1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

PeterK · Post by **PeterK** » Wed May 23, 2018 7:25 am

sladey wrote:During the sanding of the vent itself I realized I needed a disc or belt sander so added another toy to the workshop

This made it much easier to get it to the right thickness

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I pressed the button on a belt sander Sunday. Not sure exactly why I need one but I’m sure I do

A boy can never have too many toys, and I was in mourning having just sold my motorbike (from 16k commuting miles every year to 3k in 4 years - it just wasn’t being used and was starting to get in the way

)

Loving the detail Mark
Peter

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Wed May 23, 2018 11:14 am

Thanks for the comments.

I was actually making a belt sander (Obvs

) inclduing turning my own rollers and welding up the frame for it, but I found the motor I'd lined up wasn't up to the job. Needing a sander then and there forced me to scrap the previous work and just buy one - this one is fine for my needs.

In relation to skills etc it's been more of a test of patience than skills - because you are doing something that wasn't meant to be done, gotchas keep coming up at every stage, and it's been a real test of determination to stick with it and get it done. Hope this will help anyone else thinking of coming up with a Singer style dashboard

defianty · Post by **defianty** » Wed May 23, 2018 11:26 am

Lovely work Mark.

jtparr · Post by **jtparr** » Wed May 23, 2018 10:57 pm

Good stuff.....

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:36 pm

Wow it’s been a while since the last update.

Don’t think I did much to it last summer, but in September a bunch of us went round the Swiss/Italian alps. Totall epic trip and full of real bucket-list moments.

On the good/amazing side I drove my car from zeebrugge down to Switzerland, ragged the arse off it for 5 days up and down about 15 alpine passes, then drove it back up to zeebrugge and then home. Left it in the garage for 10 days then it started first time for the daily commute to work. These cars are impressive.

On the bad side I had a small accident. I’ve never been one for getting organised on these trips but this time I thought I’d be different and I filled a Tupperware box with some seeds and nuts. Driving along I was feeling quite smug and snacking on them.

After looking down at the nuts and deciding which ones to eat next I looked up to find that Ian had stopped SHHHHHIIIIIITTTTT!!!!!! The front sank so low in response to my emergency braking that I practically went under Ian’s car.

After I’d said sorry and we’d established that neither of us were hurt we carried on.

The upshot of this is that the front of my car (and the rear of Ian’s) needs repairing. I’m doing it through the insurance and have already received my payout.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:42 pm

That pic shows the offside wing is the hardest hit and will need to be replaced. The slam panel is also deformed so I’ll be replacing that. The bumper and bear side wing can both be repaired.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to get the rest of the bodywork tidied.

Since the last major work was carried out there we are few places where rust has come through. This was either through cock-ups on my part when doing the repair work last time or bit that I thought would be good enough.

I chatted to the body shop and they are quite happy for me to do the repairs and let them do the paint

The rearmost parts of the rear wing fall into the ‘should be good enough’ category. I should have sorted them out at the time but thought they were OK. I also knew the bumper mounts on the chassis rails were looking a bit brown.. so thought this might be a good time to get it sorted

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:44 pm

So yesterday I thought I’d make a start. The plan was to do the rear of one wing - just a triangle of metal should be enough - and then get it back on the road for Monday.

Well that’s not happening then.........

Here’s the offending bit

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:45 pm

Not too bad eh?

Bit of sanding

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:46 pm

Bit of cutting

And we should be good to go?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:47 pm

Not quite....

What’s this?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:48 pm

Cleaned up a bit more

That’s not looking too clever

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:49 pm

And remember that brown chassis rail?

Well after a bit of poking it ended up like this

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:53 pm

Just to the right of the above picture if you zoom in you can also see another large hole in the end of the rear crossmember piece.

Initially I was thinking that I would weld a decent repair into the chassis rail with everything as it is.

However that rear crossmember is unreachable at the moment so I’m planning on cutting off a chunk of the rear wing - that should give me good access to the chassis rail and the crossmember.

I believe they call this mission creep.

Whatever it is, it will feel great to know it’s properly sorted, and I’m quite looking forward to it all

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:55 pm

Never poke the bubble

Think I might have an idea where this poking will end up...

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:57 pm

No it won’t!

But I’ll be having a more detailed look at your thread

DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker