Hello all

I've been on here a little while and i though i would share with you my new project this brings it up to date all in one post

Its a 78 gls , i have been trying to find one for a long time and i was very nearly ready to give up and this came up on ebay and i snapped it up in the first few hours.

Its been barn stored for 13 years and its not ran since it was put away.

so photos these where sent to me by the seller

There are more but you get the idea.

So structurally it seems to be ok its going to need rear arches , driver sill , drivers wing, maybe front panel if i can find one, floors look good all the boot looks good it will need a paint as its covered in rust scabs.

so it was delivered today and its now in its new home till i sort my storage unit out.

So photo update had a wing turn up from Germany.

Cleaned and hovered the car out.

You may notice on the earlier pics the bumper is right up onto the wing on the passenger side, this looks to have been bumped but the bumper has survived.

And that's how it stands, one thing i did notice it looks like the arches have been (rolled) bodged with a hammer.

So it begins i moved the car before Christmas and I've only just started to open it up.

So with the grill off it looks ok, the top corners of the inner wings have rotted away as i expected with the holes in the wings.

The front panel is rough to.

So i started stripping to front down.

And i was prepared for a lot worse but its still pretty bad.

I'm struggling to find a pair of inner wing repair panels so i think i will fabricate these.

When I've finished repairs what should i use to stop surface rust whilst i work on the rest of the car?

So i managed to get on the car for a little while.

I moved the workshop about then set on the passenger wing and started stripping the engine bay down to pull the engine out.

More rust

Note the dizzy in this shot should it be on electronic ignition?

I thought it wise to check my electrics out before i removed bits

Side lights - working

head lights - not working

but high beam works

indicators - working

fan blower - not working (seized)

wiper motor - not working relay clicking so i assume seized

rear lights are constantly on not to sure why any ideas?

I noticed next to the fuse box there are two relay slots but i only have one relay on the left should i have two relays here?

Also there is a wire in the engine bay that runs down the chassis leg before the coil what is this for as its not connected to anything?

Dont you just love the way things used to be done!!

Edited 26 January, 201412 yr by smed

Well managed to get the final few panels i needed from polofin.

Check the guy out he has a huge stash of panels.

Well I've managed to spend some time on the car today.

I've got the bay stripped out and this is how it stands.

Time to strip the interior out.

Edited 2 March, 201412 yr by smed

Good stuff man from one barn to another haha

That's a seriously good find but a lot of work.

Good stuff man from one barn to another haha

True but I'm going to try and get it back out of this one better than it went in ha

That's a seriously good find but a lot of work.

Cheers its only welding work once the rots cut away.

Just a little update decided to start removing the under seal in the inner wings to see how far down the rust goes pretty happy i suppose with what i found past the bad bits.

Also trying out some Fertan on the rust its supposed to be good so worth a try to halt and more corrosion on the A posts.

Good work mate!

i managed to get a few more hours on the inner wing.

and I'm waiting on some castors to turn up so i can make a dolly up for the front end.

Cool project :)

this looks pretty damn cool man! keep us updated on the progress!

Not to much of an update but managed to get a gt rack for £30 with brackets and track rods.

Also i need to rearrange the workshop space and make some storage for the glass and interior so i can get a move on with it.

On the list to buy next is a compressor and air tools to start cutting.

Sorted the workshop out and swapped the workbench for a smaller one as i need the room to move about with limited space.

car rolled out.

And didn't stop there windows are out and it looks pretty solid only a few holes and i expected worse.

Got another hour on the car today made some stilts for it, and stripped the suspension and steering rack and master cylinder.

Well my misses is away so I've moved on with this now, I've decided to do a full strip then i will make a spit, jet wash it and remove the under seal then i will start the welding. I've found some rot on the inner sill on the drivers side and lower a post so I'm expecting it to be pretty bad in there.

Also got some shelving for the back of the unit to stick the interior on so its out the way.

Things left to do till its stripped.

- finish removing the rear wiring loom

- remove fuel lines and brake lines, all the factory foam and soft sound deadening.

-remove tank and rear beam and make up a castor frame for the rear

- and remove boot lid and doors

Edited 18 May, 201412 yr by smed

So its nearly ready for a full body wash just the tank and rear beam left now.

Lovely work Chris - great to see another mk1 getting some love!

Removed the front panel and found most of the panel to be rotten so decided to cut it apart

So this happened today.

And found a few more holes to repair.

Edited 16 July, 201412 yr by smed

managed to get on with stripping most of the seam sealer in the bay to see if there are anymore nasty's before i start welding.

how it sits today I've just got the pas side turret area to do then finally onto the welding.

A small update I went with the intention to start welding today but I wasn't happy with the layout of the unit so spent today rearranging and getting ready to weld up.

so update from last weekend

I've not welded thin stuff before so had to find my feet and play with the welder.

a small hole became this

then this, I've coated the inside with fertan then will clean up and paint the cavity before welding up.

filling holes

corner repair

just waiting for my electric belt sander to turn up to dress the welds nicely

but I may cut it out again and do a better job now I'm used to the welder.

Well went with the intention to weld up the passenger chassis leg.

so got the blaster ready to clean up the area and found the surrounding metal to be thin and found more holes.

basically i want to do this right so all the rot has been removed and the remaining areas have been treated with the fertan stuff, i will leave this for a day to work its magic then re blast and repair. which will consist of replacing the inner skin section and welding it to the top of the chassis leg on the inside.

Followed with the outer skin and welding in the upper section i removed to get to the top seam on the chassis leg where the water got in.

so i will let the pics do the talking.

welded up the passenger side chassis leg cleaned up the inside used some weld through primer and rebuilt, forgot to take a pic of the inner skin section but its all solid and the rot has all been removed.

and started the drivers side leg

more welding and I'm not even on the inner wings yet.

took out my first repair below the heater matrix and started again.

also cut out the bad bit of the rain tray and made up the repair thanks to Vic (euro-derby) supplying me what i needed to get it done.

not much of an update but i popped back to see Dion and got a few more bits i needed, all that's left now really is wheels and suspension but that could change as i go along.

Also started trimming and fitting the inner wings to my wings i kind of regret rushing and removing the front panel as i need it in place for reference.

also made up a to do list.

Weld up drivers chassis leg

weld up raintray

repair battery tray

scuttle panel repair

blast inner chassis legs and front inner panel

repair front inner panel

fabricate new front panel

test fit front end

fit new upper slam panel

repair inner wings

fix wings

lower a posts to repair with leading edge of the sills

drivers rear inner sill behind seat runner

drivers rear window frame repair

breather pipe repair

rear arches

weld up the spit and then onto the underside.

:(