Wolseley JLJ 879N

[John Steed]

Hi all

So after a change in personal circumstances and now having my own Garage at home, the work has finally started again. KPK the white Wolseley is currently away being prepped and painted so in the meantime I've decided to start welding JLJ.

I've started looking at the front end tonight as it's abit of a frankensteins monster. It appears the front end has been rotten in the past so the owner at the time has removed the original front wings and replaced them with those from a red car, but has left each corresponding sides valance attached.

Now they have not removed the old valance underneath they have simply sat the replacement panel over the top and riveted it in place which has made quite a mess, I'll attach some pictures below.

Andy

[John Steed]

For some reason it wont show all the pictures when uploaded on the same post so I've had to put them on their own posts.

[John Steed]

another picture

[John Steed]

another

[John Steed]

another

[John Steed]

last one for this evening

[Gasman]

Are the previously-red wings rotten?

[John Steed]

The Red wings are extremely solid, just bolted on rather than welded though, ideally could do with a replacement piece for the front valance, I've messaged Beiderbecke as per our previous messages as that would really bring the front end up to a good standard.

[Gasman]

Beiderbecke has asked me to post a photo although I know you have already seen it. You will notice it is only the front bit of the panel and not the bit that continues underneath.

FrontValance.jpg (53.85 KiB) Viewed 6134 times

[John Steed]

That's Fantastic and would be a very big help. I've sent a PM

Best Regards, Andy

[Vulgalour]

The bit that goes underneath is considerably easier to fabricate and tends to survive quite well (in my limited experience). That valance seam is a bit of bad design really since it encourages water to sit in the seam where the panels join. Had they put the overlap on the seam the other way around, ater would be more inclined to run out rather than be trapped.

Still, a solid pair of wings is a nice bonus, we all know how difficult those are to get hold of. Great to hear your situation has allowed you to get stuck into both cars too.

[John Steed]

Fingers crossed the underside will be a nice simple fabrication. It is a bonus that the wings are solid, they're only bolted on rather than welded so I'm going to remove them just to check what it's like underneath then I'll get them lined up properly and welded back properly. Once the fronts repaired it's onto the sills and after that a pair of back arches to go in

[John Steed]

As the front wings are only bolted on rather than welded, I set about removing the drivers side wing this afternoon.

Just a patch needed on the base of the A Pillar everything else looks very solid

[John Steed]

Some close-ups of the A Pillar

[John Steed]

Looks to have been filled in the past.

[John Steed]

Hopefully Cut the rot out here and weld in a new piece, going to remove the windscreen first, it needs to come out anyways as the rubber is perished and there's a small rusty patch under the rubber.

[John Steed]

Stripped some more out over the past week. I thought I was having some luck as from underneath the floorpans looked extremely solid, until I removed the carpets and realised they were both rotten, and the previous owner rather than chopping them out and replacing the rot, has welded new metal underneath the car leaving the rotting metal above it, which has now spread to the panels underneath, shocking

[Gasman]

Golly. A bit of work there I'm afraid to say Andy but think of the satisfaction when you get to the end...

[rovamota]

In all fairness at least there's not massive holes where metal is supposed to be and the surrounding areas are good.

[John Steed]

I agree, at least there's not big holes. However once I have removed the metal sheets from underneath the original floor there will be a large hole to fill in the original floor either side.

I have debated cutting out the rot in the original floor and replacing that and then leaving the replacement panel underneath aswell, however I'm not sure if it will create a moisture trap by then having it double skinned, perhaps making matters worse in the future, any opinions on this?

[Gasman]

I agree I don’t think double skinning is a good idea albeit You could ensure the double skinned bit was full of waxoyl.

I’d repair each corner one by one. When we started repairing the first quarter on Maurice, as we were cutting out the rust, we noticed the cuts closing up as the body flexed so had to speedily ensure the car was properly supported... Admittedly this was a rear quarter but be warned!

[John Steed]

Decided to work from the front back so have started with the valance, cut the panel and drilled out the spot welds to remove the rotten front valance.

Now just left with both scoops which aren't too bad, going to start putting new metal in over the next few evenings and fit the new valance piece. Offered it up for a test this evening and it's looking good, be much better with the scoop repaired.

[Vulgalour]

All looks like fairly standard rot so far. Not so advanced that it can't be put right but goodness it's scary when you first see it! The advice I was given on floor repairs is to butt welded and seam weld if possible to reduce the amount of dirt and moisture that might get caught in there, and to avoid double-skinning where possible. Providing you clean it back once welded and apply a good smear of seam sealant afterwards, along with a decent amount of paint protection, it should serve you well for quite some time to come. Zinc-rich primers also seem to be very good at keeping the rust at bay on freshly welded pieces, so although it's expensive, it is a worthwhile investment, and a good way to keep repairs protected that you need to leave exposed for a while and don't want to have to fit with flash rusting.

It's great that you could get that front panel, that's going to save you so much work. From experience, I can recommend focusing on just one area at a time and completing it to a set point before moving on to the next bit. It really helps keep you feeling motivated to do the rest because you can look at what's done and get a boost from that rather than being depressed about how much is left to do.

Very best of luck with your continued efforts on this car, it's really good to read your updates and see you getting stuck in.

[Princess1800s]

Any news on progress with this?

[John Steed]

Work has slowed over the past few weeks due to other commitments but we will be getting stuck back in this week, I'll post pictures once things start moving along

[John Steed]

Things have now progressed onto the sills.

Removing the carpets reveals that they've been repaired in the past. Although the repairs could be better, they are solid so I don't see any point in wasting time re doing them.

I'll attach some pictures to see what everyone thinks but despite their appearance they are very solid.

[John Steed]

Is anyone able to post some pictures showing what the rear wheel tubs should look like, Im assuming there should be a cap or metal covering the end of the sill,when I look in the rear wheel tubs I can see straight through into the inner sills.

I'd like an idea of how to repair the area, some pictures to use as reference would be ideal

Regards, Andy

[Gasman]

Here's the front of the O/S rear wheel arch on SMG:

IMG_0624_800.jpg (156.7 KiB) Viewed 4638 times

and here's the front of the N/S rear wheel arch on KWacKers:

IMG_0625_800.jpg (140.08 KiB) Viewed 4638 times

Are these what you were after?

[John Steed]

Many Thanks Indeed, that's exactly what I was after

I'll take some pictures of mine later, they aren't a very pretty sight, but hopefully i'll now be able to fabricate some patches in and get them sorted

[John Steed]

As you can see mine are none existant. To be quite honest i'm abit unsure how to progress, the more I dig into it the worse it seems to get, I think I'm now beginning to understand why he included the Sandglow shell with it, I now understand what his intention was when he owned the car.

I'm being pessimistic I know, I'm sure with some work, abit at a time it will start to get to where it needs to be, though if the welding proves too much in this area I may have to get a welder in.

[Gasman]

When we did Maurice it was, in some areas, worse than JLJ although you win here, I am afraid. We also had the benefit of a very reasonable professional welder who was not fazed by the extent of work necessary. He just kept chipping away and it all came together in the end. Patience is definitely a virtue and don't get down-hearted. If the finances will allow it might be a good idea to get a welder in to move the project on a bit and to rekindle your enthusiasm.

[John Steed]

After unearthing the scale of the work around the rear of the sills yesterday. Both My Father and myself are working on the car now, as his welding skill is vastly superior to my own.

We have so far braced between the pillars/door shuts and cut out the outer sill cover. Surprisingly the inner sill looks very solid with only a couple small 50p sized holes near the front footwell area.

Next job will be to mock up the replacement outer sill cover and make some templates for the inner arch repair.

It's highly unlikely but does anyone have any remnants of an o/s rear quarter panel, mainly the door shut area, it would be fantastic to be able to place a genuine piece there, failing that I'm sure we can remake it to a good standard.

Once theres some progress in and around the sill/rear tub I'll post some pictures.

[Vulgalour]

A lot of what's gone there is actually fairly simple shapes for the inner side, it's the outer that's the headache. Considering how common a problem that area its surprising that nobody seems to have ever made a repair panel for it. If you've got spare bits of old front wings, you might be able to reuse some of the arch on those to help build out onto what you've got on the car so you don't have to start entirely from scratch.

[John Steed]

I will post some updates soon but I want to get the sill back together first, I've cut the bottom half of the inner sill out to get rid of the rust and I'm currently in the process of welding a new piece back in.

The outers shouldn't be a problem, if I'm lucky i may be able to get some genuine outers soon, but failing that I have a pair of o/s outer cover sills and a pair of n/s outer cover sills. I bought them just after I bought the White Wolseley, I bought the White one in January or February 2017 (i've forgotten already ) And the Blue one came shortly after in March 2017.

I think I have a front arch repair panel that I could possibly use to repair the o/s tub if I cant find anything else.

[John Steed]

I just thought I would update this alittle. I decided to be brave and chopped out the rot from the sill and began to refabricate it all from sheet steel, I went for slightly thicker guage aswell.

After I'd finished 3/4 of this sill I managed to obtain two genuine nos inner sills (big thanks to StephenMunro for these) however as i'd completed most of this sill already, I decided to continue and I will use the genuine sill for the other side. I'm always abit pessimistic when it comes to my work so I hope the quality of work is found acceptable, and please excuse my awful use of seam sealer, I've now perfected it using a paint brush, I wish I had realised earlier but never mind

I'll enclose some pictures below

[John Steed]

And some more, again please forgive my awful seam sealer haha

[Gasman]

That's looking brilliant. Keep up the enthusiasm and good work.

[Vulgalour]

Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of there, that's all really good to see. Welds look reasonable, seam sealer doesn't appear excessive or particularly messy and best of all, the rust is gone! Well... some of the rust is gone It's all good!