Bruce the FWD

[Pauldaf44]

Ive been buying Bruce presents today.

2 rotoflex couplings
2 rear seat belts there are only 2 mountings making standard 3 points a !%^"&% to fit.
Head gasket.

If anyone wants to lend an extra pair of hands for fitting the donuts and head gasket it would be apreciated.

Paul

[1300dolly]

All the mounting points are there for 3point belts.

[Pauldaf44]

Just took the front suspension apart to change a roto coupling. Got all the way to undoing the coupling bolts to discover id forgot to put it in gear. Much swearing then insued as I put the car back together so that I could climb inside and put it in gear. grrrr. Also really wishing I had spring compressors as putting strut assembly back in without them was hard!!

I could not find a lower outer mounting for the life of me and Spunkymonkeys manual confirmed the car was designed for 2 point belts.

Paul

[Purplebargeken]

Keep at it Paul, you are making good progress.

[Pauldaf44]

Theres a very handy subframe bolt in just the right space with just enough extra thread on it for seat belts execpt the bolt was not turning even with my metre long persuader bar.

Otherwise I thought about doubling back the lap part and mounting both ends to the same mounting effectively creating a 2 point diagonal although im not sure where id stand legally if I did that. Oh and if someone can take a photo of each mounting point on theres then I can find the hiding mount anyway if its there

[Spunkymonkey]

Just took the front suspension apart to change a roto coupling. Got all the way to undoing the coupling bolts to discover id forgot to put it in gear. Much swearing then insued as I put the car back together so that I could climb inside and put it in gear. grrrr.

Ahh, should have mentioned - crack the bolts off before you jack it up. Alternatively, when you get to that point and realise you forgot to, a big screwdriver between the two halves of the driveshaft will come up against the subframe and lock it well enough to undo the rotoflex bolts

[Pauldaf44]

Just took the front suspension apart to change a roto coupling. Got all the way to undoing the coupling bolts to discover id forgot to put it in gear. Much swearing then insued as I put the car back together so that I could climb inside and put it in gear. grrrr.

Ahh, should have mentioned - when you get to that point, a big screwdriver between the two halves of the driveshaft will come up against the subframe and lock it well enough to undo the rotoflex bolts

Ahh that will do the trick having it in gear just resulted in me firing the engine thankfully both side where in the air but me spanner went flying. Im suprised it was able to fire with the ignition off and the key in my pocket though. Maybe I should add decoking to the never ending list of jobs to do before wednesday.

[Pauldaf44]

Owwwwwwww

Just dropped a subframe on my leg.

At least that made me realise the mountings where shot new ones are now in place cause that !£!% hurt!!!

Bruce you are testing my patience, attacking me when im giving you presents is not the way to keep yourself of ebay

[1300dolly]

Dont put bruce on Eaby, i'll give you £100 for it

[Pauldaf44]

Update time didn't get anywhere near as far as I thought I would today as I found this lot that I thought really needed to be rectified sharpish. Im glad I didn't try to use that jacking point. Thanks to Mantaray (retrorides) for all the help with doing this lot. Stewart he lives in tile hill so 5 mins from you and has some sweet vehicles.

Another load of work complete that was 100% worse than it looked at first glance.

Bottom of wing was cut off to give access to jacking point which revealed that there wasn't much structure to the leed end of the sill left especially after attack with knot wheel.


Next set about repair new metal welded in to give some thing to build a new structure for the end of the sill from.

Forgot to take a picture of the next step but it was to weld a top panel in to close the sill. To which we welded this shaped and solid.

Ground tidied and seam sealed. It doesn't follow the original design but is strong. I will have to watch out for dirt trapping on top though.

2 more bits of metal to be let in then the bottom of the wing can go back on.
Full day of work on this tomorrow and it will hopefully end up finished.

This car was an absolute death trap and really should not have had an MOT for a few previous years. It is quite scary that I was driving that. Oh well at least its ok now and should last a few years

Paul

p.s. this rot had been hidden by soaking some old rags in underseal and glueing them on top such that it actually looked strong here.

[Purplebargeken]

Paul, I'd invest in a spray can of weld thru primer and spray those repair sections. I would then lather it all in Kurust (or similar), then coat it in Red Oxide or similar. I wouldn't leave any exposed bare metal otherwise you'll be at square one again mate.

Good that the work is cracking on!

Ken

[Pauldaf44]

Paul, I'd invest in a spray can of weld thru primer and spray those repair sections. I would then lather it all in Kurust (or similar), then coat it in Red Oxide or similar. I wouldn't leave any exposed bare metal otherwise you'll be at square one again mate.

Good that the work is cracking on!

Ken

The reason it all looks blue in the top pics is its coated in kurust

But yes I will be sealing the metal as well as said a full days work tomorrow and it should be MOT able I cant wait

[Purplebargeken]

Doh!

[JPB]

Can the liner from a Dolomite wheel arch be adapted to fit the 1300? If so, then fit a pair of those and that horizontal surface on the front end of the sill won't trap mud, since none would be able to get in about at it.
Fitting liners would also preserve the horizontal surface of the turret brace where it joins the inner wing.

1300 owners, can Dolomite wheel arch liners be fitted to the little FWD?

[Purplebargeken]

For the rear most one, you need the mounting bracket thingies. Nath fitted them to his FWD but I can't really recall how. So yes, it can be done.