Rebuilding Sid

Can I suggest some black heat shrink tubing, at least temporarily, on the handles?

Needed a bit of head clearing after a long day.

Sat and welded the patches in during the evening Sun. Nice.

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Thought best to weld both sides but probably overkill

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Trimming and cleaning can wait until the weekend.

Next up, and hopefully final repairs are these bitshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...027fe9485d.jpg
They were formed from two pieces sandwiched together, thinking of replacing with a single thick plate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cadas

You mean the strips inside the tub? Don’t think so.

The only rivets I’ve put in are the braces to ribs on the tub floor. The holes for all the strips are still there waiting until after the tub is painted.

The only other bits to fit are the rubber pads, but they get riveted on from underneath.

The outer rivets for each brace are the strange double headed type which I am still looking for options there. Likely to be big pop rivets or maybe solid head.

I found a proper rivet hammer tool from an aircraft supplier selling kits for apprentices. Not tried it yet.

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The rubbing strips where the tub sits on the steel chassis supports. They are held on with bifurcated copper rivets.

Ah.... yes and no. The original ones on Sid were a mix of rubber with copper rivets and canvas with pop rivets.

The new ones I have go on with pop rivets at they are recessed where the rivet goes.

Final structural repairs

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There’s a bit of planning to do for each of these as I’m trying to avoid spot welds and have to consider both the angle grinder as well as welder

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Made from two layers of 1.6

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Rivets used initially to hold both sections as alignment is critical as both layers must line up perfectly.
They then get plug welded together

Finished repair

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Similar repair the other side

Final job is grinding welds off and checking for cracks. I’ve found that is after grinding that the cracks can show up so part of the planning for repairs is being about to leave welds without grinding where they can’t be seen.

Wish I had your alloy welding skills

Attachment 169110

Cheers Paul

Thank you.... It’s taken a lot of practice (about 4 bottles of argon and I’m on E size now [emoji1787]). I’ve still got a long way to go.

I am though getting comfortable with tig. When it finally clicks, then suddenly you find you have lots of time and it’s no longer a frantic process.

Things that clicked for me... you need a lot more power than you think. Low power = slow heat up and big puddle, crank up the power and the arc goes small, you can watch the puddle forming and it doesn’t run away.

Watch for the puddle to drop.... this was the light bulb moment. If the puddle is flat or slightly domed then you haven’t gone deep enough. When the puddle sags, you’re through and now you have to move and fill. Once that’s over the movement becomes straightforward and the puddle really easy to control.

Welded steel the other day with tig, that is so good to do, not sure how often I’ll be using the MIG.

Back quarters done today

Old ones were too far gone and needed lots of repair, plus they were full of holes and quite a few spot welds had broken

So old ones off. Quite a bit of repair to do inside from impact damage but bit of bashing and it has come back enough for everything to line up square.

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New ones made. Couldn’t quite see why these are around $300 a pair, they took an hour to make and about $20 of ally. Granted the new ones have the vertical braces but the old ones are fine.
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Plan is to use panel bonds where I can an a few carefully placed rivets.

Tub is getting close, I’ve a few more welding repairs around the seats and then it’s on to bodywork prep.

Decision time on tyres.

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Wheels came back today.

Decision made, these arrived today

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After endless deliberation, analysis, spreadsheets, astrology and other decision making tools, it came down to an offer I couldn’t refuse

Tyroola were selling these 235/85 tyres for $140 delivered.

There’s a few landrover owners in Sydney fitting these and seem very happy and they look the part.

Not original, but with mobile fitting I’m in for under $700 which is a big saving. That saving is most of the cost of a canvas roof!!