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Fantastic work Jack :thup2:

Ian

Both pillars are now done and a trial fit found them slightly misaligned which I did expect. They bolted down neatly so I heated both to relieve any stress that would have lead to cracking.

Then the short gutters after being derusted were reattached and the welds ground up. Good to have this fiddly repair out of the way.

Two completed rooves for sandblasting completed with timber supports. There is still a couple of side pieces of timber to make up once the cross supports are refitted in to the front section of the rooves.

Time to put the rear chassis rails and floor back together. First pick up the body and put it on the work bench.
Not many vehicles you can restore on a workbench!
First was to cut a small piece of pipe to insert inside the chassis as a crush tube for the damper arm mount as this is in a different position of a car chassis. I folded a channel section and insert inside the chassis where they joined. Smoe holes were drilled so a few extra plug welds could be added. As the outside pice of chassis runs unbroken past this joint I think it will be plenty strong enough.
Some other pieces of steel were clamped top and bottom to align the pieces.

The holes along the length of chassis rail were plug welded and then the ends of the sill panel were capped off.

In modifying a Tilly from an original car chassis the B pillar is simply moved back about eight inches or so to accomodate a wider door. When initially examining these vehicles I thought a repair patch had been added to the sill section but all that was done was a filler piece was added in factory to make up for where the original B pillar was intended to be located. So I had to do the same.

Original bump stop plates were added.

Then the floor was ready to replace. There is one rotten piece that needs patching and the rear fold was too rusted and bent so I added a new piece.

This is the side profile of the rear floor when I initially removed it. The box section was rusted out so I removed it to open this area up for sandblasting.

Chris intends to tow a trailer (read custom tear drop Tilly camper yet to be designed and built) so a tow bar is required. There is not a lot to attach a tow bar to on the chassis of a Tilly so in repairing the rear box section of the floor (which welds between the ends of the chassis rails) I decided to reinforce that area.
A piece of 3mm sheet was first folded to replace the rusted box section I had cut out. Another 3mm piece was folded to add inside.
I will weld nuts inside this section to pick up and support the tow bar. There is two holes with crush tubes about half a metre from the chassis rail ends that can be utilised to fix the front end of the tow bar. This will be adequate support for the tow bar which I can fabricate once all this is in place.

When I removed the floor I drilled all the spot welds with a spot weld drill. I left the bottom welds intact after cutting them so I could realign the rear of the chassis rails with exactly where they had originally joined the floor. The rails had crept in a bit with the welds so I needed a porta power to spread them slightly.

The rear box section with internal half inch nuts in place to attach the tow bar was welded in and then the ends of that section welded to the ends of the chassis rail. The right side of the floor lined up correctly so I tacked it in a few places to get that side supported.

The left side was out of alignment by about three quarters of an inch. Nothing a little persuasion with a 'porta power' couldn't correct.

The floor is now welded in, which just left the small patch to do. The patch needed to match the cut off ends of the rotted floor ribs so after welding a flat patch in I heated it up and gently tapped the profile of the ribs in where required. Needs a little more dressing with a hammer and dolly but I can't access it properly in this position so I will finish it off when I can turn the chassis on its side. A few heat shrinks were required also to pull the front area of the floor into better shape and there are just a few welds to grind up.

Fantastic job there Jack. This is a part of all the hard work that is not seen when it's finished. With all the photos taken with peoples different job it is a great guide and documentation for other people to see as well. :thup2: :thup2:

Thanks Colin. Yes I'm just thankful it is a little car that can be easily tossed around to make the work easier. So far I don't think it has suffered from any heat distortion.

Rooves have been blasted and the original just needs a small patch where it had been previously rusted through and filled. The folds inside above the sills are a bit untidy but will be convered with masonite trim eventually so we can live with that.

Chris has started working on the body side panels marking and drilling holes.

Caught in the act... see i do stuff!

Whilst Mr Collins concentrated on marking holes I spent some time grinding up the welds on the additions to the chassis.
Measured up requirements for the tow bar which I will make up once I get the required steel.
Rear section is now ready to seal and paint. I think.

Pictures of the rooves as earlier mentioned. First was to add the rib on the car roof to match the original Tilly. There is a piece of rope which fits between to rib and roof to stop vibration I suppose. Some grinding of the rib to allow access to the bolts securing the supporting timber strut. Also reattached the small gutter pieces to the car roof.

Also filled the couple of small rusted out areas on the original roof after welding in patches.

Some filler and sanding.

Two rooves patched and given a coat of fishoil and once that has dried they will be primed and painted.

Pictured is once of the several rear bumpers Chris had to choose from. A somewhat failed attempt at providing a tow bar. Hopefully my design will provide a little more resistance.

Chris had sorted the best of the front and rear tow bars and supporting brackets. A little straightening and they are ready for sandblasting.

I looked at the rear inner guard boxes as they will be ready for use soon. These had been blasted and primed but on closer inspection there is a few too many areas that will need patching and a lot of shape to put back in. I think new ones are in order. I will take the box from this rusty old side and disassemble it as a pattern.

I completed another patch to go in the chasis where the battery had rusted a hole in the firewall. I cut out the damaged section and formed up a patch. It needs a curved rib formed in the centre so first I did two folds. I don't have a folder but I find you can do a lot with angle iron and G clamps.

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Looking good Jack, one thing if you need to fold something up call pass you can use my folder :thup2:.


Ian

I needed a way of pressing in the curve and co-incidentally this arrived today. A small folding tool. Just the right size to put a piece of round bar in the V section. Just had to move it along and press it slowly. Once that was done I dressed the edges with a bolster and hammer.