Makes your heart sink doesn't it when the screwdriver just makes a crunching noise and goes straight through Best you found it sooner rather than later I suppose.

BoyWonder wrote:Holy hithertoo unseen pockets of decaying metal batman!!

thats an awesome manta man, proper old skool love it!

filthyjohn wrote:
Looks like I underestimated the amount of rot by some margin. I got the screwdriver and went digging for peace of mind, but all I found was orangey-brown misery!

The well known spots for the Manta and Ascona

filthyjohn wrote: Chop it out!

The only way to go

Hello again folks,
Luckily those pictures are from a week or two ago and the situation is better now

About 6 weeks ago I ordered a very nice welder, this Portamig 185:


But, it hasn't arrived yet and it'll be a while longer, they're custom built to order and they're behind schedule.

Luckily I've been cracking on with the little Clarkeweld 100E pigeon-shit-tronic mig,


and managed this little lot.

Above OSR spring:


Wheel arch and sill end:


Inside was worse than imagined


And the back part of the inner sill:


All in all I'm pretty pleased, I've been working on it nearly every day, a patch at a time, and my welding's getting better all the time. A year ago I'd have been to scared to do it myself, but far better to take the plunge.

Now I have to deal with the front end.

Bulkhead:


And above that:


Unfortunately the brake servo has to come out so I can do a proper job. Which is a real PITA, but hey ho, might as well crack on with it instead of sulking.

Jeesus dude, you HAVE been workin hard.
Looks like you've got a sh1tload of holes filled up with tidy metal.

You want to be carefull though, if you get a name as a welder, people might start bringing you things with many holes in.

Seeing what you have done the car is not so bad. Two years back I had to replace about one third of the passengers side bottom [LHD], here some pics:

This is what came out


New bottom welded in




Completed and primed


I don't know how it's called but on the outside under the door I had to renew that piece too


and a piece in front of the rear wheel


and this was the result


I thought it wasn't bad for an amateur, last march I had to do the other side as well or I couldn't get it to past APK [MOT] inspection

Am I seeing that right?
youve basicly renewed a whole sill (section beneath door) and half of the floor too?

Thats awesome.

A lot of work to save a 300, and theres not many people that would go to those lengths.

Well done indeed.

good stuff. I've got the same welder that you're using john, and yes it produces some messy welds. However, it does go down to 25 amps which makes the £100 almost worth it

well that's not a 300 on those pics ben

volvodspec wrote:well that's not a 300 on those pics ben

well spotted dude.

Im tired ok.

volvosneverdie wrote:Am I seeing that right?
youve basicly renewed a whole sill (section beneath door) and half of the floor too?
Thats awesome.
A lot of work to save a 300, and theres not many people that would go to those lengths.
Well done indeed.

It was a lot of work but it was the only way to get it to pas the APK [MOT] inspection, it's my daily drive
and if it was my 300 I'd do the same.

volvosneverdie wrote:

volvodspec wrote:

volvosneverdie wrote: A lot of work to save a 300

well that's not a 300 on those pics ben

well spotted dude.
Im tired ok.

Good catch Anjo. No it's not, it's a Opel Ascona A but it has the same bottom as the Manta A

I have yet to point my metal glue machine at an actual car, but I'm very much looking forward to it. Great progress has been made even since I last saw it Just think about the awesomeness when it's done

cheers

James

It arrived!

And the winner of the award for cleanest piece of equipment in the Unit iiiiiiiisssssssssssssss.................................
(drumroll)


Big Red Welder!