Clive - Singer Chamois Sport

colimp66 · Post by **colimp66** » Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:17 am

A very neat job executed there Matt.
You aren't the only one to ever bend the piece you are making the wrong way

Glad you noticed it before welding it in as that would have been a lot more frustrating for anyone to do.

Keep up the good work.
Cheers
Col.

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 10:05 pm

Really great work, Matt! As above, you cannot see those repairs. Very neat indeed!

Keep up the brilliant work.

IM

tiker · Post by **tiker** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 8:33 am

colimp66 wrote:A very neat job executed there Matt.
You aren't the only one to ever bend the piece you are making the wrong way l.

Me too completely finished from the cardboard template then realised it was the wrong hand, worst part other side was solid

Keep up the good work

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 10:19 am

tiker wrote:
colimp66 wrote:A very neat job executed there Matt.
You aren't the only one to ever bend the piece you are making the wrong way l.
Me too completely finished from the cardboard template then realised it was the wrong hand, worst part other side was solid
Keep up the good work

You could have sold it on e bay for a fortune, rare good condition unavailable repair panel

colin rooney · Post by **colin rooney** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:58 pm

Nice bit of work there matt and great to see people like you and colin with the pest doing things as they should be

col

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 6:52 pm

colimp66 wrote:A very neat job executed there Matt.
You aren't the only one to ever bend the piece you are making the wrong way Glad you noticed it before welding it in as that would have been a lot more frustrating for anyone to do.

Keep up the good work.
Cheers
Col.

Thanks Colin! Was slightly annoying as it was tricky folding the lip upwards and then had to undo it. Its all part of learning.

ImpManiac wrote: Really great work, Matt! As above, you cannot see those repairs. Very neat indeed!

Keep up the brilliant work.

IM

Thanks Paul!

tiker wrote:
colimp66 wrote:A very neat job executed there Matt.
You aren't the only one to ever bend the piece you are making the wrong way l.
Me too completely finished from the cardboard template then realised it was the wrong hand, worst part other side was solid
Keep up the good work

HaHa thanks, at least I'm not the only one. I'm sure I'll do it again on this project with the amount of work still to do.

colin rooney wrote:Nice bit of work there matt and great to see people like you and colin with the pest doing things as they should be

col

Thanks Colin, its all a big learning curve but taking my time. Plus I've learnt a lot over the years reading threads on this great forum.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:11 pm

Firstly I hope you all had a good Christmas and looking forward to another year of Imping.

I'm backing this thread up a little bit as I realised I didn't show the O/S sill and floor before I took the angle grinder to it.

I think you can understand why I'm putting new floor panels and sills on.
It has seen better days to put it politely!

Should an Imp floor panel be 4 layers thick?

It took a while but all the spot welds were drilled out and what remained of the sill was removed. Better start making some panels I guess.

Take a piece of flat steel add a little bit of folding with a dash stretching it becomes an inner sill lip repair panel.

Annoyingly I didn't get a proper photo of welded in place but you can see it in the before photo of the A-Post.

Matt

rhydian_mason · Post by **rhydian_mason** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:53 pm

Very tidy work indeed. Another superb restoration by the looks of it.

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 1:44 pm

^^ What Rhydian said!

Superb work, as ever, Matt! Do you use a stretcher/shrinker or do you just pound the heck out of the metal with a hammer?

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 6:55 pm

rhydian_mason wrote:Very tidy work indeed. Another superb restoration by the looks of it.

Thanks Rhydian! Be another Imp saved when done as it was last on the road in 1994.

ImpManiac wrote:^^ What Rhydian said! Superb work, as ever, Matt! Do you use a stretcher/shrinker or do you just pound the heck out of the metal with a hammer?

IM

Thanks IM, all the stretching so far has been done by hitting it with a hammer but I've recently purchased a shrinker/stretcher so that has made panel fabrication a lot easier.

Matt

impmann · Post by **impmann** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:50 pm

Frightening thought... but this:

Would be good enough for an MOT pass, as its all seam welded and there are no holes on show. Yet it has the strength of a wet tea bag.

John Simister · Post by **John Simister** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:59 pm

Ah, the long-lost prototype Imp with the experimental monoside construction. You can see how they were trying out alternative ideas in the R&D department, with a view to reducing the number of pressings and speeding production. Amazing find.

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Feb 04, 2017 7:42 pm

impmann wrote:Frightening thought... but this:
Would be good enough for an MOT pass, as its all seam welded and there are no holes on show. Yet it has the strength of a wet tea bag.

Completely agree with you Tim, all I would have to done to MOT this was bleed the brakes, change the front tyres and put an engine in.

Here's a heater sill I made earlier.

And welded into place; in total 112 plug welds.

I clearly got carried away with fitting the floor panel as I have no photos of removing the old or welding in the new.

You can tell the 309 is a distant relative to the Imp. Made to measure!

So with the floor fitted into place better clamp the outer sill on and have look at the door gaps.
Door loosely sitting in its hole which as its not the original door the gaps aren't too bad. Will have a play about with the gaps when the car is back into it's wheels.

The outer sill got welded on and the end of floor/sill saga is finally near with only a small repair to do on the gear linkage tunnel and to clean back the welds. Only started on the sills on the 10 Nov 2015

Matt

impstress2003 · Post by **impstress2003** » Sat Feb 04, 2017 9:46 pm

Nice work Matt, it's awesome looking at all that new steel when it's welded down

Post by **Lars Hagermark** » Sat Feb 04, 2017 11:01 pm

Nice!!!

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:45 pm

Lovely work!

Your welds look to be of superb quality. Very consistent. I shall be aiming for that level of quality on mine.

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:08 pm

impstress2003 wrote:Nice work Matt, it's awesome looking at all that new steel when it's welded down

Lars Hagermark wrote:Nice!!!

Thanks Si and Lars!

ImpManiac wrote:Lovely work! Your welds look to be of superb quality. Very consistent. I shall be aiming for that level of quality on mine.

IM

Thanks IM, my plug welds have certainly improved as they use to be my weakness. Nothing like a bit of practise.

I had a quick play over the weekend turning a plastic storage container into a little blasting cabinet, its all a bit rough and ready but I just want to make sure the idea will work before investing time into it.

Engine mount the test piece.

Old rubber bush removed

And blasted. Well it works! Needs some fine tuning like a lid that actually seals and the gloves moving up a touch. I used soda which may be too fine for grubby stuff but once I sort out the issues I'll have a go with glass beads and hopefully that improve the finish.

Matt

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:21 pm

Awesome!

I like the idea of a cheap, DIY blasting cabinet. I don't have space for a floor standing one anyway. Any pictures of the cabinet?

IM

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:31 pm

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:47 pm

John Ross wrote:Matt

Your door gaps are going to be better than when they left the factory !

Not sure why you pulled that bush out though, it has thousands of miles left in it

John

Thanks John, hopefully with a bit of tweaking they'll be respectable.

ImpManiac wrote:Any pictures of the cabinet?

Here you go IM, I quickly put it together so its a bit rough just to test the idea out, but now I know it works I'll spend some time on it. It needs a better lid (one that actually seals) with a glass window mounted in it. Hopefully when the new lid is fitted the air outlet pipe works as intended with the abrasive particles being too heavy and dropping back into the cabinet if not I'll look at a filter or rigging up some sort of dust extractor.
Cabinet itself has cost £12 (Storage box £9, the gloves from Screwfix £2.80 and the pipe I already had) and then you've got the cost of the blasting gun and abrasive. And best of all when not in use it all fits nicely in the box.

Matt

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:13 pm

Hey Ive seen one of those things down the lab when theyre experimenting with the plague virus.

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:37 pm

That is neat and ingenious, Matt.

However, when the time comes for me to get a blast cabinet, I might look into one of the self-build units you can buy, or the plans to make your own.

My hat is off to you, though, sir!

IM

bks974c · Post by **bks974c** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:38 pm

MattorMatty wrote:Firstly I hope you all had a good Christmas and looking forward to another year of Imping.

I'm backing this thread up a little bit as I realised I didn't show the O/S sill and floor before I took the angle grinder to it.

I think you can understand why I'm putting new floor panels and sills on.
It has seen better days to put it politely!

Should an Imp floor panel be 4 layers thick?
It took a while but all the spot welds were drilled out and what remained of the sill was removed. Better start making some panels I guess.

Take a piece of flat steel add a little bit of folding with a dash stretching it becomes an inner sill lip repair panel.

Annoyingly I didn't get a proper photo of welded in place but you can see it in the before photo of the A-Post.

Matt

This is certainly a challenge, normally just rust to contend with but without many of the regular reference points for alignment its triple work.

Excellent work.

Scott

moose · Post by **moose** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 8:40 am

i am not wanting to put a downer on your blast cabinet but when you mention the costs to include gun etc i had a look at the cost of the cabinet i use for small items now £110 on a vat free night at machine mart they have come down in price a lot. secondhand they are very cheap http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SANDBLASTING- ... Sw2gxYqAEm

i can recommend them for small reasonably clean parts, you need a good compressor to keep up with them and you need a filter drier regulator to go in the air line otherwise the media gets clumpy with the damp air and the hose will not pick it up especially if you have too much media in the base of the cabinet. keep us posted on the final design and finished product and the media you choose for the finish.

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:37 pm

Thanks guys for the advice and suggestions, I'll have a look at getting a more suitable cabinet. I got a pressure fed pot one which is designed for aluminium oxide so hopefully last a little while and a large compressor with a water trap plumbed into the system.

Thanks Scott, certainly is a nice little challenge.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Jul 01, 2017 9:00 pm

Long time with no update but progress on Clive is still plodding along with the floor and sills all done the attention of the angle grinder and welder turned to the bottom of the front panel. When I got Clive he had a bib spoiler attached.

When removed showed it was filled with expanding foam and most likely fitted to hide the fact there was little metal left.

Once all the expanding foam and filler had been cleaned off it showed some lovely optional extra ventilation.

Well maybe the underside will be in better condition ...

Maybe not.

After a few measurement were noted down; the angle grinder got warmed up. Let the cutting begin! Luckily the chassis legs are rust free which was a nice surprise considering the condition of the surrounding metal.

Matt

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Fri Jul 07, 2017 2:10 pm

Yuck! Why do people do these things?

(Rhetorical question.) It certainly looks like you have got your work cut out on this project.

Where are the wheel arches from? They look wider than normal Imp arches but not as wide as the Bevan-style arches. I quite like them, actually.

IM

tiker · Post by **tiker** » Fri Jul 07, 2017 2:53 pm

What a mess
But with your skills I have no doubt she'll be looking good as new in no time

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:10 pm

Thanks IM! The wheel arches were homemade, fibreglass skin popped riveted to the body and then filler on the outside to blend them in and more filler in the wheel arches to seal them up. Funnily enough they weighed quite a lot when I pulled them off with all that filler used.

Thanks Gary! Slowly but surely it'll get there. I'm looking to forward to getting to the stage you are at, so close to some colour.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:44 pm

Small update and I'll like to apologies for a lack of photos coming up and what photos there is aren't the best but space is a bit limited as you've most likely have already worked out. Most of the work done in this update was done whilst sitting under a shelf, the joys of a single garage.

So cutting out the plates and rot left quite a nice hole on the front valance and surrounding floor as seen in the last update. John Ross; you did have to cut more out of George than I had to out of Clive. As the old plates ran from the corners to under the front suspension plate fearing the worst I drilled out the spot welds so I could cut off the old plates but lucky it was all solid under there so not sure why it was plated up but at least only the corners needed attention instead of the whole length of the valance floor.

Do you think lunchtime was called whilst this was being spot welded? As one corner wasn't even welded.

Made a new corner and even remembered to drill the drain holes which makes a change.

Same again on the otherside which I haven't got a photo for and you guys have to use your imagination on how they fit as no photo yet, I'll take one when its next rolled over and add on to a future update.

So with all the floor nice and solid again better make the valance itself. Took me two attempts as the first go I cut it roughly to shape but then couldn't roll the bottom curve along the length as there wasn't enough metal to handle in the middle section. So second attempt I left it as a rectangle and then rolled the bottom (which I did by tacking the ends to a piece of tube and then start to form it around the tube and kept moving it up until the panel was rolled enough) and then trimmed to shape followed by a quick visit the shrinker to give the slight curve.

Needs a skim a filler to blend in but at least not a can of expanding foam this time.

Matt

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Sun Aug 20, 2017 11:00 pm

Lovely work, Matty!

You're improving your skills all the time.

MattorMatty wrote:Needs a skim a filler to blend in but at least not a can of expanding foam this time.

Best avoided...

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sun Oct 22, 2017 8:16 pm

Update time!
Time for the first wheel arch panel to go on. The old arch had a new panel 'welded' on however it was slid behind the original rusty one and then 'welded' and seam sealed on, so the whole lot had to go.

New panel held in place for a little mojo boost.

Here you can see the previous repair to the arch, note the pop-rivets!

The old arch was cut out and the new panel was trimmed to fit the hole so inner arches how hard are they to make? ... Turns out very. Read stories about the fit of the inner arches available and not wanting to spend £80 a corner on something that's not going to fit so out came the grinder. I wanted to make each section as big as possible but trying to get all the curves correct was a bit of a nightmare as I got one correct and fitting nicely and the next pass through the shrinker for the next curve would throw the first curve out. Got there in the end, had to make each section smaller than I hoped.
All welded up and a couple of coats of Por-15.

The repair panel didn't quite cover all the rust on the front corner below the indicator, I do have the correct panel for this corner that was left over from the welding was done on EXF but I didn't want to cut up a £50 panel for such a small piece. So made the small piece with a return flange to be welded to the flange on the front panel.

All welded up and cleaned back.

The outer panel welded in to place, it will need a skim of filler but no where near the amount that came off.

A quick skim of filler and some paint to protect the new metal until paint prep later on.

Matt

impstress2003 · Post by **impstress2003** » Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:10 pm

Awesome work matt, making your own inner arches is very satisfying!

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Thu Oct 26, 2017 3:29 pm

As Simon said, well done!

That looks really good.

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:18 pm

ImpManiac wrote:As Simon said, well done! That looks really good.

IM

impstress2003 wrote:Awesome work matt, making your own inner arches is very satisfying!

Thanks guys! The comments are certainly appreciated in helping to keep the mojo up when faced with rust repairs.

Moving to the nearside rear wheel arch there are three areas of concern/previous patches/rust.
1- End of sill area which extends up in the seam of the two wheel arch sections.
2- Spring cone and surrounding area.
3- Random hole.

Area number 3 first seeing as its the smallest hole.

Its always a good sign when you start cutting a plate off and rust falls down ...

What a nice hole, I'd guess this was caused by a leaky rear side window as the parcel shelf area above is also completely rotten as well.

So the main section was cut out and replaced, I made it oversized initially and then used the stretcher to put the curve into the metal and then trimmed down to size and welded into place. Did take two attempts as on the first one I cut the angle on the top join wrong and when cut correctly it made the piece too small for the hole!

Moving on to the second piece which overlaps the first, was surprising tricky to do as the right hand edge is flat (ok, yes it has a slight curve to it so not exactly flat) but the left hand edge has a step so the little piece has to go from the step to flat in around inch and a half. I tried making it one piece with a curved transition from step to flat like it had from the factory but couldn't get it to fit, so I made it in two pieces in the same way i did with the exhaust heat shield ie welding the step into the flat.

Sorry I got carried away and didn't take a photo of the area before painting it with Por's, by the time the wheel arch is filled with dirt you hopefully wont by able to tell its been repaired.

Matt

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Wed Feb 07, 2018 9:26 pm

John,

I know what you mean about POR15 I've used it for a few years and never had a problem with it, until I painted the underside of spare wheel well area and that just flaked off and had to clean it off and redo it.

Matt

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:56 pm

Lovely work, Matt! Your car is coming along a treat.

IM

yoeddynz · Post by **yoeddynz** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:06 am

I'll be using some Por 15 on my Imp. I know from using it plenty of times in the past that it sticks really well to cleaned off dust and flake free rusty surfaces.
But what about on rusty items that is ever so slightly oily ? example- my trailing arms. Is there any advice on what I could clean such things with- I am guessing petrol followed by meths and bake it off in the sun so its nice and dry.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:23 am

yoeddynz wrote:I'll be using some Por 15 on my Imp. I know from using it plenty of times in the past that it sticks really well to cleaned off dust and flake free rusty surfaces.
But what about on rusty items that is ever so slightly oily ? example- my trailing arms. Is there any advice on what I could clean such things with- I am guessing petrol followed by meths and bake it off in the sun so its nice and dry.

Brake cleaner is excellent for removing oil and grease and it dries very fast too, you can buy it in 5 litre cans for only £15 as well works out far cheaper than buying in the small tins too.

yoeddynz · Post by **yoeddynz** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:00 am

Ahhh yes. Good idea. Our local Repco (NZ Halfords) always does specials on 5 large spray cans of brake cleaner. I'll use that. Then bake it super dry in the sun.

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:51 pm

I'd actually be more inclined to use a water-based degreaser. I have used Jizer in the past and it works well. I have had even better experiences with Bilt Hamber degreaser, though, although the name of it currently eludes me!

Mind you, I doubt either product is available in NZ.

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:54 pm

yoeddynz wrote:I'll be using some Por 15 on my Imp. I know from using it plenty of times in the past that it sticks really well to cleaned off dust and flake free rusty surfaces.
But what about on rusty items that is ever so slightly oily ? example- my trailing arms. Is there any advice on what I could clean such things with- I am guessing petrol followed by meths and bake it off in the sun so its nice and dry.

For bolt on parts I've used engine degreaser and then pressure washed off and left to dry. POR15 does have its own Cleaner Degreaser.

Matt

yoeddynz · Post by **yoeddynz** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:20 pm

ImpManiac wrote:I have had even better experiences with Bilt Hamber degreaser, though, although the name of it currently eludes me! Mind you, I doubt either product is available in NZ.

IM

Yeah I dont think there is any Bilt Hamber stuff available here. Shame. Its good stuff. I put five cans of the S50 cavity wax in our container (along with a Viva..) when we moved back to NZ in 2009.

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:09 pm

Lets get back to the rear nearside wheel arch to be more precise the rear sill area. It started of with one small patch (doesn't it always) cut it off to reveal a small hole on the wheel arch join seam.

Cleaning the area with the knot wheel made the hole 'slightly' bigger and spread further up the join.

Out came the slitting disc and the bad metal was removed, since I need to replace the rear wings I could cut an access hole to drill out the spot welds that hold the inner wheel arch return flange to the outside of the rear storage bin.

The new repair panel almost ready to be welded in.

Again sorry not the best photo but its all welded in.

Matt

ImpManiac · Post by **ImpManiac** » Mon Apr 09, 2018 3:01 pm

Great work!

Did you make the repair section up in pieces?

IM

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:22 pm

ImpManiac wrote:Great work! Did you make the repair section up in pieces?

IM

The wheel arch repair on the end of sill was one piece, on the other side I did in two pieces as on the first one I made the vertical strip fitted well but lower sill closing part didn't, so cut that off and remade that section.

Update on the Chamois is that its off the rotisserie and onto axle stands so I can fit the rear body cross member to help get the Expressed lower rear wings panels all lined up. Lately haven't been in the mood to do rust repairs even though I'm close to finishing them so turned my attention to the something else; wheels. The car will sit on standard steels that have blasted and then primered and sprayed in a generic Old English White which will be the same colour as the stripe going to be.

Matt

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:35 pm

Standard hub caps and wheel trims too?

MattorMatty · Post by **MattorMatty** » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:59 pm

The Nun wrote:Standard hub caps and wheel trims too?

Standard hub caps = Yes
Wheel trims = I doubt it but I've got a set in case I change my mind

Matt

tiker · Post by **tiker** » Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:53 pm

Some great work there Matty you will be overtaking me soon my cars been sat for months just other things on at the moment keep going it's getting better every day

Regards Gary

yoeddynz · Post by **yoeddynz** » Sun Jun 24, 2018 9:44 pm

Do or have many people widened the standard Imp 12" wheel? I'm guessing its not really worth doing due to lack of decent wider tyres though..

I love the look of standard steels with shiny hubcaps... especially widened. My Viva on its widened steels.... (car now sold but i have a set of them for the HB wagon