Niki - minor resto

[Aaron]

Further to my post in the 'Introduce yourself' section, I've finally managed to clear the parts car out of the carport and have now had a chance to get stuck into the good Niki.

First task on the list was to attack the bodge rust repair below the windscreen that the previous owner had done.

Now I know that rust repairs usually end up being bigger than what you expect, but OMG!!!.  Nearly the whole right side of the windshield support was a mixture of rust, fibreglass and cardboard.  Having left out the drain made matters just worse as the water would run underneath.

So my planned task of repairing this panel changed to ripping it out and putting in the section I had salvaged from my parts car for just this eventuality.  Took me three days of drilling out the spot welds, measuring and cutting and scratching my head on how to use the welder (i haven't used a MIG in 15 years) to get it to the swapped stage, needing a sand up and paint.  I didn't get a photo post welding - sorry.

I'll post the photos here as I go along.
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/aaron_massey/Resto/

[Aaron]

Bit of an update, after a day and a half of sanding I've finally got the winscreen section in primer.  I'm planning on waiting the week before trying the top coat both because a lack of time and to let the primer harden properly.  What can't be seen in the photos is that I've also resealed the gutters.  Much harder to spot the splice welding now!

Higher res photos are here:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/aaron_massey/Resto/

[Aaron]

Well, as a further update, I've managed to get the windsreen channel area completed.  Finished installing the winscreen, wiper motor and washer nozzles yesterday, considering the paint job was done with colour matched pressure pack spray cans, it came up pretty good.

I've also roughed out the dent in the left rear to the approximate shape, using a series of wrecking bars and hammer & dollies.  As you can see I've stretched the metal a bit in the channel, which I'm hoping to fix with a shrinking disc when it arrives from the US in hopefully 2 weeks time.

While beating out the dent I found a bit for rust in the bottom of the guard, where the flanges of the outer guard and outer panel meet, or should I say met.  So a little further work with the welder required...

[bis13]

a good bit of work going there fella keep it up!

[Aaron]

A few days after purchasing my Niki, I noticed that the passenger's side window didn't close properly and that the glass looked to be set up for the driver's side.  No problem I thought, this will be a flat pane like the Lada's I've previously had and all I need to do is swap the channel runners around.  Advice from this forum was otherwise, turns out the glass is slightly curved .

So in my hunt for a new bit of glass, I came across a complete door that had the glass in it.  $125 for the glass plus a removal fee or $200 for the door.  The door turned out to be in far better condition than either of mine, being rust free, which would save a heck of a lot of fiddling around.  Only problem was it was red.  So yesterday I stripped, sanded  and painted the door, leaving the section behind the door card red. 

It's currently sitting out in the sun to let the paint get harder.  I'm planning to use the best fittings from all three to put it back together next weekend.

Bigger pics at http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/aaron_massey/Resto/

[Rusty's Uncle]

WOW , I just did the maths on $200 and with the weak pound that is equal to £113 
If parts are that hard to get in Oz then shipping from Europe might be an option for some parts

[Aaron]

Yup certainly makes buying bits overseas attaractive.  Postal strikes and all!

[Aaron]

It been a couple of weeks, so the latest.

After painting the passenger's door two weeks back, I intended to swap in the existing door fittings.  However upon removal of the quarter vent, the steel frame dissolved in a cloud of dust.  Bugger .  A quick check of my spare door by lifting the rubber showed a similar problem.  Oops.  Checking the driver's door showed the same.  Damn!  Amazing I have 4 Niki/126 doors and all of the quarter vent frames have rusted away!  q quick ring around on Monday secured 2 used replacements from Melbourne.  Ultimately I ended up with three as the seller sent me two right hand ones as opposed to one of each side, but after a hefty dosing of lanoin to stop these rusting, they fitted nicely.

So while changing the left door, I decided to attack the mall bubbles of rust in the right door.  I should be learning by now, but this was worse than thought.  It seems that the rust I am coming across may be a small spot, but it drills right through the panel, normally I'm use to seeing it travel across the interface between the paint and steel not bore straight down.  So the small pin sized bubbles in the top of the door went straight through - how the heck does rust get on the top sides of the door?

Anyway, all fixed now - had to do what I don't like, use fibreglass filler at the top of the door though, so I'm going to have to keep on eye on that one.  My shrinking disc has finally arrived from the US so next week end - hopefully - I'll finalise the dent.

As usual higher res pics are here
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/aaron_massey/Resto/

[Aaron]

Couple of additional pics

[Aaron]

This weekend I attacked the dent that was in the left rear caused by the previous owner being rear ended by a 4x4.  I'd prevoiusly roughed this out using a hammer and dolly plus wrecking bars a few weeks back while waiting for the paint on some other section to dry.  Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get this out, I'd managed to stretch the panel such that it now bowed out.  After a bit of a hunt around the old internet on 'how the bloody hell do I fix this' - I came across a shrinking disc - basically this is a stainless steel disc you attach to an angle grinder which rubs the thigh points on the surface creating isolated hot spots which then proceed to shrink (help along by a bit of soapy water from a squirty bottle).  If you look on youtube there's a couple of demos how these work.  I came across a dealer in the US (wolfes metal fabrication) which does these for the 4" cheapy chinese grinders which I had (most are for the larger 9" units).

It took a bit of working out but the results are pretty impressive, not perfect but for an absolute numpty like me to get it pretty straight using only this, a pick hammer and filler I was happy.  I estimate I put in about 150 g of filler of which about 2/3 was sanded off to get the final shape right.

I also took the  opportunity to fix the previously discovered rust in the lower portion of this panel.  Turned out only the outer panel had gone, which I plated up, the more complex inner was untouched.

So currently it sits in primer waiting for a rub back and top coat.  That's for next weekend.

Then it's on the front hood and a touch up of the engine cover.  The end of the panel work is finally getting in sight - may even be able to drive it before the end of the year!

Higher res and more pics here http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/aaron_massey/Resto/

[Aaron]

Bit of a quiet weekend - I wanted to actually give the trail bike a ride as I've been neglecting it a bit.  Still, I put the top coat on the left rear quarter panel I started last weekend.  The result is not perfect but a huge improvement on what I started with.

[prkahrvat]

I must confest you did a nice job! [-/

[Aaron]

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, however that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the Niki.  The last couple of weeks I've attacked the "last" of the rust which was in the front boot lid.  This was rusted where the reinforcing beam met the outer shell on both sides.  The previous owner has a half assed go at fixing this with fibreglass, which just allowed the rust to go further.

So I just ground back to a reasonable thickness of steel and than welded a patch in its place.  Otherwise filled the holes with weld (well actually burned the holes bigger until the weld would hold then filled the hole with weld).  So the old grinder got a bit of a work out.  I painted both this and the engine cover (lost of small stone chips and scratches) on Saturday (a 37°C day in Perth) so it dried really quickly.

I started in the afternoon to look at fixing a rattle in the fan shroud which turned out to be the top deflector plate being cracked right through.  Looks like this has been this way for some time as somone had tried to bodge it in position with some brackets and pop rivets.  I ended up using the welder on this in a very confined position.  I also found why the engine rattled so much, I'd say about half of the nuts and bolts that should hold the fan shroud in position were missing...

Today, I cleaned out the oil filter, changed the engine and gearbox oils , changed the engine mount rubbers and spring, changed the air filter and fixed a fuel leak I found on the fuel pump inlet.  Starts a darn sight easier now.

I also started painting the rims with the Oslo Grey paint I bought earlier foolishly following the paint code sticker on the car.  While, not a match for the original paint (its more a green grey) it will do.

[Aaron]

Bit of a more laid back weekend this time.  I blew rust proofing oil through just about every hole I could find, finished painting the rims and worked out a battery clamp arrangement.

The rims look good though from some angles the Oslo Grey is actually a green... oh well.

New tyres, wheel alignment and fitting seat covers next weekend then I'll be able to take it for a bit of a spin to see what else needs doing that I haven't identified as yet.

[defender90]

  Realy nice job Aaron, well done mate, seam as you went that far with the doors did you not did you not fancy de-triming and wapping some chrome bumpers on?