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I am helping my friend Mark (video camera man) change his 76x90.50 to a 84x92 mm engine. With the engine out it was time to address two nagging problems. The swingaxle pinching the split boots on full droop.and the need for a removable valance.
In the past it was just as bad with old,new and solid engine mounts.
Instead of raising the stops he limited downward travel by shimming the rear stabilizer to limit the droop. They still would get pinched every once in a while.
They is vey little room to raise the transaxle so we lowered the frame horns under the boots. A torch and hammer lowered it 1/4 inch.

After installing the transaxle we had an 1/16 gap on full droop.
Next the rear valance came out we cut on the inside of the 1/4 panel flanges rearward at a slight angle to the gaps in the engine compartment seal carrier.

The battery is moving to the spare tire well. The removable rear valance is going to ease engine removal/ installation. Note the hood stut to compensate for the weight of the two oil coolers.

THe battery box side will get some hammer formed patches. The latch also needs attention.

Paper patterns for the right and left sides and patches. The pistol shaped pattern will get welded to the right and left sides of the cut panels. Gusset will do duty as doubler plate to reinforce the area where the 6mm nuts get welded to the 1/4 panel sides. The valance side will have holes through the doubler plate/gussets to reduce flex. All the bolts will be hidden from view.

Cool work...

There are some good examples from PRe 70 t2s

How is this going?

Today I made the two left and two right sides, two patch panels, four gussets, flared the bottom of the new inner 1/4 panel, punched the holes for plug welding and the mounting bolts and started trial fitting the individual pieces. The goal was to have the mounting bolts hidden from view unlike the T-2 removable.

Flaring the piece makes for lees of a chance of cutting your hands and strengthens the panel.

The gussets have rounded edges so it has a factory look and are safer to handle.



I prepunched the mounting holes and they will be hidden from view. Nuts get welded to the valance.


Tommorow I will finish trimming and weld in the left side body panels.

Day three. I started at 6am to avoid the sun.
I started by tacking the repair panel to the side panel. The remainder of the bowl will get removed at final welding time. Note the factory gusset.

A lot of time was spent getting the 1/4 bowl to fit all three sides and the factory gusset underneath it.

I welded both sides so I could radius the outside welds.

It finally fits!

Next it was time to make the new side panels for the valance.

THese were just copies of the first two with the flare in the opposite
direction.

A break from welding quick trip to the hardware store for shouldered 6mm nuts.

The nuts are tack welded to the valance side. Test fit is good.

I welded the gussets first to avoid having to weld upside down.

This also gave me four more places to hold the right and left panels when welding.

Drivers side

Passenger side

Im in it another six hours today its taking longer than expected. Modifying the valance should go quick.

Wow.. you can barely tell this is not a factory option.

Tim

I welded the panel to the right side of the valance last night. This morning I started on the left side which also required a patch panel.

I have my paper patterns as shims between the vanace and the body to keep the valance from getting tight.

This took about three and a half hours to do. I had planned on two hours for it but I did not include the patch panel. Total time so far is about 15 hours about double of the estimated eight. I just don't move as fast as I used to.
If you are going to use a gasket between the parts the gap will need to be slightly wider.

Perrib, looking good, any updates?

I saw this on thesamba also, it looks like you posted a few more pictures here

than over there.

I plan on putting my battery in the nose also, can you please

document what/how you do this?

Funny you should ask. Work on the battery tray began Friday. It will be removeable. Its attaching to the right inner bumper bracket and horn mounting bracket. A plastic marine battery box will be part of it.

Nice job
I might be doing something like that on a super

(If the motor can be saved)
and IF the owner comes down to my generous $150 offer.

$150..... looks as if the magnesium is damaged.

With no carb and deck lid I doubt the engine is good. I have seen cases corroded away by standing water in the crank case. $150 is very very generous. The day after the fire it would of been fair.

Work began on the frame for the marine battery box Friday night.
I lucked out and will only have one bracket that does not attach to an existing body mount. It will be next to the shift rod hole in the body by the fuel tank.



The two large holes are to see where to put the bolts that go to the bumper bracket. The single bracket goes to the drivers horn mount.

The multitude of small holes you see are where lightening holes will be.
Its off tto the drill press for the lighteng holes.

perrib wrote:With no carb and deck lid I doubt the engine is good. I have seen cases corroded away by standing water in the crank case. $150 is very very generous. The day after the fire it would of been fair.

This is one of those things that I would really like to see HOW Bad is it really kind of things

The seller said the car has been sitting since 2005
also said her cell phone was temp out untill she paid the bill....The car does have a good title and $50 worth of parts I could sell off.

If the motor turns out Not to be junk
I'll start a how to long read post with progress pictures.
if the seller ever calls back

It would be a small miracle if any part of the engine other than the flywheel is useable. The fan housing will be warped. The problem is its been sitting outside in the rain for three years with no deck lid or carb. Granted IF the transaxle is good its worth $150.00 but you can not drive it.
Its not burnt that bad so it could be a builder if you had another crashed donor car that ran.

This is how it sits in the tire well.