FT’s Patrol Project

[Flying Torquewrench]

Thank you, I will keep that in mind. On the SWB Patrol the mid body mount is just behind the door pillar which makes it a pain to cut out. Would have been easier to be in the middle of the door and being able to cut part of the frame out.

Might even make a new body mount and move it slightly so it is easier to get to. First see what happens when I start cutting.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Bought some new tools to help me with this job. First a sheet metal bender which sits in the jaws of a vice. Only 5 inches wide so not really suitable for bigger pieces.

I had planned to build a bigger sheet metal folder but I haven’t had time. .

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Second a shrinker/stretcher to assist in getting the curves right for the wheel arch.

Also on order is a panel beating set. Whick should hopefully be delivered tomorrow.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Nearly forgotton. Some card paper for Cardboard Assisted Design.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Most of the rot cut our. Just the inner fender to cut and the repair can begin.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

A view of the offending body mount. Bought some 3mm thick mild steel sheet to run the length of the door sill. That should give me a solid piece of metal to fix the repaired body mount to.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

My stretcher set-up. Far from ideal but it does the job.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Panel ready to be stretched.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

After about an hour of stretching and offering it up to the car we got the final shape.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

A panel I made earlier. The new panel will sit in front of this one and complete the wheel arch.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

This will the inner portion of the door sill. It is 3mm mild steel instead of the standard layered method Nissan uses.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

The holes are for the side step bracket with nuts welded on at the back.

The stretcher/shrinker works well and it makes life a lot easier. I only found out that it doesn’t work that well on Zintec sheet. The zinc comes off and cloggs up the teeth on the shrinker. Got myself some normal mild steel sheets and they work very well. Keeping the zintec for the areas that don’t need to be shrunk ot stretched.

Ready to do some welding now but it has been windy today and as I am welding outside I decided to postpone.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Ordered a ‘new’ vice today, a Record 24. 43 kilo’s of old school British engineering. Hopefully it will be delivered later this week.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

With some time off work this is a perfect time to start work on the Patrol again.

Started with taking the near side wing panel off as there is rust on the underside.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Started to make some repair pieces.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Following the curve at the bottom of the panel.

Unfortunately I am unable to weld the pieces into place as my gas regulator has packed up. A new one was order for delivery on Friday but DHL messed up and it is now arriving tomorrow.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Some of the smaller rust issues.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

And a slightly bigger and more complicated issue.

Banshee, or any moderator could you please move this thread to vehicle projects? When I started this thread 10 years ago the vehicle projects thread didn’t exist.

 

[macabethiel]

Some nifty panel work going on there.

That's a nice bit of metal forming seeing the picture took me back to my youth when I had an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT it was a beautiful looking car but as was typical of the era (1964) it was as rotten as hell when I bought it in 1968.

Local body shop coachbuilder hand rolled new front & rear panel plus the front wheel arches. Sold ASAP after respray. I watched him form the panels using what looked like a giant G Clamp with a wheel thing on it. Rare skills these days I'm impressed by your rebuild pictures.

 

[Flying Torquewrench]

Nothing fancy here, macabethiel!

It is all down to a selection of hand tools and patience, which is something I usually don’t have.

Homemade metal folder. The idea is borrowed from another forum.