JGJ - 1975 Dolomite Sprint

[RSi]

Great work as usual, and so fast.

[shaunroche]

Hi James...where's that Rotisserie from? I could deffo do with one of those!!

[new to this]

Hi James...where's that Rotisserie from? I could deffo do with one of those!!

I got mine from CJ Autos its height adjustable, makes it easier getting on and off the car

Dave

[shaunroche]

Hi James...where's that Rotisserie from? I could deffo do with one of those!!

I got mine from CJ Autos its height adjustable, makes it easier getting on and off the car

Dave

Thanks Dave, they have some nice goodies on there!

[GlenM]

Hi James...where's that Rotisserie from? I could deffo do with one of those!!

I got mine from CJ Autos its height adjustable, makes it easier getting on and off the car

Dave

Thanks Dave, they have some nice goodies on there!

Have a look at Ade Foreman Light Engineering on Facebook for rotisseries too. He seems to have a very good reputation.

[shaunroche]

Have a look at Ade Foreman Light Engineering on Facebook for rotisseries too. He seems to have a very good reputation.

Thanks for this Glen, think we have a winner!

[James467]

Sorry Shaun I've been in hospital having surgery on my hand.

I can't remember, I think i got the plans from ebay and made it about 3 years ago. It has lasted well considering it has been stored outside!!

Anyway, car update wise. I have sills (thanks Alun) but the hand is going to be out of action for a month or two so bear with me. It's just the sills, rear door bottoms and front and rear panels that need doing so I'm easily on target still for a spring revival.

EDIT: Oh no hang on, just checked, I got them from castworx on ebay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165786779196 ... media=COPY

[GlenM]

Have a look at Ade Foreman Light Engineering on Facebook for rotisseries too. He seems to have a very good reputation.

Thanks for this Glen, think we have a winner!

No problem. I intend to get one too, when I get round to the bodywork.

[James467]

Hi all, I feel like an update is in order.

Hand is recovering very well and I hope that I will be back on the car next week after I have had signoff from the physio.

I have everything to finish the bodywork and have worked out what I'm going to do with the sills. I have also decided to replace the rear panel where it has been damaged.

Not being able to do anything is driving me nuts!

[yorkshire_spam]

Not being able to do anything is driving me nuts!

I can sympathise/empathise I was banned from the garage for 13 weeks after surgery about 8 years ago. For the first month I didn't care, I was too tired to do anything. But by the end of it not being able to do anything was driving me mental!

[Tony Burd]

Glad to hear you will be back on it soon, looking forward to some updates.

[James467]

I'm back on it!

I want to start by saying that this post is not a criticism on the way that the car has been worked on or stored, everything is just an unfortunate consequence of what has happened.

I knew looking down the inside of the sills that they were a bit touch and go. The outers definitely needed changing and as much as I'd love to use a set of genuine nos sills the reality is that they're difficult to get hold of and in my opinion the club sills being zintec coated are much better and will last longer especially after they've been wax injected.

After cutting the outer off it didn't look too bad at all.



However, where the car has been sitting at an angle and water has been sitting in the rear of the sills everything is very crusty. That's ok, we can fix that and you all know me by now, if it's going to be done, it's going to be done properly.



As usual (thanks Alun) the club sills fit perfectly!



I had intended to just repair the reinforcer panel, unfortunately the jacking point is completely shot and the inner sill from about half way along the car is very thin and pitted. There's no way that I am going to be able to plug weld to that lip on the inner sill.











The front section is fine, it has been repaired in the past but in exactly the way I would do it. just a couple of small holes to patch.

I'll do what I normally do, replace the reinforcer and inner sill and then outer. This will give us a good solid rust free structure which I can protect, it's then going to be safe and will last a long time.

[James467]

I'm making progress.

Thanks to Alun for the panels

Inner sill has been cut back, dressed and reinforcer trimmed. This has given me access to get at some of the other areas of rust that need to be tackled, namely the bottom of the A and B pillars. These are water traps and normally rust here, once the work is done I will inject some cavity wax in there to prevent any further damage.



I have removed part of this repair to remove all of the rust, just need to remove the other piece but to do that the door needs to come off.











This was the inner sill, you can see where water had been sitting, you can't see it in the photos due to the angle of the car but there is a water line on the other section of the sill and reinforcer. It has survived remarkably well but you can't weld to rust!





Everything has now been cut out so I can start putting in some fresh metal then fit the sill. I am going to do this a slightly different way from what I have done in the past so bear with me here!

Just waiting for some more rust encapsulator to arrive.

[James467]

Where was I, oh yeah thats right, fixing rust!





Where there was surface rust the voids and panels have been treated with some rust converter







Repaired then red oxide coated





Right, time to reconstruct everything!

Inner sills...

The panel is plug welded to the seatbelt reinforcers and jacking point braces.





Then plug welded along the inner seam. The outer seam will be welded when the car is the other way round, it is tacked but I need gravity to help my weld penetrate here!



The reinforcer is sliced in half and joined together then stitched to the bottom of the inner sill.







Outer sill, sliced the top lip off and drilled some plug weld holes, tacked in place, checked door gaps.





Plug weld every inch, this may seem excessive but the original sills are normally spot welded every inch or so.



Tack every inch or so along the top then seam the tacks together (slowly!)



Linish and done!





Close off the rear wheelarch



Close off the front cap and inner wheelarch, I hate making these!









Done........ almost!

I still need to seam the inner sill, then make and fit the jacking points. I'll do that after I have done the other side.

The next job will be to repair a couple of rust spots on this side and the rear door bottom before moving onto the other side.

[Tony Burd]

Lovely job.