DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Great stuff. Makes me almost miss all that welding!

It's certainly a lesson in not mucking about fettling little panels, just bite the bullet, cut it out and go large!

MT wrote:

With two willing (?) assistants I collected it on my Ifor James dodgy old car trailer along with all its many, very very heavy attachments last Sunday from another DDK'er who has kindly offered it to me on loan as part of the barter economy. It is one heavy MFer. Anyway by the end of tomorrow I hope to be able to report the shell is off the rotisserie and onto 'Celette'. Just got to make sense of the instructions now ...

Sorry Mick I'm slow that is the Celette? Is it a jig for truing the car?

I think I asked my own question http://francistuthill.co.uk/news_more.a ... 437&page=1

It's the name stamped on the front that gave the game away I'm guessing ......

Photos of the shell mounted on 'Celette' to come later once I've figured out the attachments.

Why did you do all that structural work off the jig?

Good question Graham, and my reasoning will be tested in the next day or so when I fit all the attachments and see if after everything I've done to date it sits square and true.

Main reason was that I couldn't see a way to remove and replace the floor pans with the car on the jig - not simply anyway. It's not that easy with the car on the rotisserie, but at least you can get good access to drill the spot welds, and it meant I could plug weld up from below, and get a good seam weld along the central join. Also as you noted on the other car, repairing that tricky bit under the rear torsion bar mount it so much easier on the rotisserie.

I reasoned that with the roll cage still in place, and it being a coupe, I would have good structural stiffness in the main cabin structure, and so if I did the floors, edges and inner sills with it in place then all should be ok. What made me take up the offer of the jig was the RH front inner wing replacement - the car has clearly had a good trip into the Armco on that corner - in fact Bob recalled it when we met, although he said it was repaired with a front end jig like Alan Drayson has. So it might be a bit out now to start with, but it's probably ok. The clincher is I think it's going to take quite a bit of pulling, chiseling and bashing to get the old one out and so some distortion of the bulkhead joints and front suspension pan is inevitable I think - and I want to be sure the new one goes in true. Once the front inner wing is in and the outer sills/doors are on then I'll probably dispense with 'Celette' and go back on the rotisserie to fit the rear wings. We'll see if the garage floor is intact at that point!

Watch this space.....

Well it's on! ..... and much more importantly it sits square and true in all dimensions. As you can see below up to now I have only used the torsion bar mounts at the rear as there is no reason to believe the rear is out, although as I have the fittings I will check it out before it comes off. Everything just went on and lined up without any fuss at all. Only dilemma is I could not figure out how the fittings to the front bumper attachments just in front of the battery boxes go together. In any permutation I am inches out, and also the two holes in the mount are too far apart. Not critical as I will have 3 reference fittings on each side at the front without it. Will have another look tomorrow.



As you can see I've left off the front strut tower on the RHS until the inner wing is off, then I'll use it to give another reference for the new inner wing.

I think I can now also turn my mind to figuring out the Chinese puzzle that is the roll cage removal!

Of course I was NEVER in ANY doubt that it would be straight ............

That's good news Mick ...

Excellent!
Getting a 6 point cage IN is quite a job, or rather mine was way back then.

Soon be time for paint before Xmas!!

911hillclimber wrote:Excellent!
Getting a 6 point cage IN is quite a job, or rather mine was way back then.

Soon be time for paint before Xmas!!

It seems to me that most of the professional competition prep guys just chop the roof off!

C>

Nothing as bad as that, but a lot of twisting and squeezing, but it is a bolt-in to make things worse as you have to remove it to weld in the mounts...

Time for another update.

As you know I decided to replace the entire front RH inner wing. Never done this before (obviously) so another voyage of discovery...

Starting point ...



More spot weld drilling (see total at the end ), cutting, chiseling, bashing and swearing and the old one is out



Lots of prepping, POR15 in the box sections (still lots of blast media in these sections even after many rotations on the rotisserie, so that's the downside of this method I think - you can't ever get all the stuff out.



Anyway for the price of a decent 10yr old hatch (£1500) you can have one of these! Top quality pressing from Porsche including the battery box and the front plate for the bonnet



So then followed LOTS of on/off and measuring, checking, and a bit of fettling of the old bulkhead - it had been crimped slightly in that RH corner shunt - and offering up of the new door pillar. Problem here is the basic method I have used both on the TR4A and the swb - i.e., fit the door, then the rear panel, then the sill, then the front wing - is compromised because the door pillar is solely attached to the inner wing, so the only reference points for the inner wing/door pillar alignment are secondary rather than primary. By that I mean they are measurements from other datums, rather than direct points of contact. And until you've fitted the door pillar you can't fit the door, and hence start the process.

So I tried to ensure the alignment of the pillar was identical to the other side. Once I was as confident as I was ever going to get I marked the pillar location on the inner wing and plug welded it on. For reference some of the plugs have to be done where you can't get to with the inner wing in place, so I think you have to do it in this order. On with the new bonnet ... all fits really well...

Then I remembered I needed to 'backdate' the pillar.

First I chopped the relevant section from the old pillar. You can see here the difference in the two around the upper hinge point



A bit of alignment, checking and cutting. The idea was to fit the 'backdate' on top of the new pillar. In that way I reason there is less chance of unwittingly compromising the integrity of the pillar



Welded the bit in place, a bit of filler and then welded the pillar to the inner wing



Another fit of the wing, self-tappers everywhere, lots of remeasurement, and a check of the door pillar



vs. the other side



Close enough I think.... So out with the MIG, full chat, plug weld attachment on, and away we go. Not always the case, but sometimes you get it all just right and plug welding is SO easy..



... and don't we all love full deep penetration



....a while later...



A touch of primer on the door pillar 'backdate'. I haven't decided whether to fill the later lower hole in the pillar for the interior light switch or not. I plan to refit the originally specified electric windows so I'll need another 'orifice', so to speak!



Clean it all up, a dose of Metal Ready in preparation for POR15, and a refit of the jig fitting to the top strut



No major celebration until I get the door on tomorrow and try the rear quarter and outer sill alignment, but it SHOULD be ok.

Spot weld count 697.

Impressive…..seriously impressive!

Also stuck the jig rear engine mount struts on to check for the insidious 'bum droop' that ladies of this era are apparently susceptible to (according to Barry on another thread), and I'm pleased to say there's none of that sort of thing going on here. Dogs bollock spot on ...... (anyone with knowledge of the derivation of this very satisfying and descriptive phrase???) I try to use it as often as appropriate.

Darren65 wrote:Impressive…..seriously impressive!

I 'seriously' hope you're right Darren, but as I said I'm keeping my powder dry for the moment, because if the door cannot be aligned properly ....... deep 5hite!

See you Wed?

Mick

MT wrote:See you Wed?

Yep, see you then. Looking forward to it.