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swindrum wrote:I would be interested in the tunnel section that has the hump for the push button, I have a car that looks like they pulled out the engine through the shifter hole....

Yeah, be nice (well, amazing really) for something from this shell to be re-used

Will get a couple of pics of it.

Andrew

I'm confused, I thought you where going to use the floor and replace the rest?

rich@minispares.com wrote:Andrew

I'm confused, I thought you where going to use the floor and replace the rest?

:

Parts of the floor are better than the rest of the car so I can understand your confusion Rich

I am so glad you are taking on a job of this magnitude,it will serve as a how to for when I start mine.On the subject of bracing a friend of mine had a very rusty Elf and he made 3 upturned U shapes with 6" box section and suspended the Elf shell on them and clamped the drip rails onto the U frames and fitted very thing from underneath.It worked for him as the shell was straight to start with but I suspect I will have to come up with another plan as I think there was movement in the A post of mine which is pretty much none existent.

Andrew1967 wrote:

swindrum wrote:I would be interested in the tunnel section that has the hump for the push button, I have a car that looks like they pulled out the engine through the shifter hole....

Yeah, be nice (well, amazing really) for something from this shell to be re-used

Will get a couple of pics of it.

Thanks!

Those plates on my tunnel were loose and not welded Andrew.

No going back now Andrew!

My seat brackets are the same.

Thanks Gray - will have to post up a question to see when they were changed.

Matt - Yes, no turning back now - got it fairly well planned out how to go about it .

Got the remains of the floor and heel board off yesterday, ready for the temporary attachment of the new floor assembly when it arrives.

Leaving the seat pan and pockets in for the time being as they will be good reference and temporary mounting points for the floor. Same as the toeboard.

Wood support under seat pan to allow me to drill out spot welds without bending it

Great progress!

Andrew - are you going to keep the toeboard ? It doesn't look too bad from the photo.

Hi Gordon,

No, that's being replaced as well as it has gone in the upper corners.

There's not going to be a huge amount left of the original shell

Andrew - that makes sense. I had the same problem with my 1965 rustbucket. I bought a new toeboard from M Machine (modified to Mk1 spec) and it took a bit of time to tease (ie bash) it into place. It was worth it as it provided a good guide to fit the whole new floor which was also bought from M Machine.

One thing which I found was that it is essential to keep the front of the car well supported across the whole of the front subframe - not just at the front of it under the front panel as that would cause the body to flex a bit. I stuck a plank of wood right across the middle of the subframe and supported it well and that did the trick. It was easy just to lower the top part of the shell onto the new floor.

This arrived yesterday

Looking good, sent you a PM

Better than Christmas Andrew.

Flat pack self-assembly?

Would it be worth lead loading the joins between the floors and remote tunnel to give more of a factory look, possibly before it goes in the car ?

mk1coopers wrote:Would it be worth lead loading the joins between the floors and remote tunnel to give more of a factory look, possibly before it goes in the car ?

or pour bitumin in and glue the carpets on top for that 'authentic' early 1980's restoration.....

rich@minispares.com wrote:

mk1coopers wrote:Would it be worth lead loading the joins between the floors and remote tunnel to give more of a factory look, possibly before it goes in the car ?

or pour bitumin in and glue the carpets on top for that 'authentic' early 1980's restoration.....

Note to oneself - Don't buy an older restoration of Rich

I do want to lose the joins. Lead loading would probably be less likely to crack than filler ? Another first for me maybe !

Bitumen is flexible though