S3 109 Safari project......

Wagon Loon · Apr 30, 2020

Hi GSF 109,
I too have taken on an 82 series 3 wagon and have started on my bulkhead, which is in poor condition, but slowly the years are being rolled back.
Yes your garage looks very big and useful.
I got the complete b and c pillar and sills as complete galvanised units from Ronnie Junior YRM. They were not cheap, but I figure they will save me days of trying to get all the parts in the exact right place and angle before welding; so should be worth it.
How did you do the stiffener in the top of your A pillar please. Mine completely disintegrated

lol

So I have been making those repair panels I could not buy

GSF 109 · Apr 30, 2020

Hi there, I can tell you what I did on mine, but your corner looks a bit worse than mine did! Well done on your repair panel - looks great.
I am not an expert, but hope this helps.I started with the ‘a’ pillar repair and welded the lower mounting foot onto it lining up the holes on the pillar. I cut off the old ‘a’ pillar completely and lined it up with the remains of the footwell and the top of the bulkhead where the vent is. I used tec screws to hold it together until it was ready to weld. This should give you the area above top hinge in place roughly where the hinge should be. I then bought the top pillar repair sections where they meet the windscreen hinge and fitted them. You can see them in the photos.The inner strengthener was still mostly intact, so I plug welded to that. If it is not intact, use some 2mm plate and use the outer plate as a guide to the correct location. If you can see the old strengthener, the try to weld onto it. That’s what I did on my drivers side. I did an inner then outer repair. It takes some patience, but you will get it

. Looking at your vent aperture, it may be better to buy the full repair section if you haven’t already, as it is a difficult area to replicate successfully. The inner skin of the bulkhead I had to make from scratch.
Hope this helps. If you need more help, let me know. Mitch

GSF 109 · Apr 30, 2020

Now the fun begins!

Wagon Loon · May 1, 2020

Happy measuring !
Will you temporarily fit the tub to get the c pillar fit bang on ?

Wagon Loon · May 1, 2020

Thanks Mitch,
I started at the top N/S because it was the worst and the O/S bottom A pillar is completely gone. So I need to keep the jig like support of the N/S pillar bottom so the bulkhead doesn't move.
Once this side top is good I will start on the O/S A pillar bottom which is nasty, and build up to the top.
I hope nothing moves and having got complete top repair sections, have been able to get enough spare material to re-make the N/S inner top of vent as a repair panel with lots of fettling, and ready to plug weld in

GSF 109 · May 1, 2020

Wagon Loon said:
Happy measuring !
Will you temporarily fit the tub to get the c pillar fit bang on ?

Yes, I will refit the bulkhead, tub and possibly the roof panel too to get the alignment as close as possible. My next job is to get the bulkhead finished and start on the ‘b’ plillar inner and outer repairs.

GSF 109 · May 3, 2020

Managed to do a bit today. Made a small repair section for the bottom corner of the passengers footwell. This has been bugging me for a while! Amazing how much this firms up the footwell.

GSF 109 · May 10, 2020

Got some more done to the gearbox tunnel diaphragm. Tricky but worthwhile. I have had to guess what it should look like from the crusty remains of the original which isn’t ideal... Using old shelving for the repair sections. It happens to be the correct gauge and the paint colour even matches!

Scottishmech · May 10, 2020

GSF 109 said:
Got some more done to the gearbox tunnel diaphragm. Tricky but worthwhile. I have had to guess what it should look like from the crusty remains of the original which isn’t ideal... Using old shelving for the repair sections. It happens to be the correct gauge and the paint colour even matches!View attachment 208814 View attachment 208815

Always a bonus when the colour matches and an old shelf is the perfect thickness

GSF 109 · May 11, 2020

Drivers side footwell repaired too. Getting dangerously close to finishing up the bulkhead welding!

GSF 109 · May 11, 2020

Scottishmech said:
Always a bonus when the colour matches and an old shelf is the perfect thickness

Especially when it cost me nothing too

Scottishmech · May 11, 2020

GSF 109 said:
Especially when it cost me nothing too

Even better when it costs nothing sheet metal is costing me a fortune at the minute

GSF 109 · May 17, 2020

Got another bit done today. This is the diaphragm panel which bolts between the bulkhead and the gearbox tunnel. It it very flimsy and mine was entirely rotted out on the lower sides where it touches the footwells. Apparently they are unobtainable new and most are rotted out like mine! Anyway after around 2 hours of faffing around, I finished the near side. So that’s both sides done and with a bit of fettling It should look presentable...

GSF 109 · May 24, 2020

Decided to have a look at the rest tub......wish I hadn’t! Gotta get on with it anyway. Stripped off the tub supports and to be fair it’s much worse than I thought it would be

GSF 109 · May 24, 2020

While I wait on parts to come for the tub, I thought I would have a go at the door pillar repairs. The YRM repairs really are good and fitted really well.

GSF 109 · May 24, 2020

Got the wee man painting too! Looking a bit better with some cleaning and some corroless primer on it.

GSF 109 · Jun 21, 2020

Managed to complete the first b pillar repairs including fitting the later top seatbelt mountings. The picture shows it temporarily fitted to new sill. C pillar repairs coming up! Gonna need some more welding gas....

GSF 109 · Jul 5, 2020

Managed to get the ‘c’ pillar mounted to the sill. I have screwed with tec screws to allow for tweaking....

GSF 109 · Jul 5, 2020

Boot floor coming out too!

GSF 109 · Jul 18, 2020

I thought I would tackle the tub stiffeners today as they need to be replaced before the boot floor goes back in. I bought them from YRM and apart from a trim to fit, they are excellent for the price.

S3 109 Safari project......

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