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Daily banter For everything, and anything that doesnt fit in elsewhere |
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#31
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I took the tank off yesterday in preparation for welding. I was pondering whether to try and work round it, but in the end it made more sense to just take it off. Practice for doing Big Red in the near future It actually wasn't too bad and took about 3 hours. It'll be much easier next time. Start by disconnecting the gubbins in the wheel well This crusty clamp connects the filler neck to the tank and disintegrated as soon as I touched it Coupler removed Slide this coupler down the filler neck and then the tube can be removed Mark and disconnect the vent hoses Disconnect the fuel feed and return. Random suspension bolt in the fuel filter to stop it dripping, although it still poured a load of fuel down my arm These nuts on the tank support are known to be problematic as the studs are just rivnuts and tend to come loose from the body before the nut comes loose from the stud, so I just slice the nut straight off. I supported the tank on a trolley while I removed the forward retaining straps - these are all on stronger captive studs so not a problem like the previous one. The electrical connectors are removed in the boot and then the car is lifted off the tank. With two people, you could probably just lower it by hand. All these vent hoses have to be carefully pulled through the chassis leg without kinking them Around this time I am getting very nervous about removing weight from the rear, with the engine and gearbox still in the front, so I strapped the car to the lift! Tank out Once I got a closer look at the crack, I was glad I did remove the tank as it just curved round the edge slightly. I pulled the back seat to a; make sure it didn't catch fire, and b; open up any body grommets to make sure the chassis leg is empty and not full of expanding foam like the sills. Good access inside the parts to be welded is essential in case anything does catch fire (wax is often a problem). I replaced the weight of the back seat with wheels Cleaned off the underseal and paint ready for welding |
#32
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Welding day!
This taped-over hole was actually the best access to the void above the crack, such that it lit up from the welding arc I was standing on a ladder with the fire extinguisher while the welding was happening underneath. I knew when the crack was sealed up again as I could no longer see arc-light through the hole. Craig the welder drilled holes at the end of the cracks to stop them propagating, then tig welded the crack back together He then laid a second bead down next to the first for added strength. You can see from the bead going left from the main one where the crack had also gone sideways - this would have been impossible to get to if I had left the tank in. Apparently I didn't quite remove enough underseal though, so that got a little crispy! Smoke mostly cleaned off and the whole area wiped down with thinnners Underseal reapplied in the original locations. I will paint over the underseal and the weld tomorrow once the underseal is dry. One of the body grommets also undersealed back in place Hopefully tank and subframe back on tomorrow Last edited by MikkiJayne; 28th December 2020 at 04:58 PM. |
#33
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I think I’ve read through this 3 times now
My first thought was the tank just looks super bulky and just awkward to work on Then I started to think about the prep work that went into the welding. I know from experience that one momentary lose of concentration and the car and workshop would be toast. My friends garage went up in flames in a matter of minutes after his colleague was welding and didn’t remove enough foam. My flat used to be opposite the garage and I had a front row seat to the biggest bonfire I’d seen. Horrible to watch and once it took hold everyone was completely helpless to fight it. You guys rock
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2002 S8 - Irish Green Pearl. Cat N (saved by the D2 Doctor ) 1988 E30 Coupe - Royalblau Metallic 2003 S4 Avant - Light Silver Mettalic 2016 S5 Coupe Black Edition - Glacier White |
#34
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Nice bit of welding there
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Andy. Current cars: BMW i4 M-Sport Peugeot 207 (the sons) Triumph Daytona 675 (2017 reg) =========================== Gone but not forgotten Ford Focus ST-2 Mk3 (the wifes) (stolen Oct 2023) 1972 T2 Bay Window Camper (Slow) Audi TT Mk1 225 - now with coil-overs and a 7inch touchscreen infotainment centre 2003 A8 Sport 4.2 (with ACC & LPG) (Feed up with all the issues so passed it on to a forum member) 2000 A8 FL QS 4.2 (with RNS-E - Nice) (Engine poorly so sold on to be brought back by someone who has the time) |
#35
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There are only four instances of D2 welding so far - BR's sill, the crack in Vera's suspension turret, the broken strut brace bracket on Bert's manual swap, and this one. |
#36
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Not much danger of anything catching fire from welding work on a D2 - everything’s ususally soaked from water ingress. Who needs fire extinguishers when you’ve got Botang’s Hole
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#37
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Painted the repaired area today but that's all. I'll hopefully get the tank done tomorrow. Silver rustoleum. Not like it actually needs painting since it won't rust, but it seems incomplete to leave it bare... |
#38
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I put the tank back on yesterday. It took about 30 minutes to put the tank back in place and bolt it up, and then an hour fighting with the pipework to the filler neck
Back in the way it came out - lower the car on to it, being careful not to trap anything in the process. Note how close the fuel filter is to the arm of the lift - its equally tight on the brackets for the under-trays so I shall remove this next time. The vent pipes can be put through the hole in the chassis leg when the tank is still 6-8" down from final position. Lifting them up to meet the hole saves bending them horizontally. Reattached. The pipe clips are NLA and a bit of a mess so I've used jubilee-type clamps in this pic, but they are too bulky. I'll need to recover the originals I think, and research an aftermarket solution for future projects. The dual hose clamp here is also NLA as it's D2-only. Tbh I don't see any reason to attach the two clamps to each other - that only makes it harder to assemble. They're stock sizes though so easy to replace with single clamps. Subframe next |
#39
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Whenever there is a new WITW thread, we also find out what else is now NLA
There appears to be so many specific D2 parts not shared with other models. I suspect the thing that makes D2 so appealing to me, and probably others (exclusivity) is the same thing that makes them a bit more of a PITA as they get older. One thing I wanted to ask MJ, is there a possibility of bent shock absorbers with these types of impacts? I’m not even sure how you’d spot this unless it was a super obvious bend on the body of it.....check it with a spirit level laid horizontally perhaps??
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2002 S8 - Irish Green Pearl. Cat N (saved by the D2 Doctor ) 1988 E30 Coupe - Royalblau Metallic 2003 S4 Avant - Light Silver Mettalic 2016 S5 Coupe Black Edition - Glacier White |
#40
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