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Floor pan

rixter

Gold Level Sponsor
Dan,

Thanks for the reply and photos. More encouragement. I'll keep probing around underneath to see what I have.

Rick
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
The advice that Dan gives to drill drainage holes is probably the best advice that you will get while you own an Alpine! It is as if they were designed to collect and hold water in the bottom 6" of the car and not ever let it escape!
We have published two videos the Sunbeam Alpine Channel on YouTube that deal with this. One covers how to drain the body shell and the other covers how to drain the 'chassis'. We have seen many freshly restored cars start to rust away in the sills as soon a they start getting used properly and exposed to bad weather. Modifying the car to drain properly will extend its life massively, water gets in, then just drains out again and the area breathes and dries.
Below are some pictures of the chassis and cross member on my own car when we restored her.

Tim R




P1090538.jpeg P1090557.jpeg
 

studmobile

Diamond Level Sponsor
This is a very helpful thread, especially the pictures. Is there a consensus as to how to finish the uncovered frame rails and supports, and the underside of the floor pans, prior to welding? Do most folks use weld through primer, or leave things bare, and paint things after welding? Or a combination of both? Thanks, David
 

65beam

Donation Time
My series 4 restoration a few years back.We started with bare metal, crash repair, epoxy primer and then more primer, body work, etc. We did a similar restoration to a LeMans after this one.100_0698.JPG 100_0727.JPG 100_0737.JPG 100_0802.JPG DSCF0003.JPG DSCF0006.JPG 107_0373.JPG DSCF0004.JPG DSCF0010.JPG 107_0437.JPG
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
We are based in the UK and use our three Alpines up to about 15,000 miles a year. They get wet and we need to properly rust proof them. We drill both the body shell and chassis for drainage. One of my son's cars has been acid dipped and the shell was primed with catalytic primer in an immersion tank rather than being sprayed. My own car was treated with Phoskleen B when in bare metal. It sat for a year with zero paint on it and no rust formed on it whatsoever. Then we primed the car with 2-pack supplied by Rustbusters, applied by roller (1-2-1 underneath 4-2-1 on top). When it went to the bodyshop they prepared the car and painted it as usual. We live right beside the sea and one of our cars is always outside on the driveway. so they have a hard life. It is worth painting the top of the cross frame rails and the underside of the floor panel while you have access. We also use weld through primer where appropriate. Once the car was finished everything was sprayed with Dynax-50 creeping wax, sills and wings were injected with it. All badges are fitted with badge tape to avoid the holes that leak water in.P1110340.jpegP1100592.jpegP1110809.jpegP1110857.jpegP1110957.jpegP1120126.jpegP1130239.jpegP1140918.jpeg

There are various videos on The Sunbeam Alpine Channel on YouTube covering the rust proofing and body protection that we have carried out.

Tim R
 

65beam

Donation Time
This car along with others that we own were dipped at American Metal Cleaning in Cincinnati prior to beginning the restoration. Doug has always washed down the body prior to spraying the car with the DP 90 epoxy primer after the metal work is done. Then he proceeds with final body work and paint. If you notice the photos after paint work you'll notice what looks like amber colored streaks and stains under the car and other areas. This is run off of the 3M undercoating used in closed in areas. This over flow was cleaned off as work progressed. There are also drain holes in key areas and the usual areas that cause problems such as at the top of the front wheel wells have had new panels that fit installed and the areas sealed. He also removes the outer rear fender well and that area is treated and new panels installed and sealed. The first trip out with this car we were in a gully washer storm and there were no leaks. That included all the interior and even around the door windows. For those that don't know my cars were restored at Tiger Auto in Dayton. Doug is well known in the Sunbeam world and has been a specialist restoring Sunbeams here in the states since the 60's. This was a restoration done by one of the pros. 107_0509.JPG 107_0510.JPG 107_0511.JPG 107_0512.JPG 107_0513.JPG 100_0730.JPG
He doesn't do much body work now but does do a lot of other mechanical work at his new shop at his home southeast of Dayton.. The last car to leave his old shop was the AF 4 Tiger. He did a lot of work on the RHD LeMans at his new shop but paint was done at another shop. 15 K miles / per year wouldn't touch what the green car used to do but not now. As the wife says, " He used to run and jump over the door of the green car and slide into the seat. Now it takes him five minutes to get in."
 
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Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
65Beam,
That looks beautiful. It is nice when you can get a true specialist to do restoration work. Lovely job.

Tim R
 

65beam

Donation Time
It boils down to living with what he charges to do the work and the wife being OK with the cost. Plus accept his favorite saying from time to time. "Some modification required ! ". He adds things like jack stand plates that you would never know existed unless you went looking for changes. He worked on two cars when he was restoring the body on this car. It was a MK 1 Tiger. He had enough paint mixed to paint both cars out of the same batch. He would do something to the Alpine and then do the same to the Tiger. Interesting to watch. He's had his hand in the restoration of four of our cars since 1995.
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
We use Chris and Julie Draycott for panels. The panels that they supply are very close to original panels. They need minimal fettling and always seem to just fit.

Tim R
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
We use Chris and Julie Draycott for panels. The panels that they supply are very close to original panels. They need minimal fettling and always seem to just fit.

Tim R


Tim, If you would post their contact info I bet the Forum Guys would appreciate it.
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
Sure would love to get some of them and someone was making them.
LoL! Good luck....Rob Martel closed his shop about 15 years ago. I have some of Rob's panels but I'm not selling them. I have replicated his rocker panels (the best anywhere, because they fit) but I have no aspirations to sell any yet.
Jan
 

65beam

Donation Time
LoL! Good luck....Rob Martel closed his shop about 15 years ago. I have some of Rob's panels but I'm not selling them. I have replicated his rocker panels (the best anywhere, because they fit) but I have no aspirations to sell any yet.
Jan
Jan,
I still have some of Rob's panels and I have a set of original NOS Chrysler rockers that I might consider giving to you. I think I may have less than 20 dollars in them.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Tim, If you would post their contact info I bet the Forum Guys would appreciate it.
Dan there was a guy in Canada Cris L ( cant recall the last name) he did the base pressings for Rob iirc and rob wpuld tweak and bend to make a ready to weld panel ....

Our honourable club pres has his details i think...
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
Chris and Julie Draycott run Sunbeam Classic Spares,

their address is
Sunbeam Classic Spares,
The Old Surgery,
Grimesgate,
Diseworth,
Derby,
England
DE74 2QD
(UK+44) 01332 850856

Chris has raced and restored Alpines for many years and has a huge range of parts. The panels that they supply are very close to Rootes originals and fairly priced. Here are a couple of photos of their panels before they went into my Alpine.
 

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