dijon..... R.I.P

[Darrell]

Looks like it's coming along great, well done.

[ScottieJ]

Coming on really nice there matey, looks loads better! some tidy rust repeair work too

[andyrew]

cheers guys

first time welding thin sheet and suzuki bodybork. im a begginer welder to be honest and dreaded doing any with my old welder but my bargain price clarke 150te is a billion times better to use. ive definately got alot to do on this one. ive bent up the floor panel replacement to weld in and have the sheet to do the rear arches at work. tub wise it will be rust free when im done. the only bit im leaving is the front arches, i can unbolt them and do them another time.

[ianedwards]

Looking good

Ian

[andyrew]

holy update batman.

okay not a massive update to be honest. but a little catch up.

with the body off i tackled the front cross member/ tube. what had happend to the old one i have no idea. i thought of various ways to sort it. then a nice chap called Mr mike harris of this here website, who id visited a week or two before , was breaking a sami. so i bagged the bits i needed and a donor section of chasis.

the old tube has been cut and re welded in for some reason in the past or replaced. the arb mounts where missing and the tow eye was bent to fudgery.





towing eye had seen better days



ahhh haaa thats what i need.



i tacked in some box sections to keep the legs in line but i had a feeling they wouldnt be in the right place anyway. they were in by approx 11-12 mm. the old tube was then cut out and after some measureing , tweeking and lining up the new tube was placed in.



^^^ in the picture you can see some holes i drilled to plug weld onto the slug inside the tube.the slugs where made from the old tube after i cleaned it up, sliced down the tube and removed a slither from it. reformed and welded it back together into a smaller tube with a nice snug fit OD to tap into the cross member. this was to help line everything up and give a little extra strength.the slugs also helped to line the bumper mounts that went on as ill be running a stock front bumper.

welded



bumper mounts where next to be lopped off the doner section, these needed a bit of straightening and then they where buzzed on too. finished off with a lick of red oxide. all in all im please with the results.



next up axle rebuilds.......

[andyrew]

soo moving on to the axles, i stripped both off . having to cut the spring eye bolts off as they where truely seizied in.and removal of the stupid shackles.

so one removed rear axle.


before i even got the axle off ,chatting with a mate about how everythings turned to shit on the sammi. "i bet itll have good shoes in there but they will be fudged buy bad seals" i jested. ohh look



both sides dripping in diff oil. didnt even bother cleaning the drums. i just rummaged out a spare set i had and got them skimmed buy a friend. shot blasted and painted.

you may have spotted that one wheel cylinder is bigger than the other. i had a spare large one so the siezed small one was binned. new shoes orderd on fleabay £15 deliverd, noice. they turn up and the nipple that locates into the cyclinder pistons is too big (suit the smaller cyclinders).

old and new



so out with mister angry and a little trim later (4mm from both shoes) , sorted. the old set that was in the axle was one set with small nipples and one set with big. i then cleaned and rebuilt the cyclinders. and degreased , wire brush and painted the back plates (after id changed the halfshft seals that is )

[andyrew]

the axle itself then..

on the rear end the following items are fudgered

drums- oil soaked (had spares now replaced)
shoes - oil soaked (new replaced)
springs- bent and broken (had spares now replaced)
bushes - hanging off!! (new polys and bolts all round now)
shocks - didnt move (had and astra shock set going spare from my other sammi)
oil seals - nackered (new reoplaced
drain plug seized in- ( spare replaced)

at least the casing was good but mucky and suface rusted. painting wasnt needed but it looks shedloads better now. the wobbly brake line was reshaped ( i hate crappy looking brake lines )
the wheel bearings and diff seem good to. if the bearings had been gone i was going to phone the scrappy to come take it away , id had enough.

everything cleaned, blasted/ wire brushed primed and painted, enamel and poundland spray painted.







braided hoses fitted that i had spare. came from a sammi i stripped years ago but the fronts are about 6 inches longer than normal so no use to me but rear was handy to go with a shorter pair of braided ive got for the front for tenner new



then the tank got a wash and lobbed back on. its still dented underneath but ill wait till one comes up cheap before i replace it.



quick clamp knocked up for a corsa fuel filter, new fuel hose and clips fitted.



its getting there. next up. front axle and exhaust . then its floor welding time

[Tramp]

great, keep up the hard work, i'm looking forward to the next episode

[andyrew]

well i have to admit the mojo run low on this as the sun came out for a while and it was all to easy to sit and have a beer with friends, then got and sweat in a dusty barn. so not much has been done lately. in fact nothing

but mojo is back and armed with two more grinders as my last one when ape shit and made a dash for freedom!.

so its time to finish those arches and fix the floor. ive done one side and the rear boot seal lip.

i nicked the tbox for my daily sami on the off chance it was a good one... err no it wasnt. it was like an air raid siren at 40mph so much so i turned back after a quarter mile as it sounded like it was going to explode . ill find something decent on this car if it kills me.

[andyrew]

A sad day for me. But ive got to let head rule heart.
Im under instructions by the doctor to not used vibrating
Tools for a good period of time and I just wont have the time to get this and thr kja rebuilt.
So ive got to pick one and its the kja. I can pace myselft by doing
The welding repairs on that.

Bits will be salvaged to keep my jap tin top on the road
So nothing will go to waste.

So its just spannering for me and little weld repairs For the time being.

Im sad and hate admitting defeat.

But theres always something on the horizon.