Roverjoe

Okay next up, the rest of the sill and front jacking point and floor. The whole sill from front to back was GONE nothing left hardly, Thankfully it did not creep too far up, although i did cut out the bottom part of the back where the floor was spotwelded to as i didnt know if that seam was compromised from the otherside. When replacing the lower section where the floor meets i made sure that the car was supported and i also only did it in section so i didnt move the floor too much. It looks a bit rough but that lower edge was grinded straight for when i put the rest of the sill on. A photo of what i cut out A Before and After! Next bit was to weld the outer sill. Here is it is with the cover on, Panel gaps are slightly out as the doors are not yet put on properly. but it gives you an idea. Next up is the front jacking point This was some seriously thick metal and many layers of it, and with it being upside down it was very awkward to get accurate cuts with the grinder. Rot Cut out and new metal put into the floor. Not the best welding as i was upside down. Reinforcer piece put in then that was plug welded to the floor as from how it was done at factory with the spotwelds. Another piece made for the inner section of the jacking point. added some drain holes too! all Electrox Zinc Primed Then the outer section was welded in the new jacking point panels from Discount MG Rover Spares are spot on! and are made from 2mm steel so thicker than the original! All welded in Rest of the outer sill welded in, sadly i forgot to take photos of the inside section, it was all cut out replaced with fresh metal and the areas where the bolts go in for the wing were cut out, sand blasted, and re welded back in. Another section of the sill being welded in as this had to go under the jacking point piece so was left till last as it was easier to plug weld them from the inside rather than upside down. A Couple of Before photos And After Photos! The Floor inside was all stripped to bare metal and epoxy primed Photo of the car with all the work done! New Grommets were installed alongside new seam sealer. Very happy with the result. And just like that, the interior is back in! Im going to be doing some more work on it over winter, such as brakes and suspension, nothing bodywork wise as its too cold to paint etc. so that will be done next year, hopefully the car will be ready for an MOT around april time next year depending on weather!

Okay so i said id do an update some time ago and never got round to it, to cut a long story short, all the welding is now fully complete and the car now has its interior back in. but i thought id show you the work that i have done over the past year. Starting off with the Rear Drivers side sill, this side is the worst, The Passenger side was not too bad compared to this. so i started cutting away to see what the extent of it was. As you can see it is quite bad. Luckily the back part of the inner sill is nice an rust free, very solid in fact on both sides! It has only really crept up on the edges and further down to the front. I cut out the bottom bit as i am completely replacing the whole sill as it is knackered to say the least. A new section was made for the back part of the sill This section is the part where the trailing arm bolts up into, the lip was rusty, i was not happy leaving it like that so it was also repaired with 1.2mm steel not the cleanest job but strong and then filled with S50 Cavity Wax. some more reconstruction work of the rear sill because i cut away all the rust i had very little to work with to get the shape right so i had to make sure that it all lines up hence why i put a little piece in to the right of the image to give me a guide. It was also done to make sure the sill overlaps the middle section as the sill is made in 3 bits, Rear, Middle and Front, it is plug welded at the seam shown on this photo. Here is the sill panel all ready to be welded in making sure that it is also all lined up. A good photo to show the extent of the cutting that i have had to do on this side due to the rot. I thought if i have the whole panel then why not just replace the whole section, its easier, quicker and makes for a neater repair. More Cutting showing the extent of the rust around the wheel arch area. Not terrible but also not good. Some Crappy looking plug welds later and its finally in. I should really have removed more of the factory coating but nevermind... The main thing is is that the welds are strong and have plenty of penetration on the backside, they can be grinded down later. The wheel arch more opened up showing the extent of how much ive had to cut out. With even more to come! Because you cant get the inners for these ive had to make it myself, it was a pain but we got there in the end. I cut it down and got it welded in, Doesn't look pretty yet but will do later on down the line once finished. Next was to sort out this lip behind the bumper as rust had got there too! Lots more cutting atleast the rust wont come back, Right? A new boot floor lip made for the outer skin to weld onto. Another little patch repaired Fabricated the lower section of the inner arch where it comes down and meets the bit behind the bumper Here is the Inner Arch All welded up. Im pretty chuffed with that to say im a novice at this sort of stuff and it being my first car to restore. Heres it with the bumper on. A photo of all the rot ive had to cut out! Some more fabrication work, A new jacking point! Testing fitment of the Genuine wheel arch, The other one was used for backup in case i messed up. Inner arch all finished. Some more little reinforcers done for the Rear sill. Getting the Alignment right for the rear quarter panel, i butt welded rather than joggled. All tacked in place. all welded, put the bumper on to test fitment too. By no means perfect but for a first try at a wheel arch its not terrible, a few pin holes which were filled later. Lower section of the sill with the new jacking point welded. Some filler work to be required i think Atleast the panel gaps are good I will do this post in 2 sections, the next being the front sill and jacking point just to make sure it uploads with all the images etc, Overall im happy with the result, i think i could have made the wheel arch tidier but for a first time its not horrendous.

Hi Dave, Sorry for the late reply. the filler neck on mine was a sod to remove as it was rusty, and the rubber pipe had hardened and lost its flexibility. the trailing arm and strut got in the way, so i had to lower the tank down and kind of feed it through. Good news is though, if yours is rusty a Rover 45 filler neck will be identical and probably much tidier.

Apologies for the Lack of updates, Im still on with the Restoration and will get some updates posted soon!

yeah its all coming together now for the suspension, ive just managed to remove the trailing arm bush today without the tool, a big hammer and a saw to cut the sleeve. A Nightmare but glad its done. Ive got the Arms painted up. still need to do the Trailing arm though. Ill probably do that after i install the new bush so i dont knacker up the fresh paint.

today was the day i removed the trailing arm, its been 2 days worth of work trying to get it to come off as so many bolts were properly seized on and i could not reach them with the arm on the car. It meant having to cut the ABS cable, the Handbrake Cable and also the Brake line. Not too worried as all those are getting replaced anyway. The majority of the bolts came out without snapping apart from one which was the LCA bolt to Trailing arm leaving me with a situation where i had to cut the arm. Yet again not a problem as im putting new ones on. Once the arm was off then i was able to remove the tricky bolts. I gave the arm a clean up to be pleasantly surprised at how little corrosion there was on the arm, the hub and spindle are a different matter though so i will get them cleaned up. I managed to remove the remains of the Lower control arm that were stuck in the trailing arm. it has left a bit of thread behind in the trailing arm so i will aim to try and weld a nut onto that and try and free it off that way!

So over the winter months i have been refurbishing numerous parts off the car. Stuff like the Fuel Tank, Straps, Filler neck etc. This is the filler neck off my car, its pretty rusty, however thankfully no holes, I cleaned it up best i could and treated any rust, then etch primed it. once that were done, i then painted it satin black. Next up was the Rear Lower Control arms, These are a Spare set so thankfully i can do them whilst not having to have the car in bits. These can be really expensive brand new nearing like £300 for one arm. Here is the Arm being painted, all the Rust was removed, it was then Primed and painted Black, once set the Mating surfaces for the bolts were then cleaned up to look original. Finally The Fuel tank. At first i was thinking of buying a new one but it turned out that the one i had was not that bad in the end. when i took it off the car it looked very corroded but after cleaning it, it came up well. I also noticed the fuel pump was also covered in that same underseal used on the underside of the car its a bit of a blessing and a curse as its protected the fuel pump really well, however it was an utter pain in the backside to clean up. Still even had the Original Bosch sticker on it underneath lmao For the fuel tank i wanted to remove all the rust and then stonechip it to protect it from further road exposure. So i went out and got some generic Hammerite stone chip to do the job. I was pretty chuffed with how it came out, a nice smooth finish, which was what i was after. I did put it on thick in some areas mainly around the edges and the lip of the tank to prevent any rust from creeping in. I finally after many hours got the pump stripped down and cleaned up. surprisingly it came up really well not as much rust as i thought there would be either. I didn't get many photos of the process between this and fitting it all back as it was getting dark and i just wanted to get the thing done. I painted the top of the fuel pump with some brush on hammerite black as it was the only thing i had lying around at the time, the finish could have been better but to be honest its gonna be under the car and covered up so its not exactly in view and it will just protect it from rusting out. But there we go, all refurbished with new clamps and nuts, all cleaned up and painted. Im pretty pleased with the outcome of this. Just need to get round to doing the Straps next and fitting the pads back on I managed to get the straps done today also. They were pretty rusty at the ends however, they weren't horrendous. So i removed all the rust/paint/underseal and got them back to bare metal to be etch primed. Once that had set i then put the Satin Black paint on. I managed to find some Rover parts to use at the mounting end as the old ones had seen better days. i found some brand new mounting bolts for £10 which wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately a lot of the Honda stuff isn't available and when you think it is, its usually listed wrong and is actually for the EK / EG Civics. Not a bad thing as you don't have to pay for the Honda Tax Here are some Before and After photos, i think these will finish off the Fuel Tank Assembly quite nicely. It saves me buying new fuel straps too as they aren't cheap either.

Blimey its been a while since i posted on here, I apologies for the lack of updates the car is still getting restored and such so dont worry i haven't scrapped it lol. Picking up from where we left off with the sills, i have managed to get that passenger side all completely welded now, I tried to make it look as original as possible by creating some panels to match that of the original. Here Was a piece that i had to make so that the Rear sill section could sit on top like it was done at factory, as you can see where the sills interlock with each other theres a part that goes under and a bit that goes over and it is then spotwelded together. I also remade the Rear Sill Reinforcer panel I didnt bother drilling a hole in it, its made from 1.5mm steel so it should be strong enough, for added strength i also bent the edges round like that of the original. Heres a bit of a Test Fitment not Quite there yet, a bit more bending! For the sake of doing the job properly i also drilled out the jacking point and made a new one from 1.5mm steel using the old one as a template! as you can see its a rust trap! Heres the new Jacking point, Drilled the holes out in the centre to match that of the orignal. Still yet to put the lip on it at the bottom where the jack sits on. Not the best welds, however they had plenty of penetration a bit more practise i think for when i do the other side, Heres a test fitment for the top bit as you can see from the other side i replicated that join where the two lower sills meet. Heres the Jacking point all welded on. I also got the Inner arch welded up, Shocking welding as the Metal quality of the original panels are crap it seems. thats what grinders are for i guess ;) I supported the sill with a block of wood to get the panels lined up, if your arches are intact youll probably notice there a small panel that joins the two together which i need to make sure is all in line as then itll be fixed in place once welded. Heres an example of the factory panel. Heres what i managed to achieve with limited metal forming tools. the panel was very complex to make as it features double curves and multiple bends. i had to make it out of two pieces then grinded it flush. The panel i welded in sits in a bit more than i had wanted it to, but thats not a major concern. a bit of seam sealer will cover up any imperfections. Now thats all done its time for the upper sill, I managed to get it all lined up and i zinc epoxy primed the inside of the panel Not the prettiest welding as i was filling 10mm holes with 1mm steel. hopefully ill get the hang of producing cleaner welds. but the main thing is that its all lined up correctly and im happy with the stiches i did either side. I got the grinder and grinded the welds flat and surprisingly the butt weld that i did was pretty much spot on. Here it is all in primer. The arch side was bit more of a nightmare as i was chasing pin holes, i reckon either some lead or filler will sort that out. with all the welding done for now, i got the sills waxed with Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 and completely flooded it I fit the door and sill cover back on and was pleasantly surprised to see how well the panel gaps are!

Cheers and Yeah its a MIG welder, using Gas CO2/Argon Mix The Welder is a Parweld XTE171C and has been great to use so far!

Today I Didnt get much done thanks to the damp weather but i managed to get the end section of the inner sill sorted. there was a bit of rust that i was not happy with as it was heavily pitted. Its where the Bolt goes up into the chassis and is spot welded to the back of the inner sill, its Sandwiched between 3 layers of metal. The bush mounting section, then the inner sill then the inner arch. Honda didnt seem to seam seal that area!! so it was left for all sorts of crap to get in and to start rotting it. so i got it all cut out, grinded it to bare metal, then zinc and weld through primed the areas, fabricated a new piece to go in from 1.5mm steel and welded it in. Still need to Grind down the welds but ill do that when its a bit drier.

Cheers, Dave! The idea is to just Cut out as much rust as possible, if in doubt cut it out! was a bit nerve racking at first making the cuts but once you get going its not too bad. and you can then just build from the ground up with fresh metal.

So Today i have sorted out the boot floor finally, as it was starting to get on my nerves a bit. but its all welded, seam sealed and painted. alongside the refitting of the tow eye reinforcer. i also jacked it up to see if it would break, it didnt! which is great. Later on i started to work on the passenger side sill, i have cut away an area to gain access to the lower section, this will then be cut further out when i fit the new upper piece in. I will be fabricating new reinforcer panels, perhaps a new jacking point panel and the panel that joins the sill to the arch. Ive cut the area out of the arch out as i have a New old Stock panel to go in place, i also have a fabricated lower sill that i made earlier on in the year which will be getting cut to size to be butt welded in. I have also done some very quick fitments just to get an idea of the final work, although there is still some more cutting and grinding to do before everything fits in perfect. hopefully that will be all done tomorrow.

Thank you! I was pretty pleased with the job to be fair, quite surprised, seam sealer does help too if the welds aint the best ;)

Yeah i think thats the way to go in the future, i annoyingly broke a bumper clip, NLA for the Honda Part but plenty of Clips from a 45 thats probably 10x cheaper too.

Yes the little partnership they did with their cars came to be pretty handy, the whole rear floor space is exactly the same, and most of the suspension parts can be taken from the 45 and ZS. as i know a lot of Civic owners upgraded their rear anti roll bar to the ZS one.