My Beta Spyder finally has a home!

[MattNoVAT]

I agree.... hang in there!! there are peaks and troughs when it comes to time, money and enthusiasm for a project.  I think we all suffer from low points when theres no time or money and that dips the enthusiasm, but it'll all come good.  It's amazing what dealing with a few little jobs can do for the enthusiasm and that in turn can help when it comes to the dealing with bigger jobs.

[Duncan23]

I cleared the junk off the bonnet last night (looking for an elusive bike component) and just that has made me happier about it!
I've got a few weeks of working on a website for my wife's charity, and then my mornings before work will be mine once more (and I will have accumulated significant brownie points - redemable for time in the garage).  I've a few projects I can do without spending money, but I will need steel and welding gas soon. Hopefully by the time I get there I'll actually have some!

Thanks for the support. This car is going to be a long haul project - must remember that it will be worth it in the end...
Cheers
Duncan

[HFStuart]

Classic cars are always worse than you hope when you start

but

Classic cars are never as bad as you think they are when you're half way through

[Duncan23]

I got a MIG welder today.   Now all I need is some gas and some practise time.
I also got a swager so I can make floor panels a lot easier.   It deals ok with 1mm steel - is this sufficient for floorpans, or do I need to push it and see if it will work with 1.2mm? I suspect it will struggle above 1mm.
Cheers
Duncan

[Duncan23]

My MIG welding is getting there with 1.6mm sheet. I'm gonna get some 1.2mm sheet next week and we'll see how I get on with that, but progress is being made though it is slow. Not tried the swager yet, getting some welding practise in first.
I doubt it will be on the road this year.

[Duncan23]

I got some 1.2mm sheet, and started practising welding it. I also ran it through the swager - it works surprisingly well, but it doesn't leave as deep a dent as the originals (original = 5mm or so deep, mine are about 2 or 3mm).  Still, better than nothing. I'll be getting a big sheet of 1.2mm zintec soon and then I can start actually making the new floor panels (pattern first of course).
Just for illustration, here's the drivers side floor after I stripped the sound deadening/underseal type stuff off:

Beta floor by duncancmartin, on Flickr
Note - I haven't stripped the underneath of it, and I haven't run a stripping disk over the top either - I think I'll just cut the lot out rather than messing around trying to patch up rusty  already patched steel...

What's the score with ordering outer sills?  Once I've done the floor, I think I'm going to need some new ones! The ones on there now are probably not too bad, but some of the welding is really dodgy, and I think the box section has rotted away inside, so they definitely need to come off...

Cheers
Duncan

[WestonE]

Duncan

I think you will do better cutting a good floor from another shell. There are enough cars out there being broken for spares with a better floor than that. I think Tony might have those sections of his scrapped HPE still around.

Eric

 

[Duncan23]

Eric
If I'm being honest, some of those scrapped cars might be better than mine! But I've had it for 6 years without ever getting it onto the road, and I want to learn how to make pannels and weld them in (to a decent standard), so I figured that I might as well get on with it on this car. So long as the work I do will be safe, it's OK if it takes a little longer or is not 100% original.
Cheers
Duncan
PS HPE panels will probably fit for the front floor wells, but the Spider is shorter on the back ones, so if they need work I'll probably have to make them anyway...

[rossocorsa]

the important thing is saving the car that's my excuse for wasting time and money on my volumex which was as rotten as a pear definitely should have been crushed tbh

Alan

[WestonE]

Duncan

I respect what you are doing I just thought the front floor pan is a tricky thing to make from raw material and common to Coupe/Spyder and HPE. I suspect there will be no shortage of places to practice your new skills. Either way I wish you well and look forward to hearing the car is back on the road.

Eric

[Duncan23]

Thanks Eric, I appreciate your honesty. There may come a point, when I have tried several times, that I give up on trying to fabricate the panel and use a scrapped floor as you suggest. But for now, I'll attempt to develop enough skill to construct the correct shape myself. We'll see.  And I shall keep this thread updated as I go.

It's kinda daft when I think about it - I've owned this car longer than I've owned any other, and yet I've never driven it! iIn fact, the only Beta I've ever driven was a 1.3 coupe that I test drove but lost out on 6 or 7 years ago!

Still, I have a welder, steel, and, can manufacture some time now and again, so I'll get there eventually.  And when it is on the road, it will be all the sweeter knowing that I did my bit to resurrect it.

Cheers
Duncan

[f1fascination]

Hi Duncan, just read through this post and it seems we are in the same boat. I fell in love with my coupe and it's probably as rusty as your Spider. My passenger floor looked as bad as your drivers side, and my sills are gone too, as are the boot lid, sunroof and C pillars.
Theres also minor rust around the windscreens, and scuttle.
They are such beautiful cars and certainly worth saving, so I know exactly where your coming from.
I actually bought a floor section from a wrecked HPE for $80 and welded that in and made up the rest of it as I went along, too to sharpen my welding skills. I also used 1.2mm galvanized steel sheets which I picked up from a salvage yard very cheaply.
Don't give up on  it, it will be worth it!
Scott.

[Duncan23]

I have actually started cutting and bending metal!  Woo!
The start of a floor pan (in 1.2 mm zintec) - it was going to be the drivers side but I messed up and put the swages in the wrong way so it'll have to be the passenger side! Still,  it's not too bad as starts go...

floor panel with swages by duncancmartin, on Flickr


floor swages by duncancmartin, on Flickr


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[Les 442]

Hi Duncan,
those floor panel look ok. I have to look at making some too, and hope they'll look as good. My spider is probably just as bad as yours, but I have just started, so got a heck of a long way to go.
Good Luck
 Les

[Duncan23]

Hi Les
I think your spider is better than mine.  You certainly have more space to work on it as well!
I've almost finished the floor panels now - they need the corners of the swages hammering out and the ends of the panels bending up. The swages aren't as deep as the originals, but hopefully they will do the job.

2 floor panels by duncancmartin, on Flickr

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[benmondo]

Have you welded with the zintec before? Just wondered what it's like because welding in galvanised steel can give off a nasty gas.

[Duncan23]

Not yet,  though I have some off cuts I will practise on.  The idea behind the zintec is that the coating is so thin that is not like welding galvanised sheet.  If it is,  I'll have to grind the edges where I'm welding,  which defeats the point...

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[Duncan23]

My sills arrived on Friday (thanks Mark). I really need to get on with things now. First job is welding a brace across the doors.  Then I need to tow it out of the garage to remove the doors before I can do any significant work on sills or floor. Still,  now I have the metal I need,  I have no excuse!

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[Duncan23]

I have something of a dilemma with this car. I don't really have the time (in the next year or 2) to fix it. I was thinking about just getting it sorted and accepting that it would cost more than it's worth, but then my wife casually mentioned that she hates being in a car with the roof off. Which makes a spyder, with attendant leak possibilities and extra noise and weight kinda pointless.
I'm assuming it's basically worthless (saw a similar car go for £276 on eBay recently). If it's not to be saved, what's the best outcome? Does the club have storage for parts, or any way of doing something useful with it? Obviously I'd prefer it to be restored,  but finding someone willing to do that seems unlikely.
Cheers
Duncan

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[rossocorsa]

Hang onto it and dabble when you can, don't let go! My vx has been off road for about 12 years might never be finished but I can't ever give up all hope. I think your wife might change her mind if she is ever driven down a country lane in a spider on a beautiful sunny summers day......