Well done, good work.
Do you use a colour crayon to get the right temp?
I have not got into panel beating much, what does your slapper look like?
Keith
Fantastic work Steve - a joy to behold! Thanks for the tip about shrinking, you have inspired me to have another go at my wing.
Keith; wet a cake of soap until it starts to go soft and then wipe it onto the aluminium, then heat the metal until the soap turns black. Make sure that it is black and not brown; brown is not hot enough. When it cools, the Al will be annealed but it will age-harden over about a day or two.
Keith,
Didnt use a crayon I put carbon over the area using the acetylene only, then heat the area with the normal flame until the carbon burns off. This is anneiling temp and is just under welding temp.
I made my slapper from 50x4 mm flat bar, bent in a zed shape and handle shaped for comfort. The slapper is the best tool as it leaves the surface smoother than using hammers. Will get some photos after Christmas.
Don't overthink panel beating aluminium same principles as steel really,just abit softer. Any metal will stretch if hit too hard. The hard part is getting the panel shape correct.
Tony
No spot welding was done, all done with the rivets I made.
Yes aluminium is easier to shrink than steel, I used to be a panel beater/spraypainter years back and finished a series 2a for a club member recently, its put me in the mood for a little 80 to restore one day. Great project you have there, looking good.
Well its been rather quiet in klonks shed since Christmas. But not at home. The old 50 hp merc outboard on our boat run a bigend. I got halfway through rebuilding it using aquired spareparts from under the bench (landrover of the sea) when a workmate said he had 2 x 75hp mercs at home that he wanted rid of. 1 was seized (plastic bag over water intake), 1 was good, 1985 models. $500 for the pair! Anyway after lots of work to change over, it started up well sounds sweet and gives me another 15kph.
Next was the shed pad. A big cleanup and small shed removed,200mm of soil removed to level the pad and a 6mx5m boxing was setup for the slab,and 4 mates helped to pour the concrete. now waiting for some customers to pay to continue the rest.
So this weekend I got a coat of undercoat put on klonks diff housings, hubs, brakedrums and fuel tank guard. Replaced the rearwheel brgs and have done abit more panel beating, welding up some holes and cracks in the front wings as per photos. My welding is a bit rough but the grinder tidys it up but sometimes you need to reweld. Its not as easy as doing new Ali. I used strips of an old panel, it works better than Tig rods but you need to clean the strip well and Im not sure on the width of the strips, I used 1/4'' wide this was good for filling gaps but too big for rivit holes etc so maybe an assortment of widths for different jobs. Had to use a steel arc welding rod to push the moultin ali together due to the surface tension and oxidized ali, it doesnt flow like silversolder of softsolder.
123rover50
Keith, 4th photo is the slapper I made. 300mm x 50mm x 6mm. Each to his own, its probabily abit heavy but it works.
The other night I decieded to start on klonks tub, so I sat it in position on the chassis and pushed and pulled to get it sitting right with bolts in the corners, then had to adjust the tailgate opening to square it up again so I could close it. I then checked the tops of the tub to make sure they were level and square with each other, it was then I noticed that the tub wasnt square with the bulkhead. The bukhead was about about 1/2'' lower on the passengers side, after checking measurements on both tub and bulk head everything seemed ok. I removed the bolts from the passengers side A pillar and chassis, packed it up level and it is the thickness of the A pillar bolt out of align.The doors also fit better when packed up
When I replaced the outriggers I used the bolts that go through the chassis rail as a guide to hold the bulkhead in position while the outriggers were welded on, with the bulkhead packed up to level these bolt holes are a bolt hole width out as well.
Next I checked the chassis, all the crossmembers are level with each other and the front and rear members are original, so the chassis is not twisted.
The only way that Ive come up with to solve it is to extend the bulkhead brackets and redrill the holes and cut and reweld the outrigger, but I have the funny feeling that something else will bite me on the backside
Surley they werent this far out from the factory.
Will get some photos tonight
Found the culprit, It was an Englishman in 1950 that drilled two holes in the wrong place.
The first photo shows the problem, second and third is where the outrigger ended up below level and how far out the chassis rail holes are when the bulkhead is level.
The chassis holes have 4mm differance from the top of the rail on the left one, compared to the one on the right .
Cant believe how this year has flown by. Slow progress and Im starting to dislike welding ali sometimes its one step forward two steps back. learnt one important lesson, do not cleanup the cut ali strips on a steel wire wheel, use a stainless one or use alumimium oxide sand paper not emery cloth. I cheated one night and cleaned a couple of strips on the steel wheel to finish a weld and it just would not take, ended up cutting out the patch to start again it contaminated the whole weld.
Had a couple of finds at the local wreckers, a pair of foldup rear seats out of a 2a and a jaeger dual guage, the water capillary tube is broken,but the oil line was connected. Can anyone advise where to get it repaired.
Does anyone carry passengers in the back of their landy? Cant wait to see the look on the Coppers face when he see's 7 people on board and no seat belts . Well maybe only on special occassions.
Have checked out the springs and looks like I will have to get them lowered, they have 6'' free camber instead of 4.5'', looks like the last place that reset them must have mistaken them for normal landy springs and not 80'' ones, funny but most other people have the opposite problem.
As you can see still lots more welding and beating to be done on the tub. It was interesting to remove the spare wheel carrier from the bonnet and find a good paint sample under it, not much gloss on it either. The bonnet had some large dents under the windscreen supports due to past abuse, a straight edge is a handy tool for panelbeating, no bog there.
Reply With QuoteThanks for the tip about shrinking, you have inspired me to have another go at my wing.
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sometimes its one step forward two steps back. learnt one important lesson, do not cleanup the cut ali strips on a steel wire wheel, use a stainless one or use alumimium oxide sand paper not emery cloth. I cheated one night and cleaned a couple of strips on the steel wheel to finish a weld and it just would not take, ended up cutting out the patch to start again it contaminated the whole weld. 
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