A new garage - a new start

So, I finally moved to a new garage and let me tell you, it feels great to be able to start working on my car again.

There's a couple of things I need to get done though, setting up a work bench and stuff like that, but I can more or less get cracking on all the things I have been postponing for several months.

Unfortunately the engine still runs a bit crap so I need to take another stab at the valves and the ignition before I begin with the interior (no need for a fancy looking car that won't go anywhere).

I also discovered a lot more surface rust than when I parked the car last autumn so I need to get cracking on that before it eats through the metal.

For a couple of pictures of the old garage and the new one, start here.

Replacing the sheet metal below the battery tray

As I've mentioned before the sheet metal beneath the battery tray was in pretty bad condition.

This section is made up of sheet metal from the inner fender as well as the front assembly, lying on top of eachother which makes it rather cumbersome to repair.

With the time and money constraints I have we therefore went another route and cut out the rotten metal with the fender and the front assembly still in the car.

This meant that we couldn't do a perfect job but for the time being it is quite adequate. My intentions are to replace or repair this properly when I do a frame-off restoration of the car in 5-7 years time.

Replacing the battery tray

The battery tray and surrounding sheet metal was long gone on this car so Reijo helped me cut out the rotten metal.

The inner fender connects to the frame via a plate that in turn is connected to the frame via a rubber bushing. This plate was in pretty bad shape as well.

We decided to keep it though and after some intense wire brushing it looked almost decent. Since it's been eaten by rust we'll reinforce it with some new metal.

After this has been done we'll fabricate new sheet metal and start repairing the fenders. Then it's just a couple of coats of paint and installing the battery tray. :)

Painting the firewall and cutting out rust

Yesterday I painted the firewall. There are some areas that are harder to reach than others but I think it'll be quite good when I'm done.

I also started cutting out rusted sheet metal from under the battery tray. I'm guessing it'll be a bit tricky to repair as the inner and outer fender overlap but I'll cut out the bad and keep as much good as possible and go from there.