Duchess The Volvo 340 CVT

[benji1985]

Epic work again. What are you going to replace the sound-deadening tar material with??

Same sort of stuff, just a modern day sound deadening

Ben

[benji1985]

Hello all, today was eventful, the passenger sill was on the jobs for today.
06/06/16
so today started by removing the doors on the passenger side and welding in some bracing to keep her sturdy
IMAG4338 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

I then proceed to use a spot weld removal tool to drill out the welds, have to admit the tool is great
IMAG4340 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

Last bit of the sill to be cut
IMAG4341 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

Set about cleaning the welds
IMAG4343 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

Then examined the rust situation
IMAG4346 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4347 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4348 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4349 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4350 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

I have ordered some new arches for the rear, however have to wait a week so I i painted the area with a anti rust paint to help protect it a bit while i wait.....nice fetching blue
IMAG4351 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
Tomorrow i will carry on by looking at the rust on the chassis.

Ben

[benji1985]

Hello all, updates for you all
07/06/16
the first task of the day was to remove the broken insert, cut a hole into the chassis
IMAG4353 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4354 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
the head cut off the bolt and the insert removed
IMAG4355 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
the hole cleaned up
IMAG4356 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4357 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4358 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

My new insert and plate prepared
IMAG4359 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
and then welded together (not the neatest welding)
IMAG4360 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
the hole prepared with weld through primer
IMAG4361 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

While the insert hole was drying, i moved on to the passenger chassis rail
removing all the stuff to get back to bear metal and discovered.... yes a hole!
IMAG4362 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
cleaned up the chassis leg ready for work to commence
IMAG4363 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
then started to cut out the rust metal (forgot to take pictures) first piece was the inner wheel arch, then the support arm and then the chassis (it was like peeling an onion!)
All the bits removed
IMAG4365 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4366 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4367 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
POR15 the inner parts that could be reached, although it may come off again to do the welding
IMAG4368 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
Weld through primmer the outer edges
IMAG4368 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
End of this day

09/06/16
today was the start of repairing the chassis leg
the new bits of metal were mocked out on card and then cut from the steel sheet, making sure to cut them over sized
IMAG4614 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4615 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4616 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4617 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

welded in my new insert in to the chassis leg
IMAG4618 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

before i carried on i relised that one of the covered holes for spraying antirust stuff in would need repaired, before the support arm box went back in place, decided it would be easier to cut the the hole out and replace it.
IMAG4619 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4620 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4621 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

Then i welded piece number 1 on the onion in place the bottom plate of the chassis
IMAG4622 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4623 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

welded in the new insert
IMAG4624 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

Piece number 2 of the onion welded in
IMAG4625 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

My welding skills are so SHOCKING! I am sure a monkey can do better, but the 2 sections are in and are strong
IMAG4626 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG4627 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

I blew holes in the metal all the time even on the lowest power setting and then the lowest power setting was not hot enough to get a good welds for the plug welds..... I really am very bad at welding

have to keep practising lucky that these welds will be covered in underseal never to see the light of day again EVER!!!!

all for now while i calm down about my shocking welding skills.....

Ben

[bogbasic]

Awesome work. Arc or MIG? I couldn't manage arc so I never bothered with MIG. I tried to arc-weld a couple of times but didn't like the prospect of being burnt and blinded, so I thought I would leave it to the experts.

[benji1985]

Awesome work. Arc or MIG? I couldn't manage arc so I never bothered with MIG. I tried to arc-weld a couple of times but didn't like the prospect of being burnt and blinded, so I thought I would leave it to the experts.

I am using a mug welder, however as you can see I need a lot more practice....

Ben

[Ride_on]

Looks pretty good to me, welding old thin material is pretty challenging. I presume you are doing pulse welding, even then holes are likely. Just take your time and try to do lap joints as much as possible.

The hole cutter spot weld removers are great, I used a 3mm drill then hole cutter, just keep the speed as low as possible to avoid overheating and they last well.

Bog, Mig is much better than arc for cars and auto darkening face masks are quite cheap now.

[360beast]

Amazing work as usual, I would try welding scrap metal and play with the settings until you are happy.

I can't arc weld either, I just kept blowing holes or it would magnetise to the metal I was welding which made me angry so I gave up haha.

[benji1985]

Looks pretty good to me, welding old thin material is pretty challenging. I presume you are doing pulse welding, even then holes are likely. Just take your time and try to do lap joints as much as possible.

The hole cutter spot weld removers are great, I used a 3mm drill then hole cutter, just keep the speed as low as possible to avoid overheating and they last well.

Bog, Mig is much better than arc for cars and auto darkening face masks are quite cheap now.

Hi ride on, I wasn't doing pulse welding, so I have been watching some YouTube and also the gun was to close and the wrong angle so I'll have another go.

Ben

[benji1985]

small update
11/06/16
been busy all day with wedding things, but did find an hour tonight to put the headlights back together
IMAG4628 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
it has been suggested that i should paint the backs black..... need to think on that one?

If the weather ever gets better i'll try some more welding then maybe i can do better than a monkey

Ben

[benji1985]

Another update
17/06/16
Today i decided to give myself some more welding practice and finish off the passenger chassis and the hole i cut to replace the insert.
Insert hole replaced
IMAG0010 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
Passenger wheel arch and chassis finished off
IMAG0013 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0014 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0015 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
Tried to replicate the bend in the metal the best i could, not perfect but it was there

I was quite pleased with this welding, up'ed the gas and the voltage and lowered the wire speed, but this was not upside down, but doing those 2 places took 5.5 hours where as the first piece took all day.

Going to tackle the battery tray area next and remove the welding i did a few years ago... pics to follow

Ben

[bogbasic]

Awesome work - careful with the grinder or you'll go Mutt'n'Jeff ;-0

[360beast]

Awesome work - careful with the grinder or you'll go Mutt'n'Jeff ;-0

Also be careful with your eyes, I was using the angle grinder yesterday to tackle my rear arch rot and a spark hit me in the face, shot under my safety glasses hit them and went in to my eye! So ideally a full face mask would be used, so I'm going to buy one.

[bogbasic]

Sounds painful, but I thought you always had a sparkle in your eyes ;-0

[Ride_on]

A filtered full face mask is nice, I used it under the car because of contact lenses being very sensitive to dirt but like anything the optical parts get dirty and scratched. Someone had given me this when their company closed and it was a few hundred quid. The replacement lenses where only available in batches of 5 at 300 quid lol...so be careful what you wish for.

Best solution is direct sparks away from you and don't push too hard if you are limited in working space.

[benji1985]

Good evening everyone, today was spent doing some more metal work.
21/06/16
I didn't fancy standing on my head so I decided not to tackle the chassis leg yet, but I did start to tackle the bad welding I did as a kid in the drivers inner wheel arch.
First I cut out the section I replaced and any extra rust that was showing itself, the cuts were made more square.
IMAG0027 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0026 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
You can't really see from the pictures but these "patches" were rusty and very poorly welded in with no strength at all.
In cleaning up the area where the patches were I discovered more rust further down and around where the patch was, so it was cut out.
IMAG0028 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0024 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0025 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
I then proceeded to POR15 the chassis and any rust I could get to that might be harder to reach later. While I was waiting for that to dry I finished reassembling the rear axle and put the hubs and drive flanges back.
IMAG0032 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
After some lunch and after the POR15 had time to dry, I set about making a patch for the larger holes and started to weld it in,
I have to say my welding skills are getting better, less like a monkey.
IMAG0034 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0035 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

I also cleaned off all the paint and crap I put on the front valance as a kid and discovered some very poor welding.
IMAG0031 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0029 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr
IMAG0030 by Benjamin Charlton, on Flickr

Anyhow one job at a time.

More to follow next week

Ben