N/A california restoration

[Mazda Mender]

Great work
M-m

[fujikun]

hi, got the rear of the sill finished today, made the little sill patch i had to cut out to gain access, the profile of the actual sill and the new rear fender is different,
so it was a bit awkward to make,when ground up it will require a skim of filler to make level.
i have only rough ground the welds down at this point, i will do all when i do the body for paint. so i have just primed them for now.
weather says rain tomorrow and monday, so hopefully tuesday i will start the front of the sill.

[fujikun]

hi, i have a couple of days off this week and had the time to focus on the mazda, the drivers side back end is finished ie welded, i will seem seal it and grind the weld on the rear wing later. i am trying to get all the major welding done this summer.
i am at the front of the drivers side now, and its not as bad as i thought. the passenger side front looks worse.

when removing the front fender, the bolts snapped at the sill end. its awkward to drill them out, so i cut out the whole piece and made up a new section with captive nuts welded in. i also took the option of making the nuts 8mm instead of 6mm in an aid to them maybe not snapping in future, although hopefully i`ll not need to take the
front wing off again after paint.
a few pictures showing before and after the rot was cut out, i have welded the new wing mount piece in, and will carry on today.
it looked like someone before had jacked the car on the chasis rail, this has been cut out as was bent and rusty.

[drumtochty]

Great work and effort.

I'm doing a welding course in September so hope to get to a similar level to you but I assume that will take some time.

I assume you are using a Gas fed MIG.

eddie

[fujikun]

Great work and effort.

I'm doing a welding course in September so hope to get to a similar level to you but I assume that will take some time.

I assume you are using a Gas fed MIG.

eddie

yes eddie, i have a portamig 185 with a half size argon bottle from adams gas. best advice is obviously practice, and get the best weld machine you can afford.

[fujikun]

hi, got on with the front again today, and almost finished it. the pics are self explanitory. should finish this side tomorrow. then i can turn it for the passenger side.
all the repair panels have been sprayed with zinc primer prior to welding, and i will get some cavity wax in there before summers out.
guess its a bit of a mammoth task, but i enjoy doing it, and heres hoping it will last another 20 years. all the repair sections i made out of 1.0mm plate so its fairly sturdy.

[fujikun]

a couple of before and afters

[Dean m]

Fantastic, great work gives me some real inspiration.
think I will now use zinc primer before welding my repair panels.

[Mazda Mender]

What have you done for the jacking point for new reinforcement and the sill drainage holes front and rear?
M-m

[fujikun]

Morning mm, i will drill a couple of drain holes front and rear with my hole cutter when finished, i did it already on my eunos. the jacking points, i tend to use my trolley jack,
but good point incase i get a puncture when out, the sill is strong enough as is, i tried it. but its easy enough to go back and weld in a couple of strengh pads front and back for the scissor jack. i`ll get on it .

[Mazda Mender]

Morning mm, i will drill a couple of drain holes front and rear with my hole cutter when finished, i did it already on my eunos. the jacking points, i tend to use my trolley jack,
but good point incase i get a puncture when out, the sill is strong enough as is, i tried it. but its easy enough to go back and weld in a couple of strengh pads front and back for the scissor jack. i`ll get on it .

M-m

[fujikun]

well at long last got the drivers side finished today, as wayne said need to drill a couple of drain holes and weld some jacking points on. i am back at work tomorrow, so i will knock some stiffener plates up and weld them all on together.
today was just closing up the holes where the rot had been cut out. again all 1.0 plate.
once its all painted up with rustbuster primer and underbody it will look good.

[fujikun]

hi, re waynes suggestion i made and welded a couple of jacking points front and rear. and drilled drain holes front and rear.
that finished the welding on the drivers side,i seem sealed it. and all the new steel is primed up ready to paint with underbody paint which i will do when the hole car is finished.
i turned the car around, removed the front wing and away we go again on the passenger side.
this looks a bit worse than the other side, and i know now how the inner sills are constructed. so i never chopped anything out straight away just made up the first repair panel. took me 3 hours to make with just a hammer and vice, and my home made bench folder. its a long time but i use this panel as a kind of datum and everything
ties into it. so for me it pays to get it right.
the pics show the drivers side jacking points and drain hole.
the car ready to operate on.
the front sill rot
the rear sill rot
the 3 hour repair panel

[fujikun]

Managed to get on with the wheel arch section today.
i found the double curve part of the wheelarch that was all rotten was very hard to make being double curved but i managed it after about 3 goes.
the rest is fairly straight forward. the main sill is ok, but a little surface rust inside, i wire brushed this, and made up a brush to paint rustbuster inside. i`ll use the same method to paint it.the first pic shows the inside part where the roof drain comes out, this was left long and i`ll cut it down to fit as i get the other repair panels in.

[flea]

Coming on a treat