Tiger Tamer Posted December 9, 2023 Author Share Posted December 9, 2023 One side nearly done. I will just tack the top spring perch's in for now. I should have taken some photo's of the fish plates before welding them in. I will do so for the other side. There are 3mm plates each side and 3mm welded in to the under side of the original chassis rails. Boxed three sides I suppose. It would have been nice to have the holes in the plate welded in nice and pretty like some do with their tig welders, but it just wasn't going to happen with the mig. I will make up the plates for the other side tomorrow and clean up the chassis rails ready to weld them in. I have plenty of wire, plenty of gas but a few aches and pains as well, lol. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted December 10, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 10, 2023 I made up the plates for the passenger side today and took some pic's. I made a start on welding in one of the plates. I will leave it there for today. It will be interesting to see how it sits with the Avenger springs in. The minx is about 100kg heavier. I think I will need to get some shorter springs made to get it sitting where I want it. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted December 17, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 17, 2023 I cleaned up the other Avenger spring top spring perch and welded on the plates to attach it to the chassis. I tacked it in place and lifted the diff back up into position and fitted the upper track arms and offered up the springs. I got one side in but trying to fit the other side the car became very unstable being only a shell and being up high. I decided to abandon that side before I wore the car, which is still quite heavy. I think I will wait until the car is down a lot lower. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted December 22, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2023 Today I mounted the hand brake cable back onto the Avenger diff and brought it around to the Minx hand brake lever. I needed to make up a bracket to connect it but all else fitted up well. So that worked out well and now I have a working handbrake. I also put the rear springs in and bolted the front X member back in with the springs but without any shocks yet. I wanted to see how it sat with the stock Avenger rear springs and 50mm cut from the Minx front springs. I threw in the seats a full fuel container a battery the intake, alternator etc to try and get it as close as I could to the weight it will be. Still needs fluids, bumpers and a few other smaller items. So this is how it sits at the moment which is quite promising. I might drag it outside tomorrow and give it a bath and have a decent look. If I want it lower it would not be by much. Once I have decided I will get new front springs made and rear if I want it lower. Back on it's wheels for the first time must call for a small celebratory refreshment I would think. Sort of like a roof shout. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted December 22, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2023 A comparison pic. Not the same angle but you can see the difference. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Tamer Posted December 29, 2023 Author Share Posted December 29, 2023 All pulled apart again now. Happy enough with it's stance to carry on as is. It will settle a little. I thought I would give the vinegar bath rust removal a go and it's cleaned the rust of the lower trailing arms nicely. You need to do a bit of scrubbing which I found scotch pad good for. Then a couple of coats of POR15 to keep them protected. It's bloody good stuff when done properly. Tuff as hell. I know with POR15 you have to be real careful not get any in the rim when you put the lid back on, BUT this is a brand new can and the first time open and I only just got it off. Luckily the wife has gone back into town so she will get me some new lids from the paint shop I got the can from. 7 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Tamer Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, give yourself a good kick up the butt and redo something that just wasn't right let alone aesthetic. The firewall bugged me and it could have been welded in better. I stuffed up and didn't drop the top piece down far enough and then added to it which didn't go that well. It all started to get a bit out of shape. Fugly really. So today the start of a new year I made a start on a new firewall. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted January 2 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 2 I cut the rest of it out this morning so it will be mainly two pieces. It will be tidier and stronger, I think. I made up a cardboard template which was a little oversize and then transferred it to 1.2mm panel steel and added another 30mm around it just to be sure I won't end up short anywhere. Already glad I did. Slowly bent it into shape but I will need a few more fasteners to hold it in place before the final marking and trimming. Starting to look promising I think. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted January 7 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 7 Mainly done. I need to weld in a small piece to fill the hole you can see in the pic's. It's that shape to give a bit more clearance for the odd square corner of the Honda engine. Also, another piece to fill the tight corner up on the right. It will make a little shelf but will be ok. I am pretty happy with the welding. I seem to have good penetration and not too much build in the main. I have taken a few high starting lumps off but it won't need much more. Some filler will be needed to smooth of top join (I suppose I am allowed to being sheet metal), but I still need to weld that from the inside as well. I think it is coming along well. Far better than my first attempt which was not so good but still gave me a stepping stone to doing a much better job the second time. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted February 10 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 10 A small update. I did get it all welded in and I am pretty happy with it. Of course, I finished it off when the temp was hitting over 32deg which was not the best day to pick to finish it. You need all the protection you can get when doing overhead welding. I had to repaint the firewall anyway as that is where I got some fish eyes. But I have changed my mind on the colour and have decided to go non metalic. I found a pic of a Mini Copper but could never find the colour (which floats my boat) it was painted but I found this link to matching paint from a photo. I will depend greatly on where you select the area of the car you are trying to find the colour. I gave it a go with the Mini pic and this is the closest match I got. Looks pretty good to me. I will get some mixed and see how it looks. Anyway it's good fun having a play with it. https://www.resene.co.nz/swatches/colourmatch.php#:~:text=To get matching%2C either enter,to get your colour match. Colour match was from the bonnet. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted February 29 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 29 I thought I better get myself some new shocks. Looks like the use by date is up for the original ones. They did give me the ability to work out what I needed to do and also gave me the top mounting bracket. I didn't want to carry on with the shock mounts until I new they were going to mount the same way. Most replacement shocks for the Avenger are just the usual pin type mount. Gaz have made them as original, Cool. So now I know they mount the same I made up the passenger side mount. Still needs to be test fitted and trimmed a little. The drivers side I have ready to weld in once the weld through primer dries. Well tomorrow really as all this cutty grindy weldy stuff makes you thirsty. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted March 1 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 1 I managed to get the driver side welded in. Man, that took some time. By the time I clamped it in place (the easy bit) then put the 4 bolts in to hold it to the boots sheet metal. Then used some metal screws in between the bolts to hold the sheet metal to the shock mount. Then welded the bracket to the boot floor and the chassis fish plate. Once that was welded in I had to fit and weld the top plate which sandwiches the boot floor between the two. I made the top plate a little smaller in size so when I welded it, I was welding to the weld and bottom plate so I could use a bit more heat. Same procedure with bolts and screws and then welded it in. Welding went well really (well I think), though not that easy being folded in two inside the boot for some of it. Should have taken the pic before I sprayed on the weld through. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Tamer Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 Anyway. Slight F*#%$ up. I should have just tacked it in place and wrestled the diff back up in place and CHECKED the F*&%$#g thing. When I went to fit the shock in place it was in the wrong place. The diff must have moved on me when I was originally setting it up so what I thought was the correct place to weld it in was to far out to leave. It wasn't as bad to remove as I thought it would be. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted March 24 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 24 So I decided to make it one piece which I should have done the first time. It makes it much easier to get both sides the same. Pretty much the same design apart from that, with the boots sheet metal sandwiched between the two pieces. All just being tacked together for now until I am sure it is right. Shouldn't need an additional brace between the two sides now. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted April 14 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 14 Some more boring old shock mount photo's. It's been a while as I ran out of gas and time but finally found the time and bought some gas so I was back into it. I did make up another top piece, so it didn't have the added middle section. I drilled lots of holes and used bolts mainly and some clamps to sandwich it all together. Welded up the plug holes and then the bolt holes. I will weld around the edge as well both underneath and the top piece but I will only weld it in about 25mm sections 50mm apart should do. I certainly think it is better being one piece going the width of the car. Certainly easier to get both sides the same. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted April 21 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 21 A bit more progress with a fillet piece welded in and the sheet metal replaced covering over the fish plates etc. I have also replaced the section I had to remove in the rear seat for the top trailing arm on the drivers side. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted May 5 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 5 All welded in now. I made some covers for the top trailing arm bolt holes and gave it all a coat of etching primer. Thats pretty much the diff install complete which was a fair amount of work in the end. Who said it was going to be easy. Yeah I know it was I. I removed the front bushes from the lower trailing arms as I am going to replace them all with Super pro, BUT they don't have any in stock, so I have to put an order in and wait until they make another batch. Luckily, I have another set of lower trailing arms so I can at least carry on and install the diff and do the drive shaft and brakes etc.  11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted May 18 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 18 While waiting on the new Super Pro suspension bushes to be put back into production I did some googling and found some in the UK which are now on their way. So, while waiting I decided to work on the brakes and replace all the hard lines with new. I bought a 12m roll of 3/16 tube and made-up new lines for the diff and the one from the MC to the distribution block them to the rear. Still have the fronts to do. I went flash and bought a new fancy tube flare tool which is now my new best friend. How easily it makes perfect single, bubble and double flares is super cool. I striped down the MC to see how the bore looked. At first inspection it didn't look well. It was quite rusty around the circlip end so I thought it maybe junk. Though once apart the bore was clean, so I will get some new seals for it. I will give the outside a couple of coats of por15 if a test on some is resistant to brake fluid.  13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tiger Tamer Posted May 26 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 26 I had the original clutch MC ready to install until I realized it took 1/4" tube and not 3/16" which the Toyota slave cyl fitting was. So off into town and BNT found a replacement with a 3/16 fitting. I did have to enlarge the hole in the firewall a few mm and drill a new hole in the push rod end so it was the correct length. Also fitted the brake MC and fitted the pedals back in. I made up a new line for the Clutch MC to the slave. I bent up some #8 wire to shape first to give me a pattern as it had a few bends in it. Certainly helped. Then I dropped the engine and gear box back out. Now I need to bolt the intake and all the accessories back on and reconnect the wiring loom so next time it goes back in it's in hopefully. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Tamer Posted May 30 Author Share Posted May 30 I have the gas tank all painted up and now fitted back into the car. I have decided to go with an external pump since I already have a couple that should be fine to pump fuel to a surge tank. I also had already cleaned and coated the inside of it with por15 fuel tank coating and didn't' want to redo it. If it is too noisy, I will find another tank and modify it at a later date. At least I can now get on with it. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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