Viva HB

[opelscott22]

Done a bit more to the Viva. Got the rest of the front wing off and found a few dodgy bits. The hinge panels been repaired a few times with lumps of fiberglass...still got the reinforcement plate to make but Im getting there!
The front of the inner wings also gone, anyone got a repair panel??

[yoeddynz]

hope you've got a nice heater in that garage there scott! brrrrrrrr

We leave for fiji tomorrow- the viva should be arriving in NZ about mid to late Jan looking forwards to working on it in hot sunshine....

We'll have an international viva-thon going.

[opelscott22]

You lucky so and so!! Ive got a big electric heater in the garage but it keeps tripping the electric if Im welding.....Managed to get a bit done on the old bus today, its bloody freezing up here just now!!(-2), welded up a few naughty bits on the back arch. not much to see but seems to take ages!

Scott

[opelscott22]

Got a bit done to the car today, finished the bits of welding on the sill. Got the axles off and tipped the shell on its side to start on the underseal....not a fun job on your own in a single garage!!

Now Ive got the job of scraping all the underseal off, no looking forward to that!!

[phil dawson]

Good going there Scott, nice repair work around the arch.
Keep up the good work.

Phil

[opelscott22]

Been doing bits here and there with the Viva, lots of scraping and swearing! I bloody hate this job!!
Worth it though, even under sound looking underseal there were patches of surface rust. good to get it all out now!
Ive still got the passenger side rear arch and sill to do then Ill bare metal it and give it a coat of etch primer and stone chip. If it lasts another 30 odd years Ill be happy.

I managed to get hold of a wing and the other bits i needed (Thanks Andy!!)so Ive got no more excuses for being lazy, need to get cracking if this is going to billing!!!

Scott

[yoeddynz]

Cool! you got a wing sorted!!!

I want to remove all the underseal on mine at some point- but will probably wait till next summer when the engine is out for swappsys to the rotary etc and car is a bit lighter.
did you use a heat gun or solvents? I think my underseal is original- it actually looks like quite well applied stuff and seems to have stuck in place well- were the HBs all well undersealed?

Was the metal underneth primed before the underseal was sprayed on?

alex

[opelscott22]

Hi Alex, found a wing eventually!!

The underseal on mine was original, its the same as the HC was. Its really thick in places I used a blowtorch and a gasket scraper to get it off. A heatgun wont really touch it to be honest...

There was red primer under my underseal, kind of patchy though and really thin. Cant really complain though, its kept the car this well for nearly 40 years!!

Im going out today to get the rest of it off.....its snowing again so the wee heaters on full bore!!!

Scott

[bodyworx]

Yeh no excuses now Scott, How was the drive home ?

Im gonna brave the elements again today and get the tank out and weld on the new back panel on the GT.
Ive had a little setback with the rims we were talking about, their out of stock , for possibly 8-10 weeks!, need them to see what mods i might have to do to get them on (hopefully none!).dont want to do all the prep and the redo it for a few mm's of clearance. night just go with 'plan A'.

[opelscott22]

Ive been doing a bit more over the last few days, finished cleaning the underside, got it to bare metal with paint stripper and a wire brush...never ending job!!! Ive sprayed it with etch primer then a coat of stonechip.

By the way, if anyone is spraying stonechip, you really need to keep the door open. Even if its -8 outside!!! (nearly gassed myself!!)

Got there in the end though!, Im going to give it a coat of white tomorrow then I can turn it over again.