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Although I had repaired the front driver’s door, I wasn’t really happy with it. The welding had caused some buckling of the surface, and I was sure that this would show after painting.
When I met up with Russ and Ian Hannington the gave me a door that was damaged, in case it would be useful for parts. The door was bent diagonally across, but the bottom section was not in bad condition. So I decided to cut off the bottom of this door and graft it onto my door.
Here is the top half of the donor door, showing the bend. And below is the bottom half after welding to my door.
I cut the doors across just under the reinforcing beam that is inside. I also put a square tube in the vertical beam on the left hand side, to align the door parts and give more strength. To avoid any distortion, I started from the vertical beam and placed small weld tacks all the way along. I figured that working from one end would allow the door to expand with the heat without causing buckling. This worked out well.
So I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I still need to add a bit of reinforcement to the rear edge of the door, but once prepared for painting, this will be a good door!
The drivers side body welding is now pretty much complete, and will be prepared for painting later on. Now I can start on the passenger side, which should be less work.
Now it’s time to start on the passenger side repairs. The new wheel arch has been cut to size and welded in.
The front part of the wing will be fabricated to mate up with this; as on the other side.
Ok, it looks a bit like Frankenstein’s monster at the moment, but the front wing is almost complete. One the welds have been ground flat, this will look better.
The front closing piece has been welded in and the welds ground back. I have given it all a coat of red oxide paint to protect it, as it is forecast to be rainy for the next couple of days.
So that’s the front end pretty much done. next will be the floor repairs on the passenger side.
geoff
I decided to have a change from cutting and grinding. The weather has been too hot for much work, so I decided to get the replacement bonnet prepared for painting. So it needed rubbing down and then a couple of coats of primer. Now I will have to wait for a good weather day for the final coat.
More work on the passenger side floor. Finished cutting the rusty metal out, and put a square tube across the door opening to give some strength. Then welded a new piece of galvanised 2mm thick for the floor. Just needs some tidying up around the edges.
Rear wheel arch is now fabricated and tacked on to the body. A few adjustments and this will be ready for full welding and then a coat of paint.
I have also trial fitted the replacement door that I have for the passenger side. This needs a minor repair, and then will be ready for paint preparation. The rear axle has also had a couple of coats of black hammerite paint.
More rust found near the rear wheel arch, so a larger repair panel has been tacked in. There will be more patches in the area before I’m happy.
I have ordered some new spring u bolts for the rear axle, so that will be going back under the car in the next week or so. I have fitted the replacement diff cover with a gasket.
I decided that the rear axle could go back on, as the awkward welding in that area is almost finished.
So that meant I could put the UMM back on it’s wheels for the first time in months. I wanted to see how it looked with the new wheelarches. I really like it. There are a few more patch pieces to weld in the outer panels, but I feel that I am making real progress now.
Here are a couple of pictures.
The driver’s door is now painted in the final colour. It’s not perfect, but absolutely fine for the car
The shock absorbers that I took off the rear axle a while ago needed a clean-up as they were rather rusty. They still work fine though. So some de-rusting was done followed by a coat of Hammerite black. Here’s a before and after.
I will put them back on the vehicle soon.
The last job this weekend was to fit the handbrake cables back on. I had these hanging up in the workshop, dripping oil through them, and so they are now nice and free. So we have a working handbrake!
Work on the restoration will be slowing down for a week or two. This is because I am building a shelter for the UMM. It will be a kind of carport, with a roof but no sides. That will keep the rain and snow off it for the Winter.
Here is a picture showing what it will look like when finished. I have photoshopped it in.
And here is the progress so far. Well, it’s a start!
Had to put the roof felt on today, even though it was raining. More or less finished now. Just some feather edge boards to add over the felt.
The roof is almost finished on the UMM-Shelter. I have fitted the repainted driver’s door this week. It works well, but I may need to just apply a further top coat if the weather is warm enough.
I had an interesting trip this week to Motherwell to meet up with Alan, a previous owner of this UMM. He acquired it from Tilcon, (a quarry company), and he repaired and painted it green before selling it on. He also gave me some useful UMM spares to help with my restoration, so thanks Alan!
Here is a photo that Alan gave me of the UMM in it’s original colour scheme, as he took ownership. This would have been before 2005. It is already showing signs of hard work!
The wheels I had from Alan needed a bit of cleaning and repainting, so I have been doing that. Here are four of the wheels after cleaning and with a coat of primer on the front faces. I am thinking that red might look good against the grey paint on the body, so I may paint them with a red finishing coat too.
The other work recently has been more welding on the rear of the body. Not too much more of this to do I hope.
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