Scary hole

Progress has been plodding along in the shed I have moved on from "gunk" flavoured Rizla cigarette papers to a new blend of "tint of Jizer" degreasant following MoleValleys latest reduction in cost on a gallon of the stuff,I feel it gives a more upmarket and rounded taste to the pallet only fitting when you have cars of the class of a Stag in the shed.Tinkering on the 1967 2000 (Known as the "Cairo Taxi") has also got under way in preparation for this years 10CR with the fitting of a working rev counter different steering wheel and replacement of a dodgy overdrive inhibitor switch ,other jobs on the list for the Taxi Replace diff oil seals Fit stag front brakes-After refurbishing calipers,discs and replacing hub bearings Replace carb (HS6) butterfly's and throttle spindles Refurbish brake and clutch master cylinders Fit recliner drivers seat

The discs will live to fight another day just a light skim is needed to get them usable -looking back through the cars history they were replaced in 2000 and done all of 3,000 miles! The calipers gave up their rusty pistons after a two day battle- which I won ,then the sodding boy racer fairy broke into the shed and covered them in "fire red" paint-least he made a good job of it and all I need do is fit the new seal kit and replacement pistons The history file made interesting reading I noted the diff was replaced in 1996 and has only covered 20,000 miles so that will be the one going into the "Taxi" (with new oil seals) this will offset the 14" wheels and give it a bit of help up the steep alpine passes Ellis has planned for us on the 10CR - the higher ratio 2.5 (3.45:1) diff will find its way into the stag to keep the cruising revs down on its RV8 engine coupled to LT77 box

In between those tinkerings I have been setting fire to my overalls and getting on with the welding repairs to the Stag -I note from the cars history- 2003 MOT failure sheet "excess corrosion " N/S rear suspension I wonder if this is when the botcher did his worst and used the paint tin lid for the rear spring locator ..twat!

Anyway you can see some progress below in repairing the body-long way to go yet but I hope to have the repair sections in by the end of the week and the inner sill on,I'm looking forward to my two weeks paternity leave to get the floors in!

This gives me some decent metal to weld the homemade repair sections to

This is the homemade section in position,the sub frame mount strengthener came from a complete inner and outer sill section bought second hand which all though I haven't used for the sills it has given up valuable guidance as to how originals were meant to fit-(original patterns etc had be lost under two and sometimes three layers of botched repairs)- it will also provide sections that can be used for repairing the bottom of the A and B posts if needed

Above homemade repair section for the rear sub frame mount using metal of a suitable thickness as apposed to the previous "repair" covered in my other posts

Repair sections going in

Scary hole exposed !

Jiggy Jiggy ....

Jiggy Jiggy-Jig made by lining up lengths of straight bar on the assembled sub frame and diff (off the car) welding to form a triangle with holes located to line up with the diff mounts at the rear and the sub frame mounts at the front...oh you know what I mean look at the picture speaks for its self!

This one speaks for its self in fact it shouts - a great shot of what I am up against -these are previous repairs made to the box section-theory not bad but execution bollocks look how skinny the metal is that's been used and they couldn't be arsed even to paint it afterwards let alone cut all the rust out

Above the jig in action helping me locate where the sub frame mount should be

Also can I say Bastard M5 and Bastard billsoddinggatesvista operating system -If it wasn't for those two I might have got more done this week instead of sitting on the M5 then having to waste an evening reformatting my lap top (I had everything backed up this time!)

Believe it or not I am not feeling so grumpy about the Stag

I have conceded that it wont be ready for the 10CR,and it will be a rewarding challenge just to get it back on the road ,grumpy that I let my heart rule my head when I bought it and grumpy that I let it get in the way of sorting the estate but never mind I will get there in the end

I'm looking forward to tinkering with the Taxi getting it ready for the 10cr,Its going to borrow the Stags front brakes for the run

A botch too far...

The Taxi above will now be the chosen one for Homers and mine third 10 CR in Sept Repairs to N/S box section / sub frame mounts are under way above-The plan (apart from being a slow one! ) is now I am happy with the location of the inner sill fix it in position with a few small welds along with the two cross members that span from sill to center chassis / tunnel -this will allow a fit check of the floor pans and door opening Then finish off the repairs to the box section / sub frame mount which thanks to the mother of all previous botches will be no short job - the O/S needs the same amount of work, so with other commitments pressing I have decided to use the Taxi for the 10cr and do a "propar jarb" on the Stag and it will be ready when its ready! This is the botch I am on about - the lower section of metal was part of the old box section the sub frame is mounted to-look how thin the metal is compared to an original section above-someone has repaired the end 6"of N/S and O/S box section using this paperpissthin metal and the same standard of repair was applied to the ends of now removed inner and outer sills,its left me pissing in the wind a bit as the original pattern for repair sections and dimensions has been lost,so I shall make a jig (to nights job) the same dimensions of the sub frame diff assembly bolt it to the car to help me locate the new sub frame mount and new box section -which I am making using the correct thickness of metal-Roll on 2010 round Britain run -that's when I reckon the car will be finished! Taken from inside the car this is my new repair section to the top of the box section -note new inner sill in background- also note the old rusty failed botched repair has been completely cut out the repair section HASN'T been braised and it is of metal of the correct gauge! something of a new experience for this car!