fbekholden.com

Hi Scott,

I worked on a car in a tight spot like yours many moons ago, not sure how much room you have in your yard but I put in a small garden shed and filled it up with all bits till I needed them. Is that possible where you are ? It will certainly relieve the squeeze.

Greg

Errol62 wrote:Great work Scott. Bit of a heart in your mouth experience mucking around with so much weight at first or was for me. I use the aid of gravity to adjust mine, turning it up the other wsy and easing off and re tightening one side at a time. All flexes slightly and allows this. Also can put it on the side and use a lever to adjust.

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Having those ball park guides got it in the right area. I still worked up to them though- didn’t want to overdo it and have the car roll over on me. Gravity and friction ultimately sorted it out


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EK283 wrote:Hi Scott,

I worked on a car in a tight spot like yours many moons ago, not sure how much room you have in your yard but I put in a small garden shed and filled it up with all bits till I needed them. Is that possible where you are ? It will certainly relieve the squeeze.

Greg

Ironically Greg, the car is in the original back yard garage which has had a bigger shed built around it. Was one of the main reasons we bought the house. Unfortunately the open plan nature of the rest of the shed makes it hard to store stuff - except for cars. But I should pull my finger out and try and tidy up a bit- it’s a bit cramped for sure


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.............. and here's me whinging that I have no room in my shed - I should shut my big mouth I think

After thinking I had found the holes in the rear quarter I had a reality check and looked inside the boot. Mastic has been liberally applied to all seams including the drain holes in the bottom so any rain filled the quarters to the bolt hole for the rear bumper.
Scraped out mastic and deadener with chisel, attempted to get as much rust out as I could with powerfile, wirebrushes etc then made a citric acid bath out of gaffer tape and builders plastic. Left to soak for a couple days, giving it a wire brush each morning. Drained the bath and flushed with water - looks pretty clean in the photo but there were still some stubborn rust/paint spots. Back on to the powerfile and die grinder to open up any holes as I figure the welder is going to do that if I don't. Then on to the final weapon of rust removal - stainless wire in the drill. This digs in to all the soft pockets of rust without taking too much metal. Its also as time consuming as painting a room with a 50mm brush. From the outside it doesn't look too bad. Might cut out the front and rear and leave the middle to help keep the shape. Then again, I took most of the front floor out with rust similar to this. So might end up going with the repair panels. No harm in trying to do it this way first though.

With the fuel tank out, noted there is a fair bit of crud floating around inside. Curiosity got the better of me so I turned it upside down and shook it around. This is what came out - still around about another litre in there by the feel and weight. Doubt I'll repair this as it has a few holes and a bigger tank will help the thirsty 202. Greg, I'll be having another look at your thread and how you went with the &*#@ xa? tank, but as that has the filling neck on the side (from memory) probably easier to delete the wheel well and go with a Mustang tank (stainless is about $550 at the moment). Or a 69 Maverick tank looks like it could work if you flip and narrow the wheel well (Space Saver anyone?) - but means sourcing from the States and not in stainless. And at around 1K might as well source a custom tank from here. Or am I underestimating the cost of custom?

Marty Dean should be able to give you a pretty accurate quote for a custom tank:

https://www.facebook.com/MC-Dean-Fabric ... 858855612/

Cheers,
Harv

I would be more inclined to solder up the pinhole in that tank and whack it back in - whenever we do any long trips we stop every couple of hours anyway so I have never felt the need to have a bigger tank .

My $0.02

Hey Scott,

I did my tank with the XB as i was hell bent on the spare wheel lying flat and out of the way.

The XB tank is not without issue though, clearance to the diff pumkin (9inch) had to be relieved, the floor in the boot had to have a frame fabricated for it to sit in, filler neck fabricated and filler relocated to the side. Finally, the spring hangers on the rear are very close and will probably end up rubbing on the tank.
Once I get the thing registered I will make a new one, the same shape but smaller and squarer to fit the space a bit better.

I think now the spare wheel is not really an issue as it will never have picnic table or chairs in it and I doubt I will ever have the need for boot storage for family holiday luggage.

In relation to your rear quarters I would suggest replacement panels, that way you can get all the rust that will be in the drop down panels and wheel arches.
Your going great, keep up the good work.

Greg

Harv, thanks for the link - I've seen that name pop up and was who I was thinking if I go down the fab route.
Blacky - I'll spend a bit of time on the tank to work out how much I'll need to do to slap it back in. Sydney to Melbourne was a three/four stopper depending where I'll fill it. Always over cautious as I never trusted the gauge. 2 litres of crud in the tank wasn't helping the cause either.
Greg, some honest feedback there about the spare - flat clean floor would be nice, but this isn't a show car so if I have to push a spare out the way to fit stuff in the back then that's no issue. I looked for dimensions for XA-B tanks and they seemed too big. Well done getting it in. Even a Mustang tank (at me rough measurement) has the tank just past the start of the diff hump. Not by much though.
So order of operations - proper assessment of stock tank, price custom tank, stop procrastinating and make a decision.
Thanks all

Ordered the rear quarters too - seem to be on back order at the moment from the usual go to shops. Found some on ebay 'brand new never used' for $205 delivered. That'll do.

Got my 'cheap' rear quarters in the mail the other day. Should have spent the extra $80 and got new ones instead of NOS ones that look like they have been left out in the weather.
Oh well, stuck the good one in a bath of citric and had a crack at a bit of panel beating on the other.

Can't fit this piece in the press so managed to bodge it up in the vice with my block of hard wood and rod
Scored some lines in the panel and even masked and painted a shadow line to see what it might look like. Panel in the vice and squeeze my way along the line.
Jaws not deep enough to get to the arch so plan B with a bit of bent alloy rod from a shelf in an old fridge
Hammer with block of hard wood
Working the metal made what was a bad fit is now really bad. Will need a bit more love
But you get the idea. Bit rough but I like the line.

You'll soon bash it in to shape once it's on there Scott.

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remember you can always take a reference from the other side of the car

Good work Scott,

Yeh I’m sure we have all made purchases like that! At least your up for a challenge to make it fit. Good to see the vice in action again

Regards
Stephen