This is the fourth in a series of posts on this American Austin, Part One describes the history of the Austin and presents photos of the car before any restoration work. Part Two shows the condition of the Austin after return from media blasting and describes the donor chassis. Part Three covers the restoration of the chassis and mechanical parts. Part Four begins covering the metal work part of the restoration and talks about starting the new floor construction. Part Five follows on the floor rebuild and presents photos of the tunnel damage and restoration. Part Six describes the finishing of the right-hand floor rebuild and restoration.
Part four of this series talks about the beginnings of the metal work piece of the restoration. I began with the right hand floor restoration as this side was in the worst shape of the two sides. I used the left hand side as guidance, where needed, when patterning up. After making the cardboard patterns, I set about putting in the beads. As the depth of the bead was pretty deep, in order to replicate the original specifications, the sheet metal distorted from being stretched over a small area. To compensate and correct this, I ran the floor panel through the Eckold shrinkers, then back chased around the bead to settle the panel to flat.
We have the first part of the floor complete, now for the upper triangular section of the floor. Again patterns were made and the second section was cleco’d to the first. The original floor was removed from the car and replaced with the new. Once happy with the fit, I proceeded to TIG weld the two parts together and then metal finish them. The floor was then marked against the tunnel and the cut made ready to graft these two areas together, as shown in the last photo.
This is the fourth in a series of posts on this American Austin, Part One describes the history of the Austin and presents photos of the car before any restoration work. Part Two shows the condition of the Austin after return from media blasting and describes the donor chassis. Part Three covers the restoration of the chassis and mechanical parts. Part Four begins covering the metal work part of the restoration and talks about starting the new floor construction. Part Five follows on the floor rebuild and presents photos of the tunnel damage and restoration. Part Six describes the finishing of the right-hand floor rebuild and restoration.
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