What to do about heavy rust around the outriggers

[Rusty Wishbone]

I was thinking that the 4 or 7m supported one might be perfect. It means that I don't have to attach it to a coat hanger to point it in the right direction.

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Yes, just bought one myself, but yet to try it out for real. So far it only works on 1 of 3 USB sockets, so not sure if I'm doing it right, or if Vista just ain't up to it!!
Several different length leads are available though: I got a 5m lead. But whoever you buy from, they all seem to be made by XCSource, except the £30+ ones.

John:

Did you get a Vista specific driver with the camera? Is it possible that when you installed the driver, you selected the port of the USB socket you were currently plugged in to? You might have to go thru setup again to select another port if you don't want to use the original. Sometimes low end drivers are not very intuitive. If you mean ports on different computers, make sure you have loaded the correct driver before trying.

[Fredjohn]

Yes, just bought one myself, but yet to try it out for real. So far it only works on 1 of 3 USB sockets, so not sure if I'm doing it right, or if Vista just ain't up to it!!
Several different length leads are available though: I got a 5m lead. But whoever you buy from, they all seem to be made by XCSource, except the £30+ ones.

John:

Did you get a Vista specific driver with the camera? Is it possible that when you installed the driver, you selected the port of the USB socket you were currently plugged in to? You might have to go thru setup again to select another port if you don't want to use the original. Sometimes low end drivers are not very intuitive. If you mean ports on different computers, make sure you have loaded the correct driver before trying.

John
Same laptop. Just plugged into 1 of 2 rear ports and loaded up from disc. Drivers loaded as well. No joy. Plugged into other rear port: drivers loaded, no joy. Plugged into side port: drivers loaded, message came up "device would work better with available faster USB 2.O port", ignored it and carried on hey presto a picture.
Only apparent difference was the "photo size": rear ports 640x480, side port 320x240
A mystery to me!!

[Brit-Car-Nut]

It is not uncommon for the laptop manufacturer to have both USB1 and USB2 ports. Also might need a different iteration of the driver for a USB1 port.

You could remove the driver, insert into a different port and reinstall and see if the driver is port specific.

I got one of the 7mm scopes but haven't had time to test it. I have a desktop with 6 or 7 usb sockets so I will see if I have any issues.

The disc I got is labeled Supereyes if that is any help. If yours is different and mine works multiple ports, I can always send you an iso.

[epipete]

Guys,

Am I just being sensitive or are you off topic? There must be a better location for this discussion

[Brit-Car-Nut]

Sorry. Didn't even think of topic, just answered the question.

[Fredjohn]

Guys,

Am I just being sensitive or are you off topic? There must be a better location for this discussion

Sorry Pete quite right, well off topic!

[basher]

Getting back to hopeful outrigger repair, we have had a bit of a rethink in how we go about what we were attempting. The whole box oblong box idea posed certain problems with mounting it to the jacking cup outside the car and the top of the old outrigger due to the shape of the cavity in relation to the box. We would have needed some sort of angled shim or mount top and bottom to fix it firmly.
After discussion, we have scrapped this and have instead just gone with an insert of just two sides, inboard and top and they are separated by a bend of the exact same angle as the original outrigger, 100 degrees. ( arguably this probably would have been the simplest option in the first instance). The jacking point is attached to the outrigger as before.

New design with jacking structure attached. Plate welded to the end to make fibreglassing over the cavity easier.

Standing upright as it would be in the cavity with brackets in position. Note that it has only been partially treated for rust, I am concerened that if I take it any further it may burn when the welding takes place.

We are then mounting it to the b pillar and crossmember with angled brackets. Where welding is ill advised, these are held in place with bolts into captive nuts welded to the insert. I'm working on amending a diagram from the service manual that should illustrate this a little better.
However at this stage, it fits in the cavity, the brackets should re-instate the structural support so I'm quite confident that when the time comes we will be able to jack on this without issue.

[basher]

Hopefully a better diagram of the plan.

[basher]

Not sure if my approach to this issue has scared people off, but I thought I would take it towards a conclusion anyway. Rear Outrigger insert now fitted, bolted and welded into position.
Jacking can now take place at the rear without any worrying metal groaning or dissapearing jack.By virtue of doing this, I have also hacked out a lot of rusted metal and arrested the decay in that area.

Overtly, this may look a little rough, but the majority will be covered up by carpet and trim and I also have to re-fibreglass a section coming down from the b-pillar which I cut away to get at the area. In addition I have to paint the whole area with rust treatment and finally may paint anything showing. What it lacks in astetic beauty it gains in strength.

From outside, the previous jacking cup and bolt has been replaced with stainless steel.This probably doesn't need to be said, but removing the original bolt holding the cup to the jacking point- was tough. It was originally an allen bolt and because it won't move you tend to gore the hole in the bolt head trying to shift it so you can't use it. Consequently we replaced with a more typical bolt/head. Eventually I will tidy up the paint around this area.

Down in the cavity beside the battery, hopefully you can see the two brackets that we have fitted to reattach the b-pillar to the insert/outrigger.

Jobs still to do.
Paint with rust treatment.
Fill cavity with waxoil- (including hopefully blowing it through the inside of the jacking point through the bolt hole using a compressor)
Replace the fibreglass in the wheel arch and 'inner cavity'
Replace the fibreglass in the cabin at the bottom of the b-pillar beside the driver.

Meanwhile, while I had the welder onsite, we addressed the front drivers jacking point too, using the more approved Bob Brown replacement panel on the top approach..
The front of the outrigger by the a-pillar was corroded reasonably badly. It may not have come through from the picture, but the top edge has actually got a hole in it the size of a 5p. Again, in order to get at this, we had to carefully trim away more fibreglass so that we could get in and see it. All of the bits were put to one side so that they can be replicated and replaced later.

We created a new panel that was approx 30 cm long to go over the top of the rotten outrigger. At the engine end, the panel was bent slightly backward at the top and welded to the a-pillar. Towards the other end it was bent foward at the same 100 degree curve as the outigger and sat on top on top of the flat top of the original.

The worst thing about the front jacking point was the metal that it was attached too, this had to be cut out and the outrigger came with it- it's not in bad condition, just rusted at the base. It made sense to put a brand new jacking point in while we were there and this was welded to the replacement plate.

Additionally, to the front, left of the outrigger, you have two angled panels where the pedals are which are joined to the outrigger and bonded to the floor with sikaflex or similar through a small lip at the bottom. The base of these had also rotted so I cut through the sikaflex, ground off the lip and the worst of the rust above and crafted some small panels to put on top.

I have left room to get the sealant in at the bottom.

Jobs left to do
Paint everywhere with rust treatment.
Fill cavity with waxoil.
Re-fibreglass what I have removed.
Paint - if neccessary.
Oh yeah, put the door back on, which was removed for this procedure.

[epipete]

Good job, I think you've nailed it!!!

Still not totally convinced that you needed to go through the wheel arch though!

[muley]

Excellent job.

Thank you for taking the time to photograph and document your work.

Much appreciated


Jim

[basher]

No worries.
I hope it may be of some help...

[Steve A]

A good job, could be a blue print for many Elans as time goes by

[cliff]

If you have a look at some of the Scimitar restorations on www.scimitarweb.co.uk, cutting the fibreglass out to repair the metal seems to be a common procedure. There is even one somewhere on there where they show the metal around the screen being replaced. As the Scimmy has a 20 year head start on our cars, I guess this is the way we are going to have to go.

Thanks to Basher for showing us the way forward.

[Rambo]

Lots of problems with TVR (Chimaera and Griffith) outriggers as well

[epipete]

Lots of problems with TVR (Chimaera and Griffith) outriggers as well

But seem easier to deal with http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... 2JZroS2joQ

[Rambo]

Wish it was that simple for the M100 owner

[Scott J]

Rambo, I suggest you buy an MX5, with your afro it would suit you sir.

[Rambo]

Having just had my FNS jacking point replaced and outrigger strengthened (FOS was ok but replaced anyway) I would urge you all to check under your carpets for the potential damage after 20+ years A few others on here (including Bobbin' Rastard) have said not to bury your heads in the sand. Get checking before its too late