Restoration Part 15

Floor

I decided that I would buy myself a new welder as Machine Mart were having a VAT free day so I paid them a visit and bought a Clarke 150TE MIG. I bought a few clamps and some grinding discs and spare gas and wire for the welder.

On Thursday armed with my new welder I finished fitting the new floorpan.

I seam welded around the join. It was a lot easier using this welder as It was more controllable The college welders have to be used on the minimum setting and sometime this is still to high.

With the floorpan in place I then fitted the rear inner sill. It was trimmed down and joined to the good part of the existing inner sill. The joins were all seam welded. The last part of the inner sill repair the closing plate on the box section that goes across the car would have to wait until Saturday.

On Saturday I finished off the inner sill repair by welding a piece of metal over the open end of the box section. The repairs were then painted with primer.

The outer sill was then clamped into place and the body was marked where it would fit. The paint was then removed from around the marked area,the body to sill lip and the edges of the new sill so a good weld could be made.

The sill was re clamped into position and the body to sill lip was spot welded. The sill to floorpan join and the front to back edges were seam welded.

The rear wheel arch required a small repair where it had rusted through and been filled with fibreglass. The rusty metal was cut out an a repair section was seam welded in place.

All the bitumen underseal was then removed from the whole floorpan and all the newly formed joins were sealed with seam sealer. The floorpan was then painted with primer.

Next week I will start repairing the battery box.