I can imagine! Got a welder bloke recommended by the garage having a look at it tomorrow and hopefully sort it soon. The side steps will be in the way, but as they also need attention I'll try and get those off and sorted at my 'leisure'.
All that resin and fibreglass on a silly ladder frame ...
sorry, is that a Lotus Elan we are talking about?
No, I guess, that was all that resin and fibreglass on a silly frame of a different shape!
sorry, is that a Lotus Elan we are talking about?
No, I guess, that was all that resin and fibreglass on a silly frame of a different shape!
Would you weld it tho ?
That was the point ...
You are talking to a person with three kit cars that are a mixture of steel, fibreglass and aluminium.
And yes I have welded them. Lots of bits on them. Usually the chassis. But while I was building them So there was no chance of an accident.
If I ever had to weld a bit that was attached to either of the other materials I separated them.
So OF COURSE I would never have welded a Robin Reliant's chassis while it was attached to the body.
And I think you know me better than that.
My comment was aimed at the way you described it. They weren't silly and many others built with the same mix of materials aren't silly either. They got people on the road that didn't have a lot of money.
I was once being driven by a woman in a normal small hatchback when we got overtaken by one. She made me swear I wouldn't tell her daughter!
Morgans have a timber frame mounted on a "silly ladder chassis". Without the frame they do wobble around a bit. And TBH my Discos all have a "silly ladder chassis". Well maybe by now you would agree, "not so silly".
I'd rather drive a vehicle with a feck-off strong chassis then a monocoque.
The RR's chassis may be a little flimsy but for what they were intended? and maybe the body was in part structural, I don't know, I've never worked on one.
Just my two pennorth. I'm prolly prejudiced against "crumple zones".
Loafer61
Member
Running three sets of sand ladders on it…
Good spot, it was originally a TDi and still has that rad in the front.
Cheers, plus coupled with the crawler box means it will get through just about anything.
I did mine, so it was almost zero cost, just my time/effort (I won't count the Aldi welder, a nice little £60 unit, perfect for this)
A premade kit from Froggatts is £66 + postage, but I didn't really want to do a replacement mount, just a repair plate / patch.
It was still pretty awkward, with very restricted access underneath. I also had to lift the carpet and remove some bitumen-looking soundproofing material, for safety
Working below in the very tight space to remove underseal for the welding was messy and more difficult than the actual welding... As with many jobs, preparation was the bulk of the work.
I'm sure we'd all be interested to learn how much the welder charges you, I suspect a few £hundred would be the minimum.
No doubt he will find the best / quickest way to do the job - Full respect to mobile welders and mechanics - sometimes it's best to leave certain jobs to professionals and its worth whatever they charge...
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I've done a little bit of welding, but I'm not up to this. I think I might remove the interior bits myself, so I know it's done! The job is being farmed out by the MoT garage to 'their' welder bloke, so I'd imagine they'd put a bit on top of his charges, but with the VAT it'll be about £600I did mine, so it was almost zero cost, just my time/effort (I won't count the Aldi welder, a nice little £60 unit, perfect for this)
A premade kit from Froggatts is £66 + postage, but I didn't really want to do a replacement mount, just a repair plate / patch.
It was still pretty awkward, with very restricted access underneath. I also had to lift the carpet and remove some bitumen-looking soundproofing material, for safety
Working below in the very tight space to remove underseal for the welding was messy and more difficult than the actual welding... As with many jobs, preparation was the bulk of the work.
I'm sure we'd all be interested to learn how much the welder charges you, I suspect a few £hundred would be the minimum.
No doubt he will find the best / quickest way to do the job - Full respect to mobile welders and mechanics - sometimes it's best to leave certain jobs to professionals and its worth whatever they charge...
. Even though a fair chunk of that price is prep I'm pretty sure I could get it done for less, but it's the time finding someone and this is essentially a daily driver.I did put my brave pants on, crawled underneath and cut the old, seized up drop links off with the angle grinder and fitted new ones, so at least I've saved a few hours of garage time / cost there.
