Masseyboy89 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Hi all, this is my thread for the restoration of my two, M151A2 MUTT's imported from Portugal. I bought 3 and a half vehicles, the two Cars I have chosen to restore (my thanks to Ken the Mutt guru for finding this out!) are both 1977 cars. A couple of pics of the cars. The donor cars: There is a fair bit of rot in the car, worst is the rail the rear wishbones mount to, also note the forklift damage on the exhaust. This is a few the best car: In Portugal Unloading the half decent one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 (edited) Work start on the poorer car, I Removed the engine (had no gearbox) this is no more than a rolling chassis. I turned the car onto its side, and rested it on a oak beam. This was I could thoroughly clean and access what needs to be done. This gives a rough idea of just how incomplete the car is, the shell of it however is far better than the other car I choose to break. Again, it's fairly riddled with gung ho repairs! This looks like it was gas axed out and welded in (badly and never painted.) The front of it though is very straight, most cars had dented bumpers and front ends that are difficult to repair. Edited March 28, 2011 by Masseyboy89 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 A quick progress update, the donor car, I have had running, so I am a step closer to getting another running vehicle. Before trying anything, I took the head off, it was not to bad, there were flakes of rust from the rocker box.. Nothing the fiancée's dyson couldn't fix With impeccable timing, endless patience and weeks of planning, I was able to sneak the hoover under the girlfriend radar... I do not recommend doing this, it can be very dangerous, sometimes resulting in serious injury or death. After a few hours tinkering, it was time to connect the batteries - along with quick release battery terminals.. And with a little help from my friend Mr easystart, the car was running on all 4 albeit for seconds! Next I will reconnect a radiator, find a old dynamo just to tension the fan belt and sort out a fuel line so it can be tested properly, before taking the engine and gearbox out to put into the other vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 As for the second, running and driving vehicle I have started work on the rear tub The worst areas are the rear floor, passenger footwell and battery tray and tool box, I decided that I would like to fabricate the pieces myself. Before I cut the panel out in one piece, then cut it into 2 pieces for ease of getting it in and out of the vehicle Cutting the floor out New floor starting to take shape - I am welding the ridges in, I wasn't able to press them in but I diddn't want just flat sheet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Burley Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Makings of another great thread.Good pics and text.Well done mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Simon, You don't fancy having a go at the bodywork on my Malta Mutt do you? :nut: I have a complete large under body repair kit here if you need to borrow any bits to copy. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Simon, You don't fancy having a go at the bodywork on my Malta Mutt do you? :nut: I have a complete large under body repair kit here if you need to borrow any bits to copy. Chris Cheers Chris, might take you up on that if I start struggling! Your get that Malta done... your be on first name terms with your welding supplier after though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Cutting the rusty passenger side out rigger, line gives a rough idea of what got the chop And that my repair section so far, It would be welded in but its tipping it down with rain now! At least it fits! :nut: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 The welder is waiting for a new liner, so I needed to find other things to do on the cars this weekend. I bought this old spade at the dump for £1 After 15 or so minutes I had one for the side of the jeep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 I want this car to be 100% solid, I cut back to bare metal with my knot brush, to expose any weak patches. As soon as the liner for the welder arrives, the chassis will be braced, cut and welded, as soon as I have completed one section, I will move to the next, this is what I shall be cutting and repairing. I will weld both sides, then grind and polish the external welds, hoping to end up with repairs that are not noticeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Makings of another great thread.Good pics and text.Well done mate. Thanks mate! I'll try my best to keep it updated. Simon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Timer Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Looks like it's coming on Simon, good job on the spade;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Must be my uncles training, old timer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mash Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 A very detailed thread, and a lot of dedication to the task in hand. Very impressed and look forward to seeing it progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 A very detailed thread, and a lot of dedication to the task in hand. Very impressed and look forward to seeing it progress. Thank you, I've got my welder sorted now so hope to have most of the chassis done by the end of the week depending on work. Thanks again for the support! Just need to keep plugging away at it I guess! Simon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 One side done, its fairly discreet and very strong, just put a quick brush of hammerite on to keep it clean of rust until I have finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 The gearbox cross member is double thickness, I cut the first layer off and made a new piece. underneath looked pretty good, until I started tapping it with a tack hammer to see if I could find any rust holes, Unfortunately, I found plenty! with the underneath repaired, I painted it, and prepaired to weld in a new panel. This shows what I cut out. This shows just some of the crap from inside the cross member, and outriggers!! After cutting the piece off, I realised that this out rigger was far worse than I thought, so I cut most of it out... This shows most of the work completed, there is still a bit to do, I have dressed the welds on the gearbox member. That is about as far as I have got, It will be finished hopefully tomorrow evening if I get the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted August 20, 2011 Author Share Posted August 20, 2011 It's about time for an update, I have been making more repair sections and I have been struggling with the ribs on pieces like the floors. Previously I was cutting and welding strips on, while this looked ok, its was proving costly with regards to fabrication time. I don't want to use flat sheet, as it wont look right so when it started raining today I got in the garage to make up a tool that would allow me to stamp the ridges in. I look an old MUTT layshaft and made it into a punch/die, later I will invert that shape into a length of hard wood, clamp the work to it and tap down the ridge with the punch.. Hopefully it will work! I will upload pictures when I make a floor pan, I am just waiting for it to stop raining! Here are a couple of pictures of the part finished battery tray I made yesterday, I know it is not true to original, this is because I decided to custom make a tray that took the largest modern day batteries that would fit in the box for ease of replacement. I intend to weld an arch on the front of the tray,underneath the car so the tray has protection from things catching on it when off-road - I have also used a heavier gauge steel for this area for durability. I will upload another picture of it completely finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) This A2 has a common problem, repair section after repair section just welded on top of each other, this has created massive mud and water traps, not only rusting away the floors, battery tray etc, but also corroding the 'main chassis rails' in localized areas. [ATTACH=CONFIG]65384[/ATTACH] The only solution is cut everything and start from scratch, The more rust you cut, the more you find, this vehicle looked better than it was, but it is still well worth restoring, this vehicle will require a lot of metal work (the one pictured on its side earlier in the thread) but is actually quite straight. [ATTACH=CONFIG]65385[/ATTACH] Pile so far... we have a horrible feeling it will grow considerably :-/ Edited July 30, 2012 by Masseyboy89 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Every mutt that I have worked on has had an corrosion issue on the rail that spans the width of the car, this A2 being no exception. Although the rail looked ok from the outside, with only a few small holes apparent, when the rear floor was removed, there was deep pitting so we decided to cut it out. To put a stop to any future woes - I cut the rail and replaced it with a much stronger box section. The rail welded in, the small rails that span the length firmly attached by 1'' box section, this gap here was waxoiled, and then boxed in by 11guage steel before the new rear floor is welded in place over the top. rot in the outriggers... Cut and repaired, I decided to box it to make it stronger, again using a heavier 11guage steel with a wax-oil injection. then, we made up an new chassis rail, started to tack it in, and ran out of gas! :mad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pockers Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Wow and i thought i had a lot of weldi g to do on my jeep- ! Looks like a fantastic job so far Keep us updated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masseyboy89 Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Thanks for the support mate! what jeep do you have? We got our gas last week, we had previously made up new floors so it was a case of finishing the chassis and welding in the floors which we did in a day. Everything is spot welded and seam welded around the edge so it should be stronger than before, the rear floor had to be made in two pieces and the welded together to allow it to fit. Today's job is to make a new side and and corner, this corrosion was caused by a mud trap, the holes masked by filler. You can just see the two battery trays in the background, we will mock up the tool box lid position and seat mounting, mark out where the batteries should be positioned in the car, then cut two squares out and weld the trays into position (these trays are made to accommodate the largest modern civilian batteries that will fit under the seat) This is a corner, it was removed from a scrap jeep, it looked ok, but as soon it was cut out we released it was a sandwich of rust, so we won't weld it in a vehicle, but it makes a great pattern. (this is pictured in the landrover - unfortunately, the jeep isn't coming on that quickly!) My repair section cut out and tacked up Making up a new loop for the hood hoop frame now cut out and spot welded to the the repair, this is about ready to attach now. I seam welded on the inside, so it could be sanded with a grinder to produce a nice curve to match the original. Starting to tack it up.. an old friend, a casualty of he-man strength... :cool2: Unable to bin it, I had to weld it back together Almost done, although its seam welded on the other side, I will drill and puddle weld the sides on the outside so that it looks like it was spot welded on there like the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_g_kearney Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 The Jeep might not be coming on that quickly, but it is coming on very nicely. Looking forward to seeing the body resplendent in a new coat of paint. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m109a3uk Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Nice bit of fabrication going on there. I usually spoil it when I try and weld it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Timer Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Looks like I'm redundant again:D Good job Simon, I'm hoping for a ride in it soon:cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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