Projects Aluminium Riley roadster build

Once the wings were made we began to clad the body. Here is the back of the body.






David

 

Is the rolled edge along the top a separate piece? By that, I mean did you form it as a separate piece and weld it to the lower section?

 

Hi Jim, thanks for reading. In answer to your question - no it's all one piece, it's formed over the ash frame.

David

 

Wow David! Not much more to say than that.

 

Wow, nicely done.

 

I don't have any close ups but the sill area was done next.



Next I made the scuttle (cowl) panel sections.



More soon.

David

 

David--Thank you for all your work-not only the craftsmanship, but the unselfish way you share it with everyone. I have been doing repair and fabrication on steel bodies for well over 20 years, but never feel that I have much to contribute.I am looking forward to seeing the next steps...Thanks again....

 

Thank you for the nice words Kiwi Tinbender. I'm glad you like the thread.

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Next I formed the parts and welded them together. As you can see the shape of the eyebrows was cut away then the edge was formed on the wheeling machine. The reverse curve was wheeled to make the 'eyebrows'.



The photo above is actually of another car that I did a recently because I forgot to take photos of this stage on this car. I have done a number of SS100s.


David

 

Once everything was welded and smoothed I fitted the skin to the ash frame, this entailed shaping the top of the eyebrows over the frame...



The photo above is of the SS100 I did earlier.

Below is the finished thing and this photo is of this car...



David

 

I forgot to say that all the welding was done with Oxy-Acetylene and that the skin is 1.2 mm thick aluminium. The welds were dressed out using a flipper (slapper) and files with a body file then sanded to remove any file marks and tidy it all up.

David

 

Crazy stuff David. Thank you so much for continuing to post. I am not sure if it is inspirational or intimidating but it sure is fun to watch.

 

Glad you're enjoying it, thanks for replying. I did loads more to this so plenty to show yet.

David

 

Great watching it coming together. You have the only DVD I have watched more than once, and have watch it 3 times now!

 

Thanks! Glad you like the thread and very happy you like the DVD so much, that's quite an accolade!.

David

 

I wish it was as easy as you show in the DVD

lots of scrap metal made before a "real" part , but that is how you learn !

 

IS IT RIGHT TO HATE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TOOOO MUCH TALENT?........This guy is amazing........keep it up.

 

Well like I say on the DVD practice until you master the skill! At least you know how now!. Keep practicing.

David

 

Er... Thanks... I think.


David

 

You think right.......wish I could do that type work.........keep it up

 

Thank you I appreciate it. The petrol tank is next, I just have to upload some photos. It was quite a job. I needed to make it accurately but I did not have a complete original tank to copy. I had a tank that had been reconstructed in the past and was not well done. I also had the outer part of an original.

David

 

Your work is inspirational. Thank you for taking the time to share your talent.

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I am glad you like what I have done. More soon.

David

 

So good!

 

Thank you Mike.

David

 

I did not have a complete petrol tank to copy. I had this outer skin...




A botched old tank and a far from correct replica tank. I also found as many photos as possible and got as much info from others as possible.

These cars are rare and the tanks have almost all been repaired or replaced. Looking at photos of restored cars it became obvious that many are incorrect, some don't even have the beads in them while others have beads that look the wrong.

David

 

First thing I did was to make some tooling for my Pullmax so I could reproduce the beads accurately.



It's no longer possible to buy terne plate so I tinned the inside surfaces of every part of the tank.





David

 

The reason I tinned the metal on the inside is the tank is soldered together and the soldering process caused rust on any untreated surface, By tinning all the inside surfaces I could not only guarantee anywhere that needed to be soldered would be tinned in preparation also the rest of the inside of the tank was protected from rust during the process.

David

 

Always checking in, David and as usual, blown away by the work.

Mart.

 

Thanks Mart. Glad to know you're following.


Once all the parts were tinned I shaped the panel on my harbour freight style wheeling machine. I used this because the lowest anvil fitted inside the radius. On many of the restored cars I have looked at the tank in this area looks wrong because the radius is to small, these sorts of details can make or brake a car like this.




David

 

David, a big part of what makes your posts so interesting is your attention to details that most people miss.