kiwitina Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 Seems like I’ve been quite idle on this but I can sadly say this ute takes up more of my time than my Cortina does. Me and my girl have our first kid on the way so as you can imagine there is lots of stuff to buy, things to do and learn etc etc. So less car stuff to do but more dad stuff like building a kids bookcase and restoring a dresser amongst other things. I have been putting in some time though so here we go. I removed the guards and shaved the antenna hole, also replaced the filler in the side badge holes with metal. Removed a whole lot of surface rust from underneath and POR15’d them. That pic is after a couple of months of exposure to UV light. It only affects the way it looks not its anti rust properties. In removing the guards I discovered other delights. Like this. and this I could hear the words ringing in my ears from the lady I purchased it through (was her nephews who moved overseas) ‘He loved that ute’. Hahaha what bollocks! Anyway it was a good excuse to improve on my novice welding skills. No substitute for practical experience and it seems to be the way with me. Definitely getting more confident and getting better results. POR15d my tailgate and what i think i can safely call a tailjam? Just a bit of surface rust and a few nicks there. After that I thought I would clean up behind the wiper/air vent panel just below the windscreen. I found some water inside a few days before so was skeptical as to what I might find. Another delight! I forgot to take a picture before I cut it out but it was actually kinda funny. Ford in their infinite wisdom put a bolt for the guard underneath this panel which as it turns out is a pretty awkward place for one. I think the last owner has gone to take the guard off maybe to fill those side badging holes. There he encountered some difficulty which resulted in him bending, buckling, cutting and drilling the area around the bolt to free the guard. Which he did, but then failed to rectify his trail of destruction. So rusty area cut out and flattened 1st underlying patch in and smoothed out. Then top patch on then smoothed My plastic weld repairs had seemed to be going the distance until last week when we drove up to Helensville to visit family. The liner wasn’t held down ofcourse and it was a particularly windy day. So I pulled in to the house in Helensville and ofcourse the liner wasn’t there! Drove back 10 mins and found it on the side of the road. I had expected to find it in a million pieces but it was all there just a couple of cracks had re-emerged. hahaha F it. Bought some paint to smother the thing in. Its going a bright orange with hopefully some black striping/detailing to come later. Im nowhere near the paint stage yet but its a motivator to keep things rolling before the baby arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwitina Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Shaving the rails off the outside. Will either relocate them to the inside of the tray or install some u bolts so I can tie stuff down. Will definitely have to suss something so the dog can come for rides. I am terrible at remembering to take photos so youll notice they jump around abit. and tacked welded. My welding skills arent good enough to not require filler but got some good results anyhow. Filler to come later. I found the holes in the rear panel below the tailgate annoying so set about deleting them. They must have been there to mount a bumper to the chassis but meh! Crap photo to show but yeah I forgot to take a pic of it before. A bit of filler can do the rest. I also did the opposite side but failed to take photos purposely because its mostly the same shit. Baremetalled the tray floor and painted POR15 Baremetaled the passenger side and rear. Photo is after metal readying had been done. Metal Ready is cool. Kinda wish I could leave it looking like that. POR15 on. After this the dogs head turned in to a football. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwitina Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 Small update. Had a look at using the rails I took off the outside and relocating them to the inside. Soon became obvious that it would be a lot of work considering that id like to keep the Bakliner deck. Went with some U bolts in the end. There are 4 mountings there with one more coming for the dog at the center of the front panel. Still a bit of tidying up to do Was a tricky fit trying to get the deck back in but if I slacken the nuts off first it works. I'll probably silicone in behind the holes I cut so water and dirt don't get in underneath the plastic. The deck will go off to a plastic welder sometime soon to get the cracks patched up. chur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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