Thread: Rebuilding Sid

I find the permanently live starter button a real boon my cars have stromberg carburettors and seem to lose prime after sitting for four or five days.
Cranking the starter without ignition allows the carbie to prime up then turn the key press the button and bang your all fired up

Cheers Paul

Flamin’ tailgate....

It’s coming together, slowly..progress so far

I’d decided to reuse the top and side rails as I could straighten them and it would leave some character in the piece. It really would be a lot easier to make new.

Spot welding ally to birmabrite is a sodding nightmare. I took advice from the guy I bought my welder from and his recommendation works the best so far.


Step one, loads of power, no up or downslope just blast a puddle. You have to clamp it really tight as well, I used a spot weld clamp which also heat sinks the top layer.


Then clean it up

Then go back in at lower amps and normal settings to fill the holes.


Never going to be 100% and have to stay away from the edges, will need a bit of filler but that’s ok. The bit nearest the camera will be covered by the capping.

New spot weld technique


Weld and fill in one hit.

Not much different to before, it is torch position and the tungsten shape that made all the difference.

That looks neat and strong

Cheers Paul

Cheers, getting there. This has been the real fun of restoring Sid. I’ve seen determined to use it to learn all the skills.

I never had a reason to learn to tig weld before, now I can and it’s a brilliant tool for some situations.

Nearly done


All the spot welding done now and has a bit of spare time today to make the braces.

Centre brace rib is maybe 2-3 mm wider than the original but that’s as narrow as my brake will go.

Corner braces need some fettling.

Just waiting on the solid rivets now, dhl advised today they’ve made it from the UK to Adelaide in 2 days, now they’ll be sent to Melbourne for processing and back to Adelaide. Should have them in a week or so.

Lovely.....

putting the dash together and thought probably time to install the speedo cable, but the one I have does not have the round retaining plate.... and the old one is not going to go over the ends on the new one.... has anyone else had this problem?


Rivets arrived.... few test ones fitted.... my new favorite job, they are brilliant!!

no my new favourite job is using an air riveter..... if you have stuff to rivet... buy one, and if you haven't, buy one and drill some holes...

they are ace!!