Spanish Aurelia Project

[williamcorke]

When I clicked 'Reply' to make this post, a red warning appeared: "..this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.  Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic".

Point made.  It has been a while since I last posted an update on progress.  Sadly this is partly because there hasn't been a lot of substantial progress.  

However this weekend the car has joined the growing ranks of rotisseried B20s.  Not only that, but it has its own Jim.  Well not exactly its own one, but a 'Jim-share' on Andy's Jim (if I can call him that).  Andy (the.cern) and Jim came visiting to take some measurements from 'the Spanish car' and, with kind permission from Andy, I have secured some of Jim's time to help me work on the car.  The first session was this Saturday, and the discipline of a full working day, two men, has produced some forward motion for the project.

While Jim organised the mounts for the rotisserie after we'd bolted it together, I removed the remaining side window and its trim, headlining, dashboard and a few other bits.  By the end of the day, the car was on its side.  A significantly easier prospect in terms of working access now, so during an hour put in today, Sunday, I was able to do a significant amount of underseal stripping and mechanical dismantling.

Jim and I didn't manage to get the car fully balanced about its central axis of gravity (see Andy's restoration thread), so rotating the car is not a one-man operation at this point,  Some trial and error work on the hight of mounting should sort that out - though the front mounts will need to be extended to give clearance for the front of the grille aperture in order to centralise the tilter's mechanism.

The rotisserie was bought from CJ Autos who seem to be the major supplier in this market.  It cost about £500 plus VAT which seems pretty good value to me.  The thing is is very solid and well specified (wheels / hydraulic rams etc) though the central bar that should unite the front and rear sections wasn't long enough.  Without that piece to stabilise things I'd not want to roll the assembly around too much.  No doubt CJ can provide a suitable one.

All that said, I wouldn't recommend using one of these on a car whose shell needed substantial structural repair.  Picking a car up by its bumpers is a pretty strenuous test of rigidity.  One that I'm glad to say B20*2959 passed without a groan or creak.

With improved access and regular assistance from Jim, I'm hoping the shell with be ready to be painted some time during 2012, but even as I type the date I'm wondering why I bother.  It'll be ready when it's ready.

[the.cern]

William, that is a great rotisserie, much more sophisticated than mine.

I'd forgotten how good your shell is, now seeing the underside the comparison with mine is stark. The whole of your floor shell appears to be perfect, what a bonus !!!!!! I think there is a real chance that you will be in the paintshop before me, we will have to wait and see. During this last week I have spent  three or four hours each day tackling the underside with a wire brush in an anglegrinder, what an awful job that is, I wear a mask, earplugs and goggles, even more frightening for the natives than usual, and end up looking disgusting !!!  There is a dirt outline of the mask and my forearms take on a lovely rust orange colour, not unlike a cheap fake tan, but definitely not so alluring !!!! I've now reached the stage where there is no underseal on the body and over threequarters has been taken back to bare metal. Fortunately my workshop appears to be 100% damp free and there is no need to get straight back with the protective coats.

We will have to keep up an exchange on progress, Jim will dish the dirt with great glee I'm sure!!!!  He will enjoy telling you what my latest cock-up has been. I just hope he remains a little discreet on my more stupid antics.

Good luck with it all and hope the rest of the body turns out to be as good as the underside appears.

                                 Andy

[williamcorke]

Andy,

You're right.  The floorplan 'appears to be perfect'.  Of course it's not quite that and there are perforations - some pin-holes, a couple of bigger ones.  Worse may still lurk behind.

All quite doable with patience and a Jim to hand.  Main thing is that the lines of the metal are all there to replicate when it's required to do so.

There will be hold-ups though.  On Saturday, we found that one of the bumper bolts that had been left in place was there for a reason - it was completely rusted into its 12mm tube.  It was a a horrible job to drill out the approx 15cm long tube.  That took nearly as long as assembling the rotisserie.  Such is old car restoration...

William

[williamcorke]

I've posted a blog entry about a 'mystery mount' above the windscreen.  Please feel free to pitch-in if you know something I don't...

http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/the-third-wiper/

[the.cern]

To quote Manuel ....... "I know nothing" !!

That is a great photo of Ippocampo's car, but where the heck is the driver ?

I hope to retain the headlining in my car, it looks a big job to replace, but it is filthy and, now the car is on the rotisserie, Jim keeps dropping bits on it !!

I look forward to someone providing the answer to this mystery.

                      Andy

[williamcorke]

The headlining is quite easy to remove once you know how and that's probably a better option than a) damaging it through other work and b) trying to clean it in situ later on.  So if it's salvagable I'd recommend taking it out.  Also you'll probably find surface rust on the underside of the roof panel that should be treated...

Headlining removal

Once the upper inner trim panels (long ones above the doors with courtesy lights mounted thereon) are out you need to carefully unhook the lining from the row of bendable pins seen in the picture attached, which are on a transverse tube under the front part of the roof.  Once this front part is free, the trick with the metal hoops behind it is to pull them down at the centre of the car to release tension at the sides.  Then wiggle each end of the hoop (which is something like a large unwound clock-spring) to release from its slot and you're done.



Ippocampo is having a little mid-corner kip against the A post.  Standard practice for rally drivers of the era.

[the.cern]

William, thank you for the info. on headlining removal. I think I will try it once I'm feeling confident and clean, the two do not often coincide !!!!

As for your tube at the top of the windscreen, I've released the front of the headlining on mine and can feel nothing and have absolutely no idea why it might be there.

I trust Ippocampo completed his kip in time to straighten up on coming out of the corner.

                                 Andy

[williamcorke]

Brief update.  Jim is working his way round the car. He started with the reversing light (centre of back) and thence anti-clockwise (clockwise when the car's the right way up).  He's now reached the front of the car.

Most of the lhs sill was fine to be left, but Jim had to let-in a repair section about 18 inches long.  I'm glad that the original contours have survived as reference to the correct 'factory' profile.

Biggest hole in the body was on the side now repaired, but there's quite a lot of work to be done on the front of the car straightening out old dents and scrapes, so we're not half done yet with the bodywork; perhaps 40%.

Jim's time on the project to date: 4 days.  

I wrote a blog post on paint and colour; http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/colour-and-paint/.

Here are a couple of pic's of Jim doing what he does.

[fay66]

Looks pretty good under there!

Brian
8227

[Parisien]

William, am following your Iberian babies progression in light of my own Iberian offering being restored next year!

Not a wonderful B20 but a run of the mill B12.....have you many other photos you didn't post up that you can attach at some stage onto emails?

Many thanks,


P

[williamcorke]

Not a wonderful B20 but a run of the mill B12.....have you many other photos you didn't post up can attach at some stage onto emails?

Many thanks,


P

No such thing as a run of the mill Aurelia!

Yes, lots more photos; Jim photographically documents everything he does (and he's doing the work on the.cern's B20 too).

I'm looking forward to more about your B12 when it (finally) arrives.

[Parisien]

Ok, thanks for that will get back to you at a later date for some of the photos catalogued by yourselves.

Only run of the mill due to their relative sparsity and low profile compared to the coupes.....I have a lot to learn guys, do bear with me!

Am awaiting another text to say when the next/alleged window of delivery is.....will as I said put up a raft of pics for LMC consumption.

P

[DavidLaver]

Not sure if I'm more jealous of the project or the shed.   Enjoy!!

David

[williamcorke]

Spring!

Time to move things around in the shed in preparation for work to kick-off in earnest (well, as earnest as other responsibilities allow...).  Hoping to have Jim back soon to finish the B20 shell so it can be painted: it's not impossible that this might happen in 2013.  We'll see.

[Parisien]

Great news.....hows the B10 coming on?

P