and solid again, I can think about moving up a little bit further and repairing the corner of the windscreen.

I'm hoping that I might get a stab at that tomorrow...  :D   :thumbup

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I managed to spare a few minutes, so decided to investigate in a bit more depth what is waiting at the OS bottom windscreen surround.

There is one large area of rust and one much smaller area:

 

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After a few minutes with the flap disc, with now have this:

 

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After pondering this for a few minutes and think that I am probably going to have to make this in two or three separate sections.

 

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Lets see what tomorrow brings...

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Made a start on the lower corner of the OS front screen surround this morning.

I thought I would break myself in gently, well it is Sunday  :lol:  and added a tiny piece of Steel into the hole in the scuttle area:

 

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A little skim of filler in the low spots will have that looking good.

 

Then I moved along to the real problem area and started to try to peel away the rusty top skin - easier said than done...

This is going to get messy!

 

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Hopefully a little more later  :thumbup

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A little bit more progress on the OSF screen surround this afternoon.

 

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Still got a way to go, but it all seems more 'doable' now. Just need to keep building the area up one small piece at a time.

 

Anyone got an tips onto how to dress welds and generally grind down metal in tight corners like that - Dremmel perhaps?

I do have a Dremell, but didn't think about trying that until after I packed up lol

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Managed to sneak another 20 minutes before we pop out this evening.

Got another little infill piece welded in, where the screen surround meets the scuttle. It needs more dressing obviously, but ran out of time.

 

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Hopefully I might be able to get this small corner finished off tomorrow evening.

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Tonight I managed to get the last piece of the OSF bottom screen surround welded in. To be honest it was a bit of a faff really, but I think it looks OK.

I still have a little bit more to do with the Dremel in the bottom of the channel, but on the whole I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out.

 

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Now I have to do it all again on the other side...  :rolleyes:

Have a nice evening everyone   :thumbup

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