RBR...Red Baron Rebuild

[Steve 13-60]

I bought the Herald in 2021 after watching the car sos episode. It was about £500 overpriced but you don't find out the true state of something til you own it! It was January 26th and I had to drive it back from Swindon to Derby.....with no heater.....pigging freezing!

We lived in Berlin at the time but had come back to the UK to visit daughter....and couldn't go back due to lockdown.....so bought the Herald and played with it, doing as much as possible whilst living in a caravan in a camp site. Found rusty holes under the rear seat, so welded in 2 new panels. Also rebuilt the engine, head ported as per the thread on here, fitted twin 40s but engine only lasted 150miles due to a canley chocolate cam! I converted it to use on an A frame and eventually managed to drag it back to Berlin, where I planned to do a full body off resto. We returned to the UK for a quick visit and got stuck in lockdown again.....didn't get back the Berlin for 3 years!  By this time Brexit had kicked in so we decided to return to the UK so put the house up for sale.

[Steve 13-60]

I was supposed to fully retire next June when my current contract ran out, but unfortunately the company I was contracted with went bust..Lilium aircraft in Germany.... Stupid idea anyway.....battery powered VTOL plane....ya wouldn't get me in it!

So I can now work on the Herald.....woohoo....

Rear wheel arches known to be shot so first thing is rear tub off to do the repairs.

[Steve 13-60]

Tub is off, one side cleaned of old underseal, wire brushed and treated with tannic acid stuff.....other side tomorrow.

[Steve 13-60]

There's been quite a bit of welded done in the past, which isn't very pretty, but now have access to grind the pigeon poo down.

[Steve 13-60]

Really tempted to get a new panel that joins the hump over the diff to the boot floor, although it's pretty solid, it is pig ugly.

[Martin]

Real welding skills of the previous owner 

Neighbors in Germany get „exited“ when you do a proper driveway restoration 

[Steve 13-60]

It's called the red baron as when first purchased there was considerable cursing!

[Steve 13-60]

We're back in the UK now, Derby. Berlin sold and gone.

[Hamish]

1 hour ago, Steve 13-60 said:

We're back in the UK now, Derby. Berlin sold and gone.

Welcome home and enjoy the project. 

[mpbarrett]

welcome, looks like you have a lot of work to do....

When you pulled it on an A frame did you disconnect the propshaft or did anything to the gearbox? I thought there was an issue with lubrication in the box if towed for too long?

Mike

Herald and campervan owner!

[Steve 13-60]

Dragging it out to Berlin I didn't take the prop shaft off and did notice the gearbox cover was warm. But it didn't seem to have bothered the box. However, on the return journey I did remove the prop shaft.

But the trip from/to Berlin is 650 miles. Short distances, say 200 miles I would take it off again.

Herald, campervan and....Hillman Imp owner....which is next on the list after the Herald.

[Steve 13-60]

Other half now cleaned of underseal, wire brushed and coated with tannic acid. Can now start on cleaning the old welds up and welding yet more patches over the holes found.

But that is after I go on eBay and order myself a new back!

Twas bloody hard work!

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Cleaning off old underseal. Crap job. Well done.

[egret]

IT looks great in the photos.  A really nice color combination, I particularly like the red car gold wheels look.

[Steve 13-60]

Thanks Egret, it reminds me of the Gold Leaf Lotus colours.

I need to remove some waxoyl of some bits...anyone got any recommendations? I was going to try petrol.

[Nick Jones]

On 11/9/2024 at 6:05 PM, Steve 13-60 said:

Really tempted to get a new panel that joins the hump over the diff to the boot floor, although it's pretty solid, it is pig ugly.

It certainly is. That whole boot floor/spare wheel well would twang my OCD real bad. Big job to repair properly though. Maybe tidy with the grinder and zap up any holes found/created.

Scraping underseal is a nasty job at the best of times….. scaling the back of an under-sealed crocodile… 

May the force be with you!

[Steve 13-60]

Hi Nick, looked on tinterweb and it appears they don't do a suitable panel for the bottom bends, just the top one. So will have to just grind it smoother and pretend it's like new!

There's a few bits that are patches on top of patches, so they will get cut out and one nice new patch welded in.

The trouble with having a chassis is that it obstructs access to weld some bits in.

[Steve 13-60]

a few years ago I painted inside the boot and made a carpet covered bit of plywood.....which looks reet good in a photo!

I laid a sheet of polythene over the boot floor/spare wheel - sprayed expanding foam all over then dropped the plywood on and weighted it down to go off

[Nick Jones]

3 hours ago, Steve 13-60 said:

The trouble with having a chassis is that it obstructs access to weld some bits in.

Oh yeah…. Welding that with the body on 

Liking the ply floor cover and foam idea. I have a full size (175/70 tyre on 6” rim) which makes my boot floor rather lumpy…. That looks easier than banding the spare wheel well!

[Steve 13-60]

Sheet of tin arrived this morning so I cut a patch plate and started welding. Talk about pigeon poo!!!! I know I haven't done any welding for a few months but I wasn't that bad! Checked all the settings on the welder, still crap, tried manual settings....still crap.....then the penny dropped....I still had in plain stainless wire not the flux cored stuff I use for underside bits......don't have to worry about wind blowing the gas away. It's not as clean as with gas but good enough for welds you can't see.

Then applied seam sealer to hide the old pigeon poo.

A couple of small patches to weld tomorrow then can brush prime most of the underside ready to start the wheel arches on Saturday.

[JohnD]

The wrong wire can do it!

But "Pigeon -poo" is often due to too low power, when you're trying not to blow holes in the panel.

 A piece of copper or aluminium  bar behind the seam can help.

John

[Steve 13-60]

Hi John, indeed, but I have a super-duper syn-mig, so you just set the wire type & size and the material thickness and it works out the optimum setting. Seems to work quite well, also has a spool gun for aluminium and does tig.....but it's lift tig......and I'm crap at getting the bugger to start!

But all the de-bodging work is now down and painted with primer. Tomorrow I can start on the wheel arches.

So far I am enjoying retirement!

[Hamish]

43 minutes ago, Steve 13-60 said:

 

So far I am enjoying retirement!

You’ll be busier than when you were at work. Just more enjoyable - I hear. Looking forward to it. But sadly years off it. Despite being old

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Busy man indeed.

That is what all those years working was for after all. That and putting food on the table, roof over your head, etc, etc...

[yorkshire_spam]

27 minutes ago, Hamish said:

Looking forward to it. But sadly years off it. Despite feeling old

Sounds familiar.