Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[uwbuurman]

[uwbuurman]

Dry fitting the donor:





Outlining and grinding it to size:



Recording how it should be welded originally:



Measuring and calculating.

[uwbuurman]

Sandblasted the edges and the pieces where the parts overlap and primered.





Stiched and measured





All good to go so welded it.

[uwbuurman]

After that I had a look at my crappy shocktower. The edge is in a bad nick and the side has to be repaired as well.



This pic is taken driversside (LHD), fire bulkhead, next to where the steeringcolumn goes thru.



This is the other side, in the wheelhouse. On the pic, the edge is already taken off.



Because this is a nasty spot, with no less than 4 pieces of metal that overlap, I cleared my donor some more. This piece we will use!





Took it apart and cleaned it up some more.



Next time sandblasting, reapiring, primering and welding.

[uwbuurman]

[uwbuurman]

The new corner is grinded down.







After that I went on with that very difficult 4 plated corner in the wheelhouse/bulkhead.

[uwbuurman]

Reattached the edge of the shocktower.



Next job is to sandblast it and put the triangle back on. But before that I have another chore. On the four wheelhouses are brackets for the brakelines. And yes they have an annoying tendency to rust. And yes Brové repaired it poorly… Welded in a plate, with half a bracket and tons of filler.



But again my donor is solid and rustfree.



I don’t have a lot of free time on my hands right now, so the next update will bring us much further in time…

[uwbuurman]

[uwbuurman]

For the fun of it:

I went from this:



to this:

[uwbuurman]

6 posts for the next page.

[uwbuurman]

After all the welding the last rust had to be cleared from the wheelhouse and shocktower. So I sandblasted it.



Looks like a beach…



After sandblasting I put Rustico gel on it. That’s a rustconverter, to clear the rust from the pores of the metal.



And in the epoxyprimer.

[uwbuurman]

Of course also painted in Polaris! But for welds to hold the metal has to meld together, so on the spots where welds will be, I have to clear off the paint, or else the weld won’t hold.



Triangle on, partly welded



All welded up.



And grinded off





zincsprayed.

[uwbuurman]

At the right side of the cart his plate was rotten at the top. On this side thats not the case, but I still need to take it off, because rust is starting to build up.



Sandblasted and covered in Rustico gel





Primered and welded.



And grinded down:

[uwbuurman]

Than on with the brakeline bracket. It’s been tempered with in a horrible way. Half the bracket is missing, the other half is not aligned and they used a boatload of filler to cover it all up.



Outlined



And out it goes. Together with the donor.



Otherside. Bad repair…

[uwbuurman]

Donormaterial to size and primered



Prepaired the wheelhouse



Stiched it in



And welded up.



Finished and zincsprayed.



This is the other side, in the enginebay.