815 coupe restoration

[Kevinlincs]

Relatively pleased with the weeks progress, a few distractions as my rented workshop is in a yard with others and it's sometimes a social thing rather than a full days work, which is nice as it breaks the day up so not like you're getting an 8 hour workday in. Plus it's a good 40 minute drive each way to the workshop.
The aim of the week was to get the back panel on and hope to get both rear inner arches and the parcel shelf done.
Well the panel is on, both inner arches are done and the parcel shelf is now done so that's good, it's just the lower valance to the sides that needs making now and the side panels to attach to the boot floor.

[Kevinlincs]

Boot floor itself and the fuel tank surround is pretty much done aside from the seam sealing to do and one tank fastener to add.
Inner arch rot where it braces up to the hinge support has been replaced so it's again ready for cleaning and seam sealing.

It'll be a week or two now before I get back to it but happily it's now well on the way to being solid, rather than thoughts of just scrap it. Back on track to have the welding finished before winter sets in then the suspension etc can come off for blasting and powder coating then next spring the paint prep can start.

[DavidLaver]

The important part is that you enjoy it still - am sure some go to "their workshop" and ONLY drink tea and socialise!   

[Kevinlincs]

An unexpected day off today so I set about boxing in the lower rear quarter panels which meant making new panels to cover the fresh air!
I've made these panels out of thicker 1.2mm steel so it welds better and resists distortion more plus it should be stronger and last longer, just makes it slightly more stiff to shape.
Happy enough with the result though, drivers side all welded up now so just the passenger side then it'll be pretty much all welded from the A posts back.

[Kevinlincs]

This morning I got a few hours spare so made up the boot panel and the inner panel that the lower rear quarter will eventually attach to.
This is viewed from the underside, I joined the panels together now so I can spot weld them quite easily with minimal clean up needed afterwards and a strong repair.

[Kevinlincs]

Viewed from inside the car using cleco fasteners so it could be removed and put back in the same place when aligning the two pieces together before attaching them off the car.

[Kevinlincs]

The underside panel drops down and will join the bottom edge of the quarter panel, once I make it next time.

[Kevinlincs]

Etch primed ready for next time.
There's of course a fair bit of seam sealing needed to tidy up and look neater but I'm more interested in it being solid rather than factory fresh. More than good enough for me.

[lancianut666]

Impressive as always Kevin! now if you found a Y10 with rusty sills outside your workshop......Only joking my mate Terry is chomping at the bit to have a go at the Y10 bodywork now he can weld up fishing trolleys.

[murr2000HF]

I'm enjoying this thread and admiring your skills, looks like things are moving forward rather nicely....well done

[DavidLaver]

You're clearly loving the spot welder as something quick and clean. Progress!!!

[lancianut666]

Hi Kevin
Out of interest what is the spot welder you are using...I might need one with the wrecks I have.
Clarkey

[Kevinlincs]

Thanks for the kind words guys, very much appreciated. Some repairs are a bit rough and ready but it's solid and rust free which is the main thing.
The spot welder Jim is one I got from Machine Mart over 10 years ago, they've gone up a bit in price since then though!
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/csw6t-spot-welder/
When I bought mine (Approx £400 back then) I waited until a VAT free voucher arrived which they often did when you start buying a few bits off them.
A very handy bit of kit though, saves hours of cleaning and a much neater job.

[Kevinlincs]

Warts and all I've got the vast majority of the back end done now, a bit to do around the spare wheel carrier and the inner arch on the N/S where it meets this latest repair then I can think about doing a different part of the car!
I'm making some sturdy jacking points in my customary manner which makes for a strong and safe way to place the car on axle stands, more on that later.
Once those bits are done then I will probably tackle the front windscreen surround whilst the car is lower down rather than up on stands.
I've a couple of weeks off work coming up so progress next month should be decent.

[Kevinlincs]

Well, the winter that was planned to weld the rest of the car didn't go to plan for the worst of reasons, illness in the family and ultimately we lost Mum a week or so before Christmas so the Flavia understandably had to take a back seat.
I have been at the unit on occasion attending to a few jobs on the Maserati 3200 so haven't completely abandoned things!
But now with things settling down I can start to get on with the Flavia again.

Where the sills had been fitted last year I'd agreed that I would tidy up where they join to the front and rear wings as new repair panels would be needed.
Passenger front is the first to be fixed this afternoon. I had cut a section out last week which inevitably revealed more rot in the cavity forward of the A post so that needed repairing first then the new repair section could be welded in.
The car has had new arches let in before and the lower wing section had been repaired, once I'd got through the 10mm thick layer of filler on the wing that is!
Lower wing is now solid again and welded to the sill.

Hopefully progress will begin to pick up again.