a bit of this and a bit of that.

today saw the arch reprofiled at the rear, trimmed to length both ends and welded in place. but not after picking some semi hard 'masticky' type goop out of the 3 ribs on the inner arch revealing 3 rusty holes...... of course :whistle:. so we cut a 14 inch by 5 inch bit out to include all 3 holes and welded in a new section. the door corner is cut to match the other side and an angle was folded and shrunk to match the curve and welded on too. it needs a big grind up before the inner 'shut' part of the 'c' post can be made to suit the new shape.
neil.

not much today, the bottom of the 'c' post is made and tacked in place. the bit the door rubber seals against in the shut is also made and tacked in. lastly the arch is ground down. the inner arch filler strip is all that's left before moving to the back panel now.
neil.

Coming on well Neil [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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the n/s inner arch and 'c' pillar bottom are fully welded and ground down. the door is off and put aside. a new vauxhall steering rack is on it's way ready for the rack conversion too. it's an astra/cavalier/calibra 'middle' steer type where the track rods go to the middle if the rack rather than sticking out either end. this will be mounted to suit the column/pinion position (probably to the o/s a bit) and a bracket will be made to bolt where the track rods go that has track rod mounting points in line with the inner tca pivot points, thus avoiding bumpsteer. there are kits for american classic/muscle cars using this type of gm rack so i know it'll work ok.
neil.

Sounds good Neil.

Cheers Tim W

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today the big hole in the n/s rear footwell got new steel welded in. then some more epoxy primer was mixed and brushed over all of the repairs this side. rear panel's next and the shell's about done with the welding torch....... finally.
neil.

so what should've been a productive day remaking the back panel and welding the valance on completely went to 5hit. the plan was to tie it all to the previously repaired boot floor but the 'repairs' and i use the term very loosely were rubbish. there were plates on plates on plates and not one was actually welded in place. sure there was the odd tack but nothing a twist of a screwdriver under the edge wouldn't pop off. some people shouldn't be allowed to work on cars, they really shouldn't. so..... we cut side to side almost halfway forward on the floor and then we could see the bodgery continued on the rear of each chassis rail. they had a bit of 2x1 box across their ends to join them together with more of the superb 'welding'. so they were cut off too dropping to the floor and falling away from the bit of box as they landed. we then offered up the rear valance which didn't look level? the n/s inner rear 1/4 is homemade and went up as it went back more than it should've by about 3/4 of an inch. with that cut and refolded and all the edges cleaned up we can now start making templates (big ones) for the new floor. we may cleco the valance in place as the boot floor is the middle of 3 parts that are welded together, much like the inner, centre and outer sill sections do.
neil.
ps the second pic is all the cr4ppy plates removed along with the rusty floor.

Huge amount of work on that Neil, well done.

thanks Mark, we're getting there now. i could say the same of you too with the 'rainbow' pop :thumbs_up_smiley:
neil.

Please show some pics of the steering rack, read your explanation but can't imagine what it looks like.

Deffo needed doing Neil, at least it'll be a proper job now [emoji106]

Cheers Tim W

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cheers Tim, we trimmed the back panel up, saw how bad the boot floor was and just couldn't leave it. it'd be pointless having done all the rest and then leave this as it was. the owner's happy now he knows how bad it really was so we're all good. we told him if this was the only unexpected extra then he'd done really well, lol.
neil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by taxirod

Please show some pics of the steering rack, read your explanation but can't imagine what it looks like.

---

here's a pic of the rack that'll be used and i'll add a pic of an off the shelf mustang conversion to show how it works (they're usually a power rack). basically the bracket bolted to the middle of the rack has holes for the stock type track rods to bolt to which of course avoids bumpsteer. the column can be placed where it clears everything even if the rack sits off centre in the car. the holes for the track rods are just drilled in the bracket back the other way to keep them the same distance from each side of the car. i'll add pics as we go.
neil.

the new rear valance must've been cut down during the previous bodgery as it didn't reach the lower 1/4's. so first job was make up and weld on some curved extensions so there was somewhere to attach the valance. with the valance clecoed in place we could make up templates (my template card's not big enough to do in one bit) that were taped together. this was transferred to steel and that too is now clecoed in place. that's it for today.
oh, the steering rack arrived, a quick offer up and it looks like it'll fit under there just fine.
neil.

Good luck today Neil.

Cheers Tim W

Sent from my M2103K19G using NSRA mobile app

cheers Tim, not as much done today as we'd hoped. hey ho, something's better than nothing. first was measure the end of the cutoff chassis, then the size of the box used as the rear crossmember. then draw, cut and fold new chassis 'halves' and weld them together. they're welded inside so the weld strength isn't compromised when smoothing the outside. then it came to a stop as we couldn't weld them in place without the rear bumper and brackets to offer up. with them we can mark where the bolt holes need to be and weld tubes into them first. rob dropped them off this evening so we can crack on.
neil.
ps the last pic shows the quality of welding i'm finding on this car :lol:

My understanding was that the pivot points for the track rod end should be the same as the pivot points for the double A arms.
Actually ive worded it clumsily, should be able to draw a line through the pivots.
So I dont understand how having the track rod ends come all the way from the centre avoids bump steer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by taxirod

My understanding was that the pivot points for the track rod end should be the same as the pivot points for the double A arms.
Actually ive worded it clumsily, should be able to draw a line through the pivots.
So I dont understand how having the track rod ends come all the way from the centre avoids bump steer.

---

Yeah, but....

The conversion looks to be effectively an adjustable width rack (see the big bar on the bottom of the Mustang pic) so the positioning can be achieved as suggested.

But also, there's plenty of center steer racks with very long track rods that I presume must work, so presumably if they're long enough the difference on the arcs is proportionally reduced to little or nothing? Dunno about that but nobody moaned about bump steer on Cavaliers or Polo's.

Chris

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as chris said the mustang kit (which is how i'll do it) has a bar bolted with 2 bolts near the centre. at the ends of this bar are holes where the stock mustang inner track rod ends bolt up. basically if the mk2 zephyr zodiac didn't have bump steer my conversion won't either. i don't think ford, even in the 50's/60's designed cars with bumpsteer so we're good.
neil.

Thanks Guys, I think Ive grasped it. Be patient with me, a bit thick