Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

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Super89
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Super89 »

I was expecting to find the same rot on my Farmyard Cav. Shocked me how clean it was once the mug was removed.

Good luck with yours. Will keep my eyes on this :D
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Super89 wrote:I was expecting to find the same rot on my Farmyard Cav. Shocked me how clean it was once the mug was removed.

Good luck with yours. Will keep my eyes on this :D
Cheers mate. Aye you were dead lucky with that farm find, very tidy, got it in nick of time I'd say!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

In between putting new skirtings in me new pad I spent some time out in the garage doing a temp fix on the leaking fuel pipe. Turned out to be a bit about 4 inch bit that had pin holes in it. Cut this off, took rubber pipe off that joins the main pipe up to the pipe that goes round side of tank, then with spare longer bit of rubber fuel pipe, I joined them up.

Next step was to inspect front wheel wells and free off offending sticky caliper. That took a wee bit of fudging about to get the caliper back in. I ended up using a rear caliper wind in tool to put the front one back in, fits just nicely!

Then spent some time whipping it's 2.0 ass back and forward in my long driveway :D was always aware though that the brakes are still a bit wooden so being careful not to take garage out!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

So finally got some time to spend on the dippy the last couple of days. Wanted to strip back bumper off, start pulling the rust off the rear acrches, sill etc and see what we got. This started with taking the back bumper off. As I thought damage to the mount and the bumper bracket was evident as the back has had a wee run in with a post by the looks of it. Superficial damage but still warrants panel repair. Luckily the whole rear panel is rotten along the bottom so killing 2 birds with one stone here.

Couple of pics of the bumper mount that is slightly pushed in and the bracket, and the extent of the rust along the boot floor edge and back panel:

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Then started to look at rust on boot floor in the corner behind wheel arch. It seems the actual panel aint too bad but the joins have corroded away. I managed to break through and pull the whole metal sheet downwards as you can see in the next pics:

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Then it was onto the rear sill and wheelarch on N/S. Basically cut out the corner of sill where hole is and the bit of arch that was crumbling. Bit of a struggle picking out the bit of sill as the inner sill and outer were still all spot welded up, no rust there, which is surprising, usually the inner sill is dust! Can see the 3 spot welds I had to chisel through to get the plate out.

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Had a wee go at offering up the new rear arch panel, seems to fit quite well, despite all the old metal still being there. I think in all eventuality that I wont be replacing the whole arch, rust doesn't really warrant it. Between the bit or arch I took off and more or less the back of arch it is just surface rust. I inspected the join between inner and outer arches and there doesn't appear to be any bubbling coming, the joins aren't splitting either, from underneath so I am satisfied that only needs buffed down and treated with rust eater.

The section that runs downwards from arch is rusty at the edges and I cut some of it away. I will perhaps use the new arch panel as a template to make up a few smaller pieces of repair panel as don't want to cut up a whole new panel.

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Final jobs were remove back box and spray WD40 on all the little bolts, (tank mount, rear axle etc.) and brake pipe joins that are going to come off soon. Rest of exhaust will be coming off soon as tank will be coming out.

Next body work jobs are to ID the spot welds on the rear panel and drill them out. I have just discovered the new rear panel I have is for another variant of cavalier. It looks all the same except the bits that join up next to the light panels just at the lip of the boot floor.
cavalier1990
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

A few pics of under the parcel shelf all seems good. My other cavs seem to have seen better days in here due to water leakage from panel join at rear window:

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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by humbucker »

A complete contrast to your earlier pictures!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Tonight's job was to strip off the lower rear valance, although after the amount of work picking out the spot welds, removing all the sealant so the panels would separate, and the mess left by having to chisel in between the panels to get the remnants of some of the spot welds away after drilling I am starting to wish I'd just cut the rust off and welded in a new section - doh! Took me approx. 2 hours to remove, not bad for a first time attempt at removing a major spot welded panel.

Added into that I am not happy with the new rear panel, it is GM, is apparently the right part number (90355333) but the boot lip edges just look different, they are slightly bent in more where the 3 spot welds are than the original and have a bigger flare out where the panel tapers off under the lights in the boot.

Anyways here is the pictures of my recent handiwork so far.

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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Today I decided to cut the rust from the edge of the boot floor and cut rust from the old rear panel I drilled out. It actually fits snugly and the paint is still fine. Once I make a section to fit along the boot floor I can then put a new section on the bottom of the old back panel then weld these up. I'm not using the new rear panel as it appears to be for a hatch, so if anyone with hatch is looking for a new rear lower panel, well I have one!

Edge of boot panel cut off
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Picture of NS floor section at back. Removed some rust from top of chassis leg at back as it was creeping in there.
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O/S section where I tidied up the bumper mount. This has been pushed back a little due to the impact
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I put the old rear panel back in place, after knocking the dent in it back out, clamped it up with mole grips and it seems to fit quite well. Good think is I just line up the spot weld holes I drilled and bob's your uncle!
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Another pic of back panel clamped in place.
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Other jobs today:

Jack up and axle stand front of car in readiness for stripping out wheel splash guards, and front wings.
Stripped O/S splash guard
Chipped away surface crust
Sprayed brake pipe joins and steering adjuster arms with WD40 in pre for stripped that out.
Cut a little more out of the back box section at rear of sill and started scraping off old stonechip off sill where I'll be welding.
Started pulling off a bit more of the front sill as about 3" back from the front of sill had succumbed to tin worm.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Apart from the rear spring seats and front outriggers the following rotten bits are now cut out. Those are:

Downward facing outer section of O/S sill needs replaced
Drivers side back and front of sill - more extensive cutting off of rust required
Passenger side front and rear section of sill cut away - the usual bits plus inside rear wheelarch box section lower bit
About 10" section of outer rear wheelarch nearest rear door on both sides
Back panel and boot floor edges plus N/S boot floor section behind wheelarch
Section from both sides front inner wheel arch sections near outrigger

Good news - inner sills are perfect
Bad news - outriggers are toast!

Next job is remove rear axle so I can get the rear spring seats out, I don't need to remove the axle but it's a much easier job with it out the way.

Also need to try and cut off the front outrigger bits and try and make up patterns - that'll be fun!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Removed rear axle, stripped it of calipers, hubs and roll bar ready for blasting. I seem to have the hub still connected to the backplate, I am not 100% on this but how do I remove bearing/hub from backplate as don't see any fixings for it?
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James McGrath
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by James McGrath »

Good to see you're making progress.

Would be great to get another Diplomat on the road.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Cant wait to get it on the road James!

Friday was my day off so I decided today's jobs were strip the remaining rust off and start cleaning up the areas prepping for welding - ok that's a bit keen - prepping for shaping bits of metal to fit, then welding!

I've one outrigger bit left to cut off, they are both absolutely rotten. The section of chassis under the rear spring hangers is to be removed and a little bit on the box section in front of the axle mount is a bit crusty. Woops forgot to take snaps of that bit. Also unbolted the tank filler as there was some surface rust starting around there so wanted to catch that before it grabbed hold of the inner wing.

Decide to flapper disc the bottom of the drivers side doors as paint was flaking with resultant rust. Done this and then put on some rust eater. Spent a bit of time on the sill, cleaning up the edges, trying to make all bits where I am going to weld as straight as can be as cutting little edges and stuff when making a plate up is just a flipping PITA on top of shaping and continual offering up and trimming.

So without further ado here is some pics of the jobs done today:

I lifted filler pipe down and jammed it under edge of wheelarch - seems happy enough there as it is as not keen on taking tank out and filler neck out!
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Rear chassis leg floating in mid air- this is where I cut another section of the boot floor away so reapir panel would be straighter.
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Nos this is what I call rusty! Thankfully metal round it was ok but this is going to be a *bleep* to replicate!

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Where the outrigger bit used to be just surface crust around it.
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Tidy up OSF sill section prior to repair. Keen eyed amongst you may have spotted the gaping hole where the outrigger used to be!

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Tisy up OSR sill section prior to repair
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Cut some more away from OSR rear sill box section to make it cleaner/squarer/easier for repair sections to be fitted in
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A picture of my fingers holding the filler neck while I swung under and got a snap of the inside- some surface rusting, caught in nick of time.
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Outside filler neck. The rust starting is usual place round the edge and where the little screw is to hold the filler pipe up.
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Have removed rear axle and left with this!
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Rear axle lying on deck, stripped everything off. Just need to strip rear hubs from flanges and be done with it.
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Got to say I am absolutely flippin burnt out after this! Slept almost all of saturday just took whole of Saturday off doing anything. Can't wait to get back into it though.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Robsey »

Doing a really good job there.

These early stages are the worst for knocking your confidence.

It feels like you are doing nothing but cutting bits away and finding more rust.

When you start welding metal back in, it will be a lot more enjoyable.

Although it sounds like you are enjoying the tough bit... even more impressive.

It is good that your inner sills and membranes are in pretty good nick.

Mine were shot through, to the point that the car flexed when put up on stands.

Thankfully Troy did mine... I would not have had the skill or patience to do what you are doing.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Robsey wrote:Doing a really good job there.

These early stages are the worst for knocking your confidence.

It feels like you are doing nothing but cutting bits away and finding more rust.

When you start welding metal back in, it will be a lot more enjoyable.

Although it sounds like you are enjoying the tough bit... even more impressive.

It is good that your inner sills and membranes are in pretty good nick.

Mine were shot through, to the point that the car flexed when put up on stands.

Thankfully Troy did mine... I would not have had the skill or patience to do what you are doing.
Thanks Robsey, aye it does get a bit monotonous cutting out one bit after another, especially when you realise I got to fill all this in again! :lol: although I am feeling that I am getting there and still have the other resto fresh in my mind, making this a bit easier to remember both parts I need to preorder, so I am not left swinging in the wind, and being able to use the old cardboard cereal box templates for panels.

Onwards and upwards......!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Last nights job was continuing to scrape rusty flakes away in preparation for rust treatment and grind down any chunkier bits. Seem to have most bits done (N/S sill, N/S bottom of doors, back chassis legs etc.) except there are some remnants of the front floor strengthener bit either side that I wouldn't mind getting rid of.

There is some crust up behind the struts and up towards the strut mounting and also get the front subframe and components blasted so I think next job is to strip that out.

After that it's rust treatment time, which I will apply a couple of times to make sure it's good and properly treated.

And once that is done I will look at filling some of the little rust potholes bits along the bottom of the doors where the rust took more of a hold. Thankfully it doesn't look like the rust is internal so effective treatment should hold it at bay for a good while.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Today's jobs included cleaning the last of the rusty bits and covering it all with dinitrol rust converter and starting to strip the front end off so I can get subframe out as this is going for blasting too.

Whilst doing that I encountered this really stubborn track rod end. It won't budge at all. You can see how much I have mashed the end of the track rod locating section through hammering. Have also burst all the gaiter as was using a ball joint remover tool as the next step. No dice. Looks like heat is my next option. What a bar steward!

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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Mk3alan »

Oh dear! I have used a ball joint tool, done it up nice and tight then give the taper socket part a belt with a copper hammer, found it works well.
I dismantled the track rod joint on my mk4 Astra last weekend and as the nut was coming off the joint came undone so then I couldn't get the nut off!
I ended up using a large toolmakers clamp to keep it together while I unwound the nut.
We love a challenge!

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Robsey
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Robsey »

These ball joints are a total arse.
If it ain't the track rod end, it will be the bottom ball joint.

The Cavalier rod ends nearly always need heat - either to strip or to adjust them.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Robsey wrote:These ball joints are a total arse.
If it ain't the track rod end, it will be the bottom ball joint.

The Cavalier rod ends nearly always need heat - either to strip or to adjust them.
It's the first one I've actually had this much problems with, usually a swift blow with my 1 pound persuader pops it out the hole, didn't have access to that hammer though this time!

Tonight's job was to just go round the whole car once again and treat any little bits I'd missed with rust eater. I'd removed the N/S strut last time so got stuck into the crusty bits that hid behind that, also caught some rust down the O/S leg towards where it meets the bulkhead area, a common spot on all my cavs. Additionally, inside the rear N/S chassis leg because I could get access via a bit I had cut above it at the very back.

Seems to be coming to the point where I need to make up all the templates so have kicked that off by making one for the NSR rear front and rear of the wheelarch area where the little rubber stoppers are and at the back of the arch where the bumper hangs. Also made one up for the bit of boot floor missing on NS behind wheel well, which I took a crude picture of here.

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Rust treatment in OSR wheearch area
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Rust treatment in NSF wheelwell area
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Subframe is now out and is being stripped ready for cleaning. While that is out there are a few other things to be getting done, like scraping off surface rust where the subframe mounts up to, and in behind on the lower floor crossmember.

There is also a hole right in the middle of the bulkhead at the very bottom, it looks like some sort of strengthening box section underneath, and where it rusted there was one of those little threads sticking out that a brake pipe holder clips on to. You can see the clip moved along and the hole just about the middle in the picture below.
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While I was stripping the subframe I noticed a big belly of rust. Relieving it of said iron oxide with a hammer there appeared one large hole in the subframe - oops not so good. Well that's one more bit to be welded!

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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by Jimbo »

Crikey, that looks like a lot of work, fair play to you, thankfully the dreaded rust hasn't got to our Project C.
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James McGrath
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by James McGrath »

Some excellent work going into this.
Great to see.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

Jimbo wrote:Crikey, that looks like a lot of work, fair play to you, thankfully the dreaded rust hasn't got to our Project C.
Hi Jimbo , yes it is quite a bit of work, the most taxing is just scraping the flaky paint and rust back, of which there is quite a lot. I found a big patch under the bulkhead matting, luckily no holes just flaky paint and a bit of rust. I'm glad that my inner sills, floors and bulkhead drain are generally ok, as these are usually toast by 23 years old, especially up here in Scotland!
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by cavalier1990 »

James McGrath wrote:Some excellent work going into this.
Great to see.
Thanks James, yeah it's progressing quite well, just need to keep at it.
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Re: Rescued a One elderly Owner K plate Diplomat saloon

Post by beermonsterblack »

you can buy the outrigger sections now http://www.carz2.co.uk/vauxhallopel-vec ... 8358-p.asp
Well, thank you, Mr. Bandit. And as the pursuer, may I say you're the goddamnedest pursuee I've ever pursued
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