Tortrons's 1981 Mitsi L200 Clubsport

[tortron]

I was able to confirm that the wee cup die I made was exactly the right shape and depth

With new toy - 20 ton press I could make this side a bit differently and with a lot less hammering

 

Sheet metal is pinned between two ply bucks

and a little hammering to shrink the stretched metal and we are doing good

[tortron]

confirming that the depth is correct with unstitched cab mount.

Then throw a bend in it. This is the floor layer and the bend is spot welded to the inner sill.

I dug out a bit of steel I made up last time (just some 4 mm flat with a circle cut in it to match the male die) using this along with the ply gives a nice sharp edge to the cup and looks like factory

[tortron]

Figuring some stuff out along the way I made a few changes to my set up

Double checked my fitment against original panels

 

Using steel plate to give sharper edge to the cup. Also fitted a small offcut of tube to punch the centre hole out.

I should in the future press 2 sheets together to ensure the cups fit together nicely. I repressed the floor section with this one to make sure

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Went ahead and cut the upper strengthening plate to size, trimmed the edges, and bent up the sections that meet the cab back and side.

Luckily this side was good enough to copy the small kick in the inner sill b pillar area

 

I welded the corners up and hammered in the raised bead

 

And fitted to the floor section (which is left well over size for final fitment)

Gave it the correct cab back drip rail overhang however

[tortron]

This took hardly any time or effort and I could actually listen to the radio which is uncommon in my shed experience.

 

Can pump these out pretty quick, hope to make some pocket money.

 

The last part is the cab mount itself. I made a few basic anvils and dolly's and ball ended punches to make the last one. But it took a lot of hammer swinging and eyeballing. So I decided to put some time into making some tooling

 

However, to make the tooling I first had to make some tooling

 

So far I have made a male buck of the floor facing section of the mount. The mount sits very happily on top of it. I'm out of steel stock for now though, but I might be able to dig enough scraps up to make one for the sill facing side. I want the sill facing side to be reversible as it's very slightly left/right handed on each side (although making a symmetrical one doesn't effect the mount in any way)

 

I will then make the two sections separate and weld them together before fitting to the cab, like I did for the driver's side. However I'm not gonna hammer it this time. I'm going to use my press and a slab of urethane rubber to hydroform it

 

 

[tortron]

Stripped the paint off the side of the bed I unstitched a while ago. Paint stripper wasn't effective.

 

 

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Crusty all over tbh. Some old patches.

Rust along the wheel tub seam sealer and all the bed flange totally rusted away. 

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Best part about owning a mitsi is cutting out and throwing away the mitsi

 

I filled in the bed cover hook rivet holes. I will use something different. Patched the holes, remade the lower inch or so and flange.

Need to remake the end flanges, a small hole in the fuel filler recess, and tidy up the welds. Feels pretty straight but most likely need some tweaking when attaching to the bed

[tortron]

An excessive amount of welding and grinding later

 

 

And then I found out you can just buy a replacement panel

So I did that

 

 

 

 

 

lol can you imagine

Gave it a quick hammer and dolly before 2 coats of durepox. Pretty good tbh, I'll give it some final tweaking when it goes back on the tray, but I think some fill primer should get it 90% there

[tortron]

Gotta do an essential shop before any more work on the tray or body mounts.

 

Next biggest pile that's in the way in the shed is the VS engine and trans.

Pulled the 4L60e off and degreased it

 

Dug out the bits I already ordered for it at least 12 months ago

Shift kit, corvette servo, uprated 3/4 clutch pack, improved pistons, also fitting a temp sender and a drain plug to the pan.

Probably I will now order a whole seal kit because I don't want to pull it out and apart again.

 

 

 

[tortron]

Dug up this on the rear of my tray

Truck was an 83 so it must be #243 and made on the 55th day of 1983

 

MILDLY INTERESTING!

[tortron]

And at the other end I remade this panel

(Pay no attention to the extra 2 rivet holes drilled, I wanted to use a perfect sized offcut that already had them I it?That's one side done and ready to put back together

[tortron]

No I lied. I'm Gona chop the rest up too

There was a couple of raised rusty sections in the bed floor at the front and rear, oddly half the spot welds aren't there so that was the cause. 

Went ahead and removed the rest, these are the cross braces that mount to the chassis. Not too bad underneath, but they are on top of both layers of the bed sides. Could have probably slipped a thin cutting disc between them and clean it out I guess.

But there's also some deep pitting on the edge of these sections where the b d sides mount. Barely anything holding them in, so I may as well remove and replace them. Will keep them as flat panels rather than get fancy like the dodge beds. This will come into play later also.

 

 

[tortron]

Managed to unstitch this corner without ruining any of it. It's rusted right across, but I think I can save the curved corner section and bend up a new roll pan. Don't like the rough box pan bent number plate recess, so might make a long one and smooth it out.

Other side is good enough to leave on. Won't unstitch this end any further. It's mostly good and I will inject some rust converter in the remaining seams

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Painted everything that would be inside a seam the other day, put the floor corners on today, I think you can see which holes were factory and which ones i made for the plug welds, tempting to fill them all in and measure them all out, not going to take any dents out of the floor cos Ute tray. Plan on a thick coating of bedliner when I'm done.

 

Next up is to paint the top of those bits, the cab end panel and corner upright and button this side back together.

Then the entire drivers side 

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Bit wet out to paint today, so I took all the tiny dings out of the cab end panel

Shrinker discs how good

 

The big one is a beast to use, but covers a big area quick, and it's really hard to mess up

[tortron]

Lots of bits in this. Looks good inside too, was expecting it to have been ragged to death judging from all the blown Buick 6 engines laying around the place i got it from

[tortron]

Spend all day

1. Cleaning and reassembling trans ☒

2. Making a one time use tool ☑

 

[tortron]

This is rusting away on my driveway. Tried to start it 6 months ago and it bent a valve or pushrod or something. 

Turn it into a shed

Bit long, off a b2000. Will probably need a trim to fit the 1st gen tray, which I will put a bolt in ladder rack front and back so this can fit