Re: Phunkie Project Portafold
Posted: Sun, 18 Sep 2011, 4:53 pm
Thanks for that Phil.
It might be worth noting that although I do have my own small workshop with all its facilities, apart from maybe the turning of the fog lamp mounts, all the repairs so far could have been carried out by any of you in the garage beside your house.
Whilst continuing with the storage holes, some times there is amounts of laying up resin over and so as not to waste it I look for other items in need of repair.
The small lower door had been backed into something resulting in a dent/split in it and where the number plate had been bolted on, it had crushed the inner and outer skins together.
So the first thing to do was remove the hinges. As the first securing bolt broke off, making a removal job difficult, I drilled the other three bolts out through the heads which enabled me to get a good “centre” on the bolt.
Small drill to begin with then out to 5mm, this enabled me to tap through into the strengthening steel with a M6 tap.
Unfortunately one of the holes didn’t want to play ball, so it was drilled out to take a M6 Rivnut. This is a threaded sleeve installed just like a pop rivet.
And this is it after installation (sorry about the blurry picture, but you get the idea).
Now onto the fibreglass repairs, couldn’t get into the rear of the dent so it was either separating the skins of the door or cutting a “panel” out on the inside. The latter was chosen and carried out, this will be covered by a fabricated panel, secured by clips and trimmed in matching material to the interior.
Laminated fibreglass was then added to the inside of the repairs. One of the holes for the number plate securing was distorted so badly that over the years it had set in its collapsed position. Some times this can be helped out with some heat from a hot air gun (not too hot though, because this laminate is really thin!!).
As in the other repairs, the damaged areas were sanded back to the new laminate and Fibreglass and resin added as necessary and sanded back when dry. Body filler was then added to fill any dips or pin holes and sanded.
Finally, to protect the “repair” from moisture, hand brushed two pack primer was applied.
This is now ready to sand and prime with a two pack primer when everything else is painted.
Back to the main body, finally managed to finish the storage holes on the righthand side.
Whilst carrying out the repairs on the storage holes I was thinking about the electrics we would be using. There is obviously wiring for the rear lights. We are going to fit a hookup, so that has to be a consideration and we need some lighting, to be run off a leisure battery.
I thought the best way to tackle this would be to use 22mm plastic waste piping and fittings, installed in place of the random pieces of garden hose “laminated” in at the factory.
So measured out and cut to length, it was trial fitted together.
Before the body was turned onto its right hand side, the right side “conduit” was installed using strips of laminated about 150mm long.
That’s about it for the moment, it’s back to repairing holes and corners for a while now.
It might be worth noting that although I do have my own small workshop with all its facilities, apart from maybe the turning of the fog lamp mounts, all the repairs so far could have been carried out by any of you in the garage beside your house.
Whilst continuing with the storage holes, some times there is amounts of laying up resin over and so as not to waste it I look for other items in need of repair.
The small lower door had been backed into something resulting in a dent/split in it and where the number plate had been bolted on, it had crushed the inner and outer skins together.
So the first thing to do was remove the hinges. As the first securing bolt broke off, making a removal job difficult, I drilled the other three bolts out through the heads which enabled me to get a good “centre” on the bolt.
Small drill to begin with then out to 5mm, this enabled me to tap through into the strengthening steel with a M6 tap.
Unfortunately one of the holes didn’t want to play ball, so it was drilled out to take a M6 Rivnut. This is a threaded sleeve installed just like a pop rivet.
And this is it after installation (sorry about the blurry picture, but you get the idea).
Now onto the fibreglass repairs, couldn’t get into the rear of the dent so it was either separating the skins of the door or cutting a “panel” out on the inside. The latter was chosen and carried out, this will be covered by a fabricated panel, secured by clips and trimmed in matching material to the interior.
Laminated fibreglass was then added to the inside of the repairs. One of the holes for the number plate securing was distorted so badly that over the years it had set in its collapsed position. Some times this can be helped out with some heat from a hot air gun (not too hot though, because this laminate is really thin!!).
As in the other repairs, the damaged areas were sanded back to the new laminate and Fibreglass and resin added as necessary and sanded back when dry. Body filler was then added to fill any dips or pin holes and sanded.
Finally, to protect the “repair” from moisture, hand brushed two pack primer was applied.
This is now ready to sand and prime with a two pack primer when everything else is painted.
Back to the main body, finally managed to finish the storage holes on the righthand side.
Whilst carrying out the repairs on the storage holes I was thinking about the electrics we would be using. There is obviously wiring for the rear lights. We are going to fit a hookup, so that has to be a consideration and we need some lighting, to be run off a leisure battery.
I thought the best way to tackle this would be to use 22mm plastic waste piping and fittings, installed in place of the random pieces of garden hose “laminated” in at the factory.
So measured out and cut to length, it was trial fitted together.
Before the body was turned onto its right hand side, the right side “conduit” was installed using strips of laminated about 150mm long.
That’s about it for the moment, it’s back to repairing holes and corners for a while now.