BXProject

[mat_the_cat]

Last year? I was going to say that's a long time without sex, but then I remembered it's only 10 days ago...

[docchevron132]

It was, er, over 2 years ago that I actually had sex, well, with anybody else.....

[Vanny]

Thanks to the weather and a return to work, progress has been a little on the sluggish side. However this last weekend has seen a huge jump in progress thanks to a little help from the local work farce;



This lot know a lot about 'helf and safeti', i mean just look at all the PPE;



They also use an interesting range of tools;



Anyways carrying on with the important bits. Phil made up a repair patch in the 20mm thick galve sheet,okay not 20mm, but far too thick to be anything but structural! This involved a lot of bashy bashy. I must point out that the original intention of underlapping (ie the patch on the underside) didn't go to plan as a result of the steel thickness, instead the patch was overlapped. Not really a problem and as the ABS pump and various other bits will sit on top of the panel, it wont really matter.

So a bit of weldy weldy;



Followed by a little grindy grindy;



Gave three complete patches.

I feel that I must comment on the welding. While I had considered that my welding skills where a bit poor it turns out the welder is doing me no favours at all. No one could easily lay a decent weld with the Cosmo 170 MIG i have, a quick scan of Mig-Welding forums and you will find i am far from the only person with this issue. By cheap, buy thrice! I'm quite relieved that it wasn't just me.

This is the main patch on the wheel arch;



The rough edges will be covered in sikaflex and painted so will look a lot neater and be seriously well sealed. I intend to add a couple of layers of red primer and a good quality top coat on the engine bay side, and even more sealant and stone chip on the underside. Should mean the patch outlives the car by 20 to 30 years!

This is the patch that i made up and have covered its fabrication previously;



The edges here have little finishing to them. I need to check that the wheel arch liner fits, but i can't see any point in reducing the thickness of the welds in an area that hopefully won't see the light of day again! Its probably neater than the pictures gives it credit, and with the wonderful 'pulsing' wire speed from the welder, its a very good job!

Finally while cleaning up this area, things went a bit swiss cheese culminating in a bit of a hole under the washer bottle for the rear. So we made up patch 3;



This is the raw patch, no cleaning or grinding yet. Given that this was an upside down weld at the end of the evening between two seriously thin plates, i think it came out looking pretty good to be honest!


So, that's some of the holes filled up!

Next welding job will be to spot in the front slam panel (after adding a mount for the outer wing). Shouldn't be too big a problem and much of the prep has already been done. Following that the front N/S suspension will be taken off the car and partially overhauled (new bottom arm with new bushes, new calipers pads and discs, general clean up) and the wheel arch will be stripped back, repainted, and stone chipped within an inch of its life. I know there are a few potential holes in the wheel arch, and some very scabby paint forward of the wheel arch (where the horn lives) so these will be attacked as well.

Big thanks to Doc, Liam and Phil for the assistance and instruction given.

[Way2go]

That's impressive teamwork guys, and nice to see Vanny persevering with the BX he has rather than the constant change syndrome of some others we know.

PS: It looks like Doc has grown some white wavy hair in the first picture due to motion blur.

[Bx Bandit]

Bloody hell Gregzee is a big lad! Nice work chaps, looking good. Nice beverage goings on too!

[mat_the_cat]

Kewl. Nice to see some progress, it does kind of spur me on when I see others have done something (and included pictures). Puts me to shame a bit...
Do you have electrickery in your garage Vanny? Or did you just have to run an extension lead?

[Vanny]

half and half, there is a full electrickery instal (including RCCD, fusebox, waterproof fittings etc), fed by a rather fat 16amp caravan trailing lead. I've about 2 metres of AWG burried so far, another 2 to go!

[Vanny]

it does kind of spur me on when I see others have done something (and included pictures

That is 100% of the reason i've been running the thread. I take a trip over to LR4x4 for inspiration, regulalry!

[mat_the_cat]

That is 100% of the reason i've been running the thread.

In that case cheers!

The reason I asked about the leccy is that come this weekend (assuming the ground isn't frozen) I'll be borrowing a digger (not the one from Saturday night!) and doing our garage/shed, and I'll have about 40m of SWA left over. Thought I'd give you the chance before eBay...

[Bx Bandit]

Photographs work wonders on this type of thing and I find posting piccies a pain in the scooby doo so yeah, hats off to Vanny and anyone else who posts piccies! Me lazy........

[Vanny]

Well i've got 22m worth to get a distance of 6m (7 if you include the up bit and the down bit), so i think i'll have some spare. Proper go faster stuff as well came from a motorcircuit, possibly curborough?!?. It is old colours, but as i have to cut through clay to get the fucker in, i'll be damned if i'm changing it now!

[mat_the_cat]

The fact it's old colours is probably a good thing, as to any subsequent inspections it would appear that the work has been done before 2004, and therefore before Part P notification is required...

[Vanny]

PartP notification, is that what they are calling it, so much for Building Regulations Notification. Anywho, it all runs from a plug! Inside the garage is all new wiring. But i'll just by the magic 'fuck orf' sticker if and when time comes!

[mat_the_cat]

Yeah, I have a couple! The only wiring that has the new colours will be the run to the shed, everything else is all old colours bought from eBay.
I take it that as it's run from a plug your argument is that it's a 'temporary installation'?

[Vanny]

nope, its a spur

[Bx Bandit]

nope, its a spurm

[Philhod]

Fair do's to Vanny, the set was a bit of a bastard till it jammed altogether.
Once I cut the tangle away and kept the spool taught and we ran the wire through again, it was much better.
Keep up with the practice.

Seriously though play about with the feed and power settings until you get it right for you.

The part P regs only apply to professional lekies or persons taking money in exchange for electrifying you on domestic premises.

Whatever you do for yourself falls outside the regulations

[docchevron132]

finally got the bluetooth working on the phone....so behold!
The Hodmeister batters shite out of his mahooosive repair patch:


Then the Vanster gives us a pleasing sun tan:


Just to prove he can!
He's also quite good at folding flags...OCD anyone?

[Philhod]

Cool pics Vanny. I am now an accredited shite batterer......complete with yellow flameproof coat!!

[docchevron132]

Ah yes, but the garage has a speed limit of less than 30mph, so the hi-viz is perfectly safe in there!!