Project "Plonker"

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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby bandit » Sun May 10, 2020 6:42 pm

Mate that’s looking mega, that is a lot of work. You’ve put many hours in there Mec & it shows, nice one youth. :D
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby mec » Sun May 10, 2020 7:53 pm

Thanks Me Julie and Mr T :kiss: :kiss:
NTH347X... now DMC 81X
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby mec » Sat Jun 06, 2020 2:31 pm

Hi All

Hope you are all well, another update on PP, many many hours of filling and sanding have been taking place, heres some pics...

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I have also made the van into a hover van ;) ...

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This was so i could finish the underside off, this is now fully painted with stone chip so give it a uniform look...

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Also whilst the body was up in the air I took the opportunity to test fit the chassis to see if all my body repairs were ok, and I'm pleased to say that apart from taking a couple of mm off the edge of the Rad scoop it all fits !

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The next picture is the air scoop where i had to take a couple of mm off the left lower corner, this was very minimal so im well pleased with that...

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That's it for now, I've still got some more filler work to do but its all the little fiddly bits now, then i can get it in primer, I'm not sure if I'm going to paint it straight away or start getting the chassis sorted so i can build it into a complete van, then paint it, haven't decided yet, on we go, also keep an eye out for an update on "Poirot" ;) :dance: :dance: :dance:
NTH347X... now DMC 81X
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby bandit » Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:43 pm

Good work Mec, you’ve had a busy lockdown
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby mec » Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:58 pm

Thanks me Julie, yea I have deffo made the most of it, it would have taken me an age to do all this if i was working lol
NTH347X... now DMC 81X
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby cis6409 » Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:55 pm

Tonnes done and sorted there mec brilliant progress!
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby mec » Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:42 am

Thanks Shane ! Glad to see your getting a bit done on yours too !
NTH347X... now DMC 81X
Mike C aka MEC
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2009 DMC Europe open house Roadtrip member
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby mec » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:02 pm

Hi All
Right then Project Plonker continues !! ...

To say i got fed up with filling and sanding is an understatement so for a change i have left the body alone for a while and have been working on the chassis, now although the chassis looked "solid" it had been repaired a lot and not to the best standard so a lot of what i have done is making right whats been done badly before along with other repairs it needed along the way

I started off by bracing the chassis to keep the width correct...

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After these were in, the 1st repair i started with was the biggest as you do lol, this started but cutting out the centre bar which holds the rear gearbox mount...

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you can see in this picture some of the holes and previous repairs that had been done on the drivers side chassis rail

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this is the bar that was removed, i have another one of these in better condtion with the flat plates and gearbox mount already on so this bar is going to be re used further in the post

this section of the chassis rail was then cut out and all that was left was the bottom plate which had already been replaced and is in good condition so I left this in place to re use ...

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this was then all cleaned up...

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I then place the chassis on angle iron both sides to level it up and also to keep the strength whiilst sections were cut out...

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So then what do I do about getting a new chassis rail for a 50 year old reliant, well i did ask my old mate Alex D if the company he uses for the delorean chassis metalwork could make me a section, he helped me out loads as usual and did some drawings and sent them over to the company, however they seemed to have a problem with making the small lip on the bottom of the panel so then it started me thinking, do i have the skill to make it ??
Well I thought sod it il have a go, i have a sheet of the 1.2mm steel sheet from ages ago so its not going to cost me anything to try just my time, I must also stress I DONT have a sheet metal break for folding metal, this is what i came up with ...

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In case your wondering, that's a vice, 3 pieces of angle iron, 4 C clamps, 2 pairs of mole grips, a lump of metal (my hydraulic press base) and a club hammer and this is what i ended up with ...

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Not absolute perfect but I'm pretty chuffed with the result

I then did a 1st test fit ...

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All seemed fine, so i then proceeded to drill the base plate so i could plug weld the new home made panel on, this is effectively the same was the original would have been made only when Reliant did it, it was spot welded

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Then at the rear after welded the seams on, i did some CAD (cardboard added design) and made an over plate to overlap the join as per the original, this was also made with the lip on so it could be plug welded along the edge ...

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Now Before i went any further, i wanted to put that centre bar back in to keep everything in place and the dimensions right...

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And you remember the original centre bar that i took out, that has now been cleaned up with the brackets removed and relocated to the rear of the chassis to replace a previous very badly repaired bodge...

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Right with that in i went back to the chassis rail to carry on cutting out more previous bodgery...

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Before i could go any further with this section of the chassis rail I had to sort out the front end of the chassis, luckily from the donor yellow regal i managed to salvage a good section of chassis which happened to be the exact bit i needed...

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I then cut out the rotton but on mine ...

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Got the "new" bit clamped in ...

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I will carry on, on the next post as i have run out of pictures !

To be continued ...
NTH347X... now DMC 81X
Mike C aka MEC
vin - #4395



2009 DMC Europe open house Roadtrip member
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby mec » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:30 pm

OK carried on from the last post...

Top of the front section welded...

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This was also plug welded underneath as per the rest, with this in, i could then come back to the final bit of the chassis rail, I made 2 sleeves which were fitted inside the box section and plug welded in place ...

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I then made another piece of chassis rail in the same way and cut this to fit in the gap over the sleeves, this was then plug and seam welded into place ...

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Right with that all in I turned my attention to the front A frame cross member, this again has had previous bodgery and had gone rotton again since, so needed replacing properly this time, this is what it was like inside, looks like someone had rammed a piece of box inside the original to try and strengthen it...

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Now the original box section is a funny size mainly because its not proper box section is 2 C chaped pieces of metal joined together, this meant i couldnt source an off the shelf piece, now as luck would have it I saved My Cab rear X member from when I got rear ended last year, this turned out to be the perfect width but was too tall so i thought mmm, I could mod that, so this is what i came up with ...

this is as it started...

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I then cut the top off and cut 2 strips out the sides to make it the right height ...

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I then drilled holes and plug welded the 2 strips id cut out to each side to form an overlap for the top to sit over...

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I then seam welded the top back on both side to give a very strong join...

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Now before this was welded in i had to fix some more bodgery on the passenger side this time...

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The front x member could then be welded in ...

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So this is where im up to now...

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Not finished yet but a hell of a lot more solid now, next job is to re attach this little lot ! ...

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That where im up to, Stay well everyone !! :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
NTH347X... now DMC 81X
Mike C aka MEC
vin - #4395



2009 DMC Europe open house Roadtrip member
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Re: Project "Plonker"

Postby Admin-bloke » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:39 pm

Great work Mike, I enjoyed reading this. I'm jealous of the time you've managed to get in the garage.
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