Mk2 Grp4 "Mad paddy" Rebuild

[Matt King]

Made a new tunnel brace.























Just picked the gearbox up from having it rebuilt by Paul at first motion.



And some new rear Tarmac arches as the Forest ones didnt look right so close to the swage line because of the big rear tubs.

[SHIFTY]

Now yer talkin!... Nice one, shell looks sweet and nice welding going on too

Keep up the good work

[rwdrs]

What welder are you using to get those welds so accurate (almost machine like), not an ordinary MIG I take it?

[Matt King]

What welder are you using to get those welds so accurate (almost machine like), not an ordinary MIG I take it?

I'm using a kemppi mini mig, it's just a normal MIG. No fancy pulse welding or timer on it. Is a very nice little machine tho. You can see it in the photo with the front panel missing.

[rwdrs]

I'm using a kemppi mini mig, it's just a normal MIG. No fancy pulse welding or timer on it. Is a very nice little machine tho. You can see it in the photo with the front panel missing.

Yeah, I was unsure but thought that might be the welder. Looks very nice, do you "spot weld" then because I would usually try to run a bead, as it's quicker.
That said, if you can get the welds as neat as those you have there, why do anything different?
On wheel arch repairs you can only do tacks/spots anyway otherwise you end up with panel distortion.

Is there just the one model of Kemppi mini-mig?

[Matt King]

I do pulse the trigger to get the uniform finished but I don't find it takes much longer as the weld is still molten when I go the next pulse, I've been told this gives better penetration. How true it is I do t know but I'm happy with how it works for me.

With arches I would do an inch at a time side to side and keep the paneł cool with a damp rag.

The mini mig comes in a 150,170 and 190. They are inverter welders so very light. I was addiment I needed a euro touch, 30kg reel and a big machine. The company that sold me that tiny welder said I didn't need any of those features. I was sceptical so they lent me the welder for free to try for a week. ended up ordering 2 of them because someone else was impressed with it.

Matt

[rwdrs]

Hi Matt, is it the Minarc Evo 150 that you've got?

[Matt King]

It's a couple of years old now, the miniarc sounds correct but I don't remember an evo in the title.

I got mine from a place called united welding supply's.

[Matt King]

The shell had a sunroof at some point in the past, this had been plated but didnt look pretty. If the car turns out how i plan i know i will always be annoyed by the sunroof. I did think about letting a new bit of metal in but thought it would distort. So decided to go the whole way and change the roof skin.



Spent a fair while cutting the inner frame off a spare roof i had found on ebay a while ago. As i had planned to do this for a while i didn't have to drop the cage through the floor to weld the top parts. The only benefit from the look and boring job.





I forgot to take a photo of the roof skin all cleaned up, once i was happy the new skin was usable i set about cutting the old skin off so i could get at the top of the cage before replacing the skin.





Im not looking forward to grinding down all the spot welds in the gutter.

Started welding the top of the cage in.





Didn't get much welding done as ran out of gas.

How the car look at the end of the day. Once the cage is all welded in and new roof skin on, i hope it will start to look more solid.

[HarrierTony]

Great thread, be interesting to see how you do your roof, im toying with the idea of doing one of mine, I have a decent spare roof ready, seen a few options, one like your thinking of doing and grinding into the gutter, and another cutting around the roofline just up from the gutter so the spotwelds in the gutter stay making it still look original.

[SHIFTY]

Fair coming on now, keep up the good work

[south west restorations]

looking good this nice work

[13sport]

Nice welding there you have a skill many will be jealous of!!!
Interested to see how you tackle your roof skin, mine was done in a way many people probably wouldn't do but saying that it worked out very well and there was very little room for error and it was welded both sides. If the donor skin I had was better we may have done it differently. I only paid £50 for the roof a few months ago so can't grumble.

http://bbs.rallyesportescorts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60668&page=8

Page 8 of my build thread.
Will be watching your progress good luck with the rest of the build should make a cracking car.

[Matt King]

Thanks for all the comments.

13 sport, I'm not looking forward to finishing the roof skin off. Removing the inner frame from the doner skin look hours and hours. Doing the opposite task around the gutter will be a challenge.

Did the way you did it cause much distortion? That's the only reason I'm keeping the roof skin intact, and its as close as it was originally as I can get.

[13sport]

No distortion at all, I left about 2 inches of the origional skin and sat the new skin on top, cut the corners with air saw and but welded and also welded inside aswell, the welds right on the corner fold of the roof skin so it's a very strong part and it only means I only have to fill the edge of the roof and the corners where the but welds are. I left the origional brazed joins of the skin alone and took my cuts about an inch past then so I didn't have to start trying to remove the braze also no need to remove the gutters this way and spot welds all still lock factory. I left the front and rear strengtheners on the donor roof so the fit on the locator pegs at the top of the A and C pillars then there was very little chance of getting it in the wrong place can take some pics if u like?