Buggy rebuild started at last

[JohnnyV]

Hi guys,

Well my buggy rebuild has finally started  . Had lots of delays doing work for others ... mainly my daughter but now put my foot down and freeing up time ..... Although I am using her garage for the rebuild.
So car rolled in and quicker than you could say "white with no sugar please" the shell was in the garden.

[/url

[url=https://postimg.cc/NK4WTfdN]how to use print screen

Not done a topic before so hope images are working

caribbean baby names and meanings

Car is slowly being stripped and plenty of photos being taken for reference.

forensic anthropology salary 2016

I knew the floor pans were gone and as Flintstone power is not for me i had them down to be replaced. When stripped back, apart from the obvious lack of floor the rest is really solid apart from some surface rust. The right side does require some more work and the outer front edge will need some attention but the repair sections already ordered.
Although
windows screenshots tool




Car is now up on tressles, wheels and engine off and plenty of time being spent on the clean down and dirty work removing old paint, oil, grease, leafs, rust and anything else that should not be there.
This is the start so will have plenty more photos and be asking plenty of questions  .

[Buggybaggy]

This is going to be interesting. 

Good luck with the rebuild.

[Hugh]

Certainly looks like you have the basic ingredients for a great buggy.

Hope you can keep the momentum over the Xmas period followed by colder working conditions.

Remember to post up what you need as and when you realise ?

Do you have a target date for 'launch' ?

[JohnnyV]

Thanks for the support and encouragement.
Luckily my son inlaw (Clive) has a well equipped garage and we invested in gas hot air heaters last year when we were doing a mini rebuild over winter so are prepared. Thankfully the buggy glass fibre shell is pretty good and I am hoping the prep work will be just a matter of putting in the hours. As for target date ......like to have it on the road by June 

[Hugh]

Ready by June ?

So how about joining us on the IBW excursion then ?!

[JohnnyV]

Thanks Hugh for the invitation. Let's keep them fingers crossed..... Not going to make plans quite yet.
Been degreasing,oiling, scraping eff before trying to undo them stubborn nuts and bolts.







Floor pans cleaning up top and below to gauge condition ..... repair sections arrived today so have myself some work todo.

[Buggybaggy]

That floor pan doesn't look too bad. Certainly not a total Flintstone special.

[Hugh]

Gosh Johnny you’re nearly ready for IBW with that assembly of bits.

If you can get it all delivered to Harwich next June 6th we can collectively carry it onboard and there’s the combined skill base amount my esteemed and talented fellow buggities to have it fired up and going forwards by the time the ferry docks in Holland!

Plan B is have it delivered to Hull next June 6th if you want a Northern style to your finished buggy.

[snoopy]

That is a pretty good base for a start and has a lot more metal than some. Stubborn nuts give them a soak in  penetrating oil, diesel etc well before undoing then as back up application of heat and an impact to free them.

An angle grinder and 1mm cutting disc is your friend for speedy removal.

[JohnnyV]

Sorry Hugh I'm off to Ireland at the start of June ... And it's not buggy related, sounded a great offer though.

More stripping off of parts today, drums ,backing plates brake lines etc. Took off the pedal assembly - and what a task. Done this before on a beetle i owned a few years back and no problems. The last washer behind the circlip before you pull off out the brake and clutch pedal...was virtually unmovable . Tried everything and eventually had to cut it so that it would come off. So did i think everything would just undo without any effort? 

[JohnnyV]

So did a bit more work with my son inlaw Clive and cleaned up and stripped down some of the brakes. Generally looks good but will use a rebuild kit when reassembled.





Something that might be of interest to some ... We tried out a powder coating kit Clive has bought in the autumn from a local classic car restoration show .. He had seen it a few times now and chatted to the guy each time on how best to use it along with demos.
So Clive used it for the first time on some brake parts.... We sandblasted  with little prep then cleaned and dusted and baked for 10 min.
Oh... We had a separate oven....Not the kitchen oven.



Not bad for a first attempt....even hit it with a hammer to see how tough and no chips or flakes. Any one used a home kit before ? Could get good results with more prep work.

[JohnnyV]

Here's an update of the progress to date. We got the new floor pans in over a couple of days - the driver side rear section probably could of just had a patch repair as once the rusty hole was removed (  can you remove a hole ?) the metal flooring left was in really good condition but since we had the repair section and the overall finish would look better we compromise and replaced a larger section that could be blended in better.

The passenger side again had the rear section replaced but also required the front and part of the outer box section renewed as it was suffering with rust. Again most of the front floor pan apart from the edge was in good condition - but having a quarter panel repair with the weld running down the middle of the floor pan - and with the indentations in the pan not marrying up we decided to replace the half section to give a better overall finish.





So all the floor pan welding done from above and we are thinking - What are we going to do below to tidy up any laps ? - MOT inspectors do not like any unwelded metal laps. Did not fancy laying underneath, plus it would need to be primed painted and undersealed. Problem is we still had the gearbox and it too heavy to manhandle. Then over a cuppa a friend said "why not lift the front up" -- "you have them big wheels on the back, the gearbox will clear the floor, give it a go"

So there we have it - my buggy strung up from the garage rafter. Actually surprising how easy it was - make sure you block the wheels both directions as once it lifts to near vertical it could go either way - oh and secure the rope over the rafters first and onto the front beam just to be safe.



In this position I can finish the underside with ease and get her back on 4 wheels in no time. Time to go make up my next shopping list.
Thinking about seats soon - the ones that came with the car are shot. Anyone have any recommendation ? also about fixing them - may look to weld/bolt in some additions support/plates? rather than just fixed to floor. Or if anyone has any suitable seat for sale might be interested. Anyway hope everyone has a good new years eve.

[JohnnyV]

Just a quick update
underside of floor pans pretty much done. Welding complete and primed, sealed, undercoated and painted. I do need to put some body fixing holes back in but will wait until I put the body back and mark and drill just incase.



I have undersealed the floor pan since the photos but almost regretted it straight away as that's not such a pretty picture. Hopefully finish the top floor pan soon but waiting on some weld sealer before I can paint up - this time it will be left silver - we have some paint that was destined for a wheel refurb that looks pretty good ( see bottom of floor pan). Will probably finish off eventually with some removable mats ? I guess that what most people do. 

[snoopy]

looks good, as you have box section around the perimmeter you can use rivnuts in the top of the box to bolt the body down this keeps the bottom face strength and means you have less water traps but for the roll bar you will need bolts through the box section with sleeves inside to stop the box crushing. Treating the box inner with waxoyl will slow down the rust from condensation.

[JohnnyV]

Thanks for the tips snoopy. Only ever used rivnuts before for wing mirrors so will look into the different specification available. Only issue i can think off will be the existing body shell and existing box sections are previously drilled. The roll bar i have has 2 fixings per side ... The main bar fixing back into the chassis and a smaller leg off of this with a fixing into the floor pans ... Not ideal i know. Was thinking how this could be improved or adding additional bars from the main top rail back to the rear of the car.