Mazda-Menders

Hi, so starting my next restoration project.

Managed to get my White Mk1 into the garage today ready to start a few months swearing, cursing, spending far to much but, hopefully getting there in the end.

Couple of photos to set the scene.




Jobs will include, new sills /arches, new wings, straighten the drivers door were its be closed against the seat belt bodywork before respray, and interior make over.

Target Summer Rally

Look forward to menders advice and encouragement. I will need it!

A real menders project>

M-m

Always worth saving the white ones......Keep us posted

Still need a decent white passenger wing for mine if you come across one.

Hi Menders, Merry Christmas to everyone.

Little update on my latest project. Managed to get some time today to start the process of removing the rot.


On first inspection the arches don't look to bad.




However as we know, its what you can't immediately see that can be the problem. A good inspection underneath showed the effect of a poorly applied underseal. Its formed a second skin that has delaminated from the metal and formed a prefect water trap leading to a a completely rotten inner sill. I could literally pick off the underseal in big chunks.


So more that I bargained for. But a 2 owner 50k miler has got to be worth some effort?



Front wing is also a goner, inner wing wire brushed and rust treated ready for a decent Upol primer.

M-m

Update on progress made. Door and rear bumper removed, typical issue with the 8 off 14mm bumper retaining bolts in that one started spinning (luckily the one of the bottom ones) and had to be cut off, and two snapped the retaining bolts due to corrosion. Door was less problematic.

In between times, the inner wing was wire brushed and de rusted, rust treated, and etch primed.


Moving back to the rear arch, the bottom section is gone and needs replacing.


and whilst the inner wing looks not to bad, after a more detailed inspection it also needs replacing. To just clean this up and rust treat would be a false economy in my opinion. see photos below




So a complete re-fabrication, which should make spot welding the replacement wing in place straightforward at least

To fabricate the inner wing I'm using 25mm angle section, which I cut into manageable lengths. A metal shrinker/stretched is invaluable for forming the necessary curve of the arch. So starting at the bottom I made the most difficult bit. I purposely have made the return flange to wide at this stage so I can trim to the inner and outer arch profile to match (see drawn line).


Once this section was made (about 2 hours work) as this needed cutting and welding to get the tight radius) I moved on to the next section. Here you can see this clamped in place. The stretcher being used to stretch the upright flange of the angle and hence form the main curve of the arch. Note the 4 cuts on the return flange in order to follow the inward radius of the arch. These will be welded together once finished.


More of the same for the third and fourth section.



and then a trial fit of the new inner sill.


A good days work for me, not to many mistakes and a sense of achievement
Next step will be to finish the last section of the inner arch and then cut out the old and start the welding.

As always, please if anyone spots any issues or mistakes please reply and let me know!!!!!

Thanks

Lovely job


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi folks,

Been a while since I posted, spent a long time with lots of head scratching as construction of the inner floor to sill has been a lot of trial and error. No parts available so a complete home fabrication. However with the worry of getting this wrong would undoubtably cause problems with the new sill panel alignment and in turn the front wing fixing and rear arch alignment. Started to think I had bitten off more than I could handle

However, I decided to work from the front arch toward the rear arch, so several attempts later, I ended up with the first sill to floor section fabricated and tack welded in place.


Believe me this took a lot of effort. The hardest thing being no real datum point to work to when forming the bottom flange that the sill spot welds to. In addition, making sure the flange is square and straight is a challenge!!!
Plenty more to do!


Having got the front section in place, I'm midway through constructing the next section (the original sill to floor seems to be made using 3 sections so I'm following this method for the replacement plus my sheet metal folder will only fold up to 600mm in length).

Couple of more photos showing progress.




So about halfway there with the new sill to floor section but loads more work before I can weld in the sill!!

Still feels like i'm making progress. Albeit slowly!!!!!

Now that is some skill right there. Do take many pics and share so we can enjoy the rebuild

Love it .
M-m

Way out of my league, some good mending going on here

Been a month since my last update - slow progress :(

Anyway been struggling with the rear sill closure panel. All rusted so cut out. Third attempt at get in somewhere near right (maybe my standards are a bit high??) this is version 3.




Its a complex section with lots of compound curves.

In-between versions 1 to 3, I've made the inner support sections to the sill floor. These are cut out and pressed sections on the original for stiffness I assume. So decided to add a few swaged holes on my replacements for stiffness. Swaged hole firm the sheet metal up nicely. Pleased with this. See results below.





Hopefully, getting towards the end of all the inner sill fabrication work.

your doing a great job, perfection takes time, god knows how many times i made a part, on my triumph ive even welded it on then ground off again as it wasnt right,
keep going the works brill and the thread is a great read for us.

Fujikun,

Thank you for your support. Such a shame there aren't more repair sections for Mk1's. Surprised based on the number of vehicles sold world wide. Just wondered if we run a poll what sections people would like to see produced. May just inspire someone or even Mazda to do a limited press run. Maybe dreaming be just a though.