Restoration

Finally got to see the underside of my car today. I was a bit tense rotating it but it all went well. Now the welding begins.

Now that looks like a tight squeeze?

The frame you have for spining the body, what make and cost was it?

Mark

In reverse order free and me. I made the frame from old medical equipment that was getting chucked out. (reuse recycle blah blah blah) :lol: It's quite stable as the centre of gravity appears to be on the bumper braket line and rotating it was easier than I expected. Belt and braces thou I had pulleys connected to the seat belt points and the pivot at the front just incase things went wrong.

Forgot to say, if you make it yourself then you can make it as required. I wanted the frame to be low as possible without bottoming out. I cut it a bit fine thou as there is about 1cm of clearance.

Well done!

Although 1cm would have me a little on the cardiac edge.

Now I could have done with that.... ever had a ball of weld run down your sleeve while crouched in a pit under the car, stood in an inch of water...? Oh the joy! :shock:

H105Daz wrote: Now I could have done with that.... ever had a ball of weld run down your sleeve while crouched in a pit under the car, stood in an inch of water...? Oh the joy! :shock:

no but i know a man who had a lump of hot welding slag fall into his rigger's boot, he then kicked the thing off and it went straight through his kitchen window which unfortunatly wasn't open at the time

It's been a great experence to see the underside of the car in detail. It's really quite a strong structure. I had a bit of welding to do on the floor pan but my main reason for all the work was to get at the coolant pipes. The tunnel had been cut (ripped) off this car and pipes had been held in place with exhaust brackets. I wanted to put the box section back in and it was quite a job.

I think if it had been me, I would have screwed and glued it back! Looks like a lot of welding to me.
Maybe with little wing nuts so I could take it off again
Rob

I know that it would pass an MOT with no box but I cant help thinking that FIAT did over 50 spot welds on this section for a reason. I have seam welded it on and the pipes are all but new so there is little chance that the car will outlast the pipes. I used copper for the heater matrix one as that was the most corroded one.