[fizz]

Today the weather was actually quite good and my hand a lil better so i went up to have a look at these sills today.
I was never sure how all the sill and inner sill etc all connected and i learned something i suppose so thats good.
I actually thought that the lip that runs along the bottom edge of the outer sill ( where the jack has bent it all the way down,woopsie )was the inner sill but i am wrong of course,each days an education.
I cut off the side skirts which hurt my feelings but i needed to see how i was patching that bit in the back thats beside the box for the subframe and once thats done i will do the entire sill.
It's not as bad as i thought inside the sill so i was quite pleased but i need to know the best thing to do with the rusty bits i cant reach up high into the hole?
I was going to do more but i forgot my spotweld cutter and i was feeling dizzy so just went home after this.
So basically i am asking for advice on the best prepping before i go weld on new sill.

Anyway here's what i did

 

[nova16sv]

most people ive seen, have sprayed them inside with weldable etch primer, to prevent any rust, whilst they weld everything back together, and once its done, if you want to take it a step further, you can blast a load of underseal/stone chip shit, through the drain holes, to coat the inside, between the inner and outer.

 

[Andy-reid]

there is a rust cure primer that wurth do!

 

[fizz]

I do have weldthrough primer and also acid etch primer so i will just coat the parts in the etch and where the welds are gonna be i will use the weldthrough instead.
Thanks guys, i will keep you updated if weather permits

 

[nova16sv]

shitty bastard weathers here now

are you still doing a little bit in your spare time, or is it suicidal working outdoors at the mo. bloody minus 2 down south tonight, so scotland must be f00kin fr333zin :S

 

[fizz]

It has been freezing and windy for weeks but today was quite nice so i ended up going back up today to finish off one of the patches between the box and the rear arch...i am getting much better at welding i must admit...i will try get the other side done tomorrow if a good day and get some pics.
I had to stop as i wasnt feeling great at all so went home but every little bit done is a step closer i suppose.
I am hoping tomorrow to get the patches in and start getting the new boot floor in...i got 1mm sheet 2.5m x1.5m black steel for £20 as they didn't get any 1.2 that i asked for but should be okay.

 

[fizz]

It comes with deep regret that i have came to a decision to give up on this project both my end goal and years of headaches out the window

If you have been following this thread you know the struggle is real
There is only one professional mobile welder i could find up here in Aberdeen who came to have a look at the car today...short story is the shoddy welding the guy had done needs redone which i knew anyway and to just get the back end secure with a boot floor also he is asking £1500ish which is a fair price for redoing all that work but then comes all the other stuff on top like sills and tunnel etc which i simply don't have money for anymore.

My heads spinning and i'm kinda annoyed with the situation so i think i will buy another decent MOT astra and put all the parts onto it and keep it V6 FWD.
I did want to get the Omega back end done on this car, put it back to FWD and could do the rest when i can afford it down the line but again its gonna cost upwards of that as it needs sills welded on etc.

So i'm gonna Sulk and cry for a while and strip it down what's left of it and try and find another 3 door Mk4 astra but i'm struggling to find any for sale.

FML i will keep thread updated to what my final decision is

 

[AJB]

its a shame mate was looking good but i no the feeling good luck with finding one and what are you doing with the shell

 

[fizz]

well there has been an overnight revelation! my father who i aint spoke to in the longest time who is infact a welder said he will do it and wants me to cut off the boxes that the cowboy next door had ruined and start from scratch from there...im thinking maybe two beams front to back and like a ladder bar across to mount to instead of boxes...it will be cleaner and easier i would reckon...will keep yal updated...father cant see past the bogger picture and said i should bin it but of course he has no idea what my plan is

 

[Gordo]

Ah, a father-son car project - fills me with warm fuzzies

 

[fizz]

lol he might remember my name by the end of it. im going up tuesday to see what i can clean up and keep yal posted...i really dont wanna give up on it

 

[fizz]

Just bought this the other day, its got a fair few parts i may need and it is only a rolling shell so if all else fails i maybe be able to use it as not too bad a condition...I have took the snowflakes off and put 2 new tires on and stuck them on the hears...i will get a picture of hearse later.

In other news i may have to wait a couple weeks before father welds or doesnt weld my mounts properly...damn i hate waiting

 

[fizz]

They look tiny on the Hearse but i don't really wanna be spending out on suspension to lower this thing...looks better than the SRI wheels though

 

[nova16sv]

Just bought this the other day

have you given up the rwd one ? too much headache i assume, it was a massive job.

you keeping the v6 for the black boy, FWD ?

 

[fizz]

have you given up the rwd one ? too much headache i assume, it was a massive job.

you keeping the v6 for the black boy, FWD ?

Hello there...i have not given up,infact i have been silently hard at work...i will have an update post tonight

 

[ayresyy]

Would be good to see the update. How much further have you got?

 

[fizz]

I know it has been a while but here is what has been going on.
I decided to Scrap the RWD car, i did it,i did! And i am less than impressed...I also scrapped that shell that i bought as the guy i got it from wouldnt give me the V5 etc so i was left with a dillema...What the **** do i waste my time on now?

I went and got myself yet another standard Silver Astra 3 Door except this one is MOT'D to pile all my parts onto and keep as the V6 FWD it should have been years ago but stick with me here it gets worse kind of.

I would never buy a car unseen EVER buuuuut this was only one that wasn't a fucked GSI, I didnt realise how hard it would be to find a 3 door astra these days but i clearly forgot how old they are now. I got it from a dealer in england and it has a shit ton of paperwork with it and they said it was very extremely clean, old woman had it for years,son was a mechanic bla bla bla.

I got it home and straight away set to work on it stripping it to repaint the shell and then i started to notice "things"
(This was after fitting the new arches just incase confusion arises)

This is under the airbox on the driver side

The sills didn't look bad until i removed the skirts and the inner sill ends or bits inside the arches if you like were patched with not metal but some weird material coated in underseal,infact the more underseal i took off the worse it got!

The rear damper bolt insert area wasnt even connected and fell off but thats an easy fix but surely it didnt just pass an mot in this condition! Clearly the "mechanic" son was just passing his mothers car willynilly because this was passed only a couple months previous.

Anyway i set to work taking apart the sills and weldthrough primering them up as i was doing a lap weld right across the sill as i felt more confident doing this even though i will get scolded from people here about the rights and wrongs of welding butt or lap. I actually bought a new roll of welding wire as my one ran out and it made 100% difference in the welds i love it!
Just tac tac tac and got each side done about 2 hours a side so i was happy and am much more confident about welding...i was gonna take it to a garage after i prepped it to get welded but the 2 local ones who are both 8 miles away each are not willing to weld believe it or not, so i got my Dad over to weld them and he literally butchered them and im sure he did it on purpose cos hes a nasty bastard so that's why i cleaned em up again and got new sills and did it myself and i am glad i did. I will find the pictures of his welds and show yal..Some of the bits i cleaned up that he welded blew through a few times but patience filled em up again and the passenger side he didnt do i managed to weld up no problem...oh i still have the plugwelds on the bottom to do and that inner bracing to the outer sill but thats for another day as time is a struggle weatherwise but its been getting better

I repainted all the wheels,i couldnt get the dents out the lips and they are alluminium so i will live with the dents until i can afford refurb,i did take most of the kerbs out with a file before painting

I Cleaned up all the hub carriers and callipers and painted them,got new suspension, balljoints, ARB arms, etc etc literally evrything is new including coilovers.
Wheels are now even wider as got 50mm spacers ontop off the huge offset i had before so got wider bolt on arches for ease but unsure of the look and still trying to figure out how to make the front bumper meet (maybe a splitter that comes up at the sides kinda thing?)

I don't like how the arches curve in towards the wheels at the bottom so i wanna pull em out like the last two images, more bodywork but i have plenty to do anyway,

I have welded plates behind these weird shape trim holes on the doors and i will fill em when im doing the rest of the fiberglass/filler work but just look how faded those doors were (I used most of the parts from the original car and the smooth boot from the shell i bought and yes this all confuses me too)

Last thing is can someone tell me what this box is? looks like a fuel or air line,cant see where it goes on the 1.8 engine thats currently in it waiting to be removed soon i hope...now that i have spaced the wheels even further,they have started to rub this on full lock and also the pinch weld so i have had to cut them back loads and refab a piece of the inner arch which i have started since this pic,will show later though

I hope all makes sense and yes it will be V6 FWD again and rust free and driven harder.
Still gutted about the RWD but time,money and lack of welder experience or welders fucked that right up as im sure you have read by now

I'm sure that's about everything for now and i am gonna try and be more active here again also

fizz

 

[mr drew]

That box is for the fuel tank evap. It collects the volatiles that boil off and feeds them back into the inlet manifold to be burnt via a valve usually mounted adjacent to the airbox.

 

[fizz]

thank you, is it just an empty resivouir? could i make a smaller one maybe?

 

[nova16sv]

thank you, is it just an empty resivouir? could i make a smaller one maybe?

50mm spacers !! ... wideboy.
should make the handling pretty decent

shame about the whole, waste of time, business. i feel like ive been doing the same thing myself, with my last 4 or 5 cars, haha.
atleast you know how to weld now, so besides all the headaches, stress, time loss, and cash drain, you gained some skill out of it.

that canister has charcoal inside it, and basically filters vapour, from the tank.
a breather line from the fuel tank runs under the car, and into it.

you can delete them, no probs, and vent the tank line to atmosphere, but you may get a little bit of fuel smell, now and then, from what ive heard.

i was gonna say you need to keep the sensor plugged in, by the airbox, but youll be putting v6 in, so doesnt matter.

i was planning to delete this myself, in the near future, and relocate the breather pipe to the back of the car, with a little foam sock on the end of the pipe, to stop dust getting into the tank