5 GT Turbo 11 years later silver bullet comes home

[Duncan Grier]

Couple of hours and many measurements later made a jig to correct the top wishbone pick-ups. Cut first tab out, prep and quick tack now in place.....

Symmetrical on both sides and spot on at 935cm

Should not take too long to finish the rest of them now

 

[Duncan Grier]

Your Monday evening update.....

Got on with some checks and also made up a bit of a crude but effective mash of right angle tool, steel ruler and couple of small welding clamps using the spirit level as a straight to position inline with tab of choice. Did the job mind and can now tick off upper tabs corrected

Few pics of the fun



Just so happened bit of offcut box section and adaptor was a perfect 38mm so with clamp on spot of for rest of tacks.....win







With that done started to look at my plan to add address the suspension pickups and also add strength to pax side which had bent on trailer journey (other side fine)

Got some offcuts I will use that are 4mm sheet iirc so with some boxing also should do the job nicely

Need to add 3.5mm outwards but same height on this side and will do a few designs and see which I am happy with, also need to check damper clearance

 

[Duncan Grier]

Managed to have a decent run tonight for a few hours and went well

Did a few designs for the suspension tops, bit of box section marked up with center point and corrected target points

Some cardboard aided design and got on with drilling a hole mark up ready to cut out

At this point realised the replacement plasma cutter torch / hose was M16 connector not m14 needed.....doh, had an adaptor knocking about to convert but no straight section so went angle grinder to save wasting anymore time



Final check and got tacked on




Will add some strength but have a good look what works best


Next time in will get wishbones back one and triple check before welding in fully....then onto the other side

 

[Steve Swan]

Weldable grade cardboard would be great for bodywork.

 

[Duncan Grier]

Probably easier to weld the current off the shelf cereal box grade cardboard than some of the 30 year old Renault tin

 

[Duncan Grier]

Spoiling you with spam this week

Repeated making mount for the other side, cut old tabs out and with flat area to work gave it a little work to straighten out more

Usual regime of measure, measure and measure again for good measure then tacked in place


All stayed true and spurred on got the wishbones, hubs and suspension on for a final measure

All went in no drama and quick check all good and top wishbones much happier now



So thought best get glue gun out and make sure suspension mounts dont fall off, still need to box in and weld insides etc but for tonight
All good

Also happier with bit more meat on suspension mounts

Not fully decided on beefing this section up as cant do too much on inside due to gearbox mount and bracket, may just put some triangulation on outside??

 

[Duncan Grier]

Settled on some boxing in the mounts and ran a few welds on the inside before cutting some sheet metal and putting tops on. Need to finish off but decided to throw it back on the car to check how it sits/looks

 

[Steve Swan]

Nice

 

[Duncan Grier]

Thanks @Steve Swan keen to get back to the front end of the car so trying to push through and get a bit more time on it rather than just the 'power hours'

However have to say after full days of work and family life im feeling it.......think after work tomorrow and give the garage and the forum a rest

 

[Turbell]

You're mad as a box of frogs......in a good way....but mad

 

[Duncan Grier]

Will take that @Turbell

As the saying goes there's a thin line between genius and insanity

 

[Turbell]

Fookin about in garage is good for mental health.
Sometimes not so good for sleep patterns....

 

[Duncan Grier]

Made a few minor tweaks having had the frame off and back on a few times.....all good


Made a start on the strengthening the corner section and patched some old Renault rust....and in true fashion fix one bit find some more so need to cut some more out before going further



And replace



Turned focus to other side with less underlying areas that need fixing




Needs a bit more trimming and bit more hammer action to get shape before tacking and test fix frame

 

[Turbell]

Whooooow, look you with your OE Kelloggs boxes.....

 

[andybond]

Whooooow, look you with your OE Kelloggs boxes.....

Crunchy nut ones as well.

Manchester's finest no doubt.

 

[Turbell]

Crunchy nut ones as well.

Manchester's finest no doubt.

Will anyone up the stakes and slip an Alpen box in....?

 

[Steve Swan]

Will anyone up the stakes and slip an Alpen box in....?

You've taken that too far........

 

[Duncan Grier]

Monday madness after work.....

I went looking so of course the section got bigger to find solid metal



Insert done ready to weld in


Got some hydrate-80 in well behind plate and quick lick around general area and will prep weld areas before sticking it on. Can then review and make another insert the same as other side if all good

 

[Duncan Grier]

Your power hour update

N/S Corner welded up and blast of red oxide primer for now



Ready to copy O/S added section now with bit of tweak and drilled holes for plug welding


Lick of hydra80

 

[Duncan Grier]

Planned garage time did not work out as planned this weekend. But as committed found a couple of slots to keep progress going

Frame back in to check for clearance and with bit of hammer action looking good fit



So removed frame and bolted into place, marked and prepped plug weld areas....and melt never to come out again



Bit of hammer and dolly as I progressed with each weld to check as required. Need to tidy up spot welds etc a bit more and few stitches of weld on the outside, but not coming back out in a hurry