Front jacking point.

Whilst I was jacking the car up it was immediately apparent the front jacking point was shot. So, I booked another day off work and set about having a look at it.

The second photo is after I took an angle grinder too it and used the pry bar to see what it was like inside. As you can see it was pretty rotten. The jacking mount was all rotten, and so was some of the sill panel behind it. Luckily the floor pan wasnt too bad.

Annoyingly to get to that bit of the car properly I had to take off the wing, wheel arch and side skirt.

Getting the side skirt off I can see that all the mounting clips are knackered and rotten too, so they will need replacing. Luckily they are still available.

With all the bits off I got stuck in. The front inner wheel arch was really solid, so i ground that back to bare metal and welded the new jacking point too it. I had already cut all the old one out and ground back to good metal.

Once the new jacking point was welded on I then had to start to reconstruct the side sills out of new metal. Progress went better than I thought and with the help of a hammer I managed to mould the new metal into the same shape as the bit I cut out. I welded it on both sides and made sure it was all onto good metal. I then seam sealed it all and will paint it in chasis black after.

So it will end up looking a bit like this bumper mount I did earlier...

Heres a snap of the work area, Formula 1 spotless clean workshops have nothing on me!

And my air nibbler proved invaluable today in cutting out the new metal into the shapes I wanted! Just like opening a can of corned beef!

There was only one small hole in the foot well which I patched up, and whilst I was at it I welded in a reinforcement plate for me to bolt the roll cage too.

Besides the front jacking point I managed to find time to fit some new plugs - NGK BR8EIX Iridium ones, to replace the old ones. I also fitted new silicone 8mm leads, and a new 90 degree dizzy cap. That should free up a little room for the pipe to go from the carb top to the front mounted intercooler.

Speaking of which Ive removed the old small side mount intercooler and brackets which have freed up a nice bit of space on that side. I need to move the radiator over into that area a bit too to allow room for the LH intercooler pipe to go between the alternator & radiator.

Its going to be tight up front as I will have a big double capacity radiator, a big front mount intercooler, plus an oil cooler, which all have to get air on somehow. Also I need to ensure the air filter gets enough air onto it.

Thats it for now. I think im up to 14 or 15 hours work on the car. Hopefully this front corner is about 50% finished now. Cant wait to get the hub/brakes all back on. then I can move to the back end and see what thats like.