Ruby ARQ Rejuvenation

[Geoff Halstead]

Boiler:
It's a Keston 50, one of the first condensing types, installed in 1998.
Had someone out Tuesday and all he did was reset an 'over hot water' cut-off switch, for £86.40, and all seemed well, but as soon as I fired it up again in the evening the gas lit but soon died and the control unit inside the cabinet was flashing 3-3-3 . . .
Phoned the service guy and was told that it would not be worth fixing if parts still available.
Hopefully my neighbour will ask his service guy to pop round later today, to give a second opinion.
I have absolutely no idea where or how to start checking.

Ruby:
Need to plan how much clean metal to remove around rusted areas, but still make replacement patches easy to make.
With the body tilted can see all the rust traps, small and eye popping, so these will be dealt with and documented.

[Geoff Halstead]

The two months haven't gone to waste as I've 'educated' myself on how to power and control stepper motors.
I want to try this motor to power the feed Rod on the lathe so it's independent of the gearbox.



Geoff - Never too late to stir the grey matter.

[Timothy P]

Brilliant Videos as always Geoff. What a super tool that rotisserie is.

[Geoff Halstead]

Timothy,
I had bought a set of rotisserie plans from the USA, almost identical to this set, and all the metal needed to make them, then these appeared for sale at a price I just could not refuse.
Their method of attaching bodies is very nifty indeed, allowing one end to be raised/lowered without putting any pressure on the other end, as the 'Brackets' tilt along a horizontal bar.

   

Must admit, I took it very very easy when lifting the body first time, to clear of the CarTrolleys, before tilting.

Took not a little head scratching to over engineer the attachment to that Bracket, but something my Dad would have been proud of, as his philosophy was 'glue, screws then nails' to hold things together, so obviously something inherited.
What I most definitely didn't want to see was the body emulate a pretzel or 'cooksister'!

Geoff - Now the bl@@dy door bell on the blink!

[Geoff Halstead]

I've surprised myself at the progress on the B-post and inner wheel arch repairs, this being my first attempt at metal bashing.

What, however, do I do about that section below, that has only replaced half of that pressed steel section?
Try my hand at duplicating, using the OS as a template, or just replace with flat metal as had been done?

Geoff - Am unable to post photos now.

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Let's try again as I may have been too impatient as usual.
This is the metal section I mentioned in my previous post:
   

Geoff - Yes I was too bl@@dy impatient 

[Geoff Halstead]

Front Mud Shield repairs and to say I'm happy with the result is an understatement.

The bottom areas where they bolted to the body and Running Boards where beyond repair and needed replacing.

OS:
   

   

   

   

   

   

Will put all photos on Photobucket soon as I've posted the NS and Valance

Geoff - NS after lunch and coffee

[Geoff Halstead]

This effing post disappeared into the offing ether when I selected Preview!

Front Mud Shields repaired and to say I'm happy with the result is an understatement.
It took me some time to figure out what to do and how, but the results have given me the confidence to tackle anything on the body now.
 
The bottom areas where they bolted to the body and Running Boards where beyond repair and needed raplacing.

NS:

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Geoff - Saving as Draft first before posting this time

[Geoff Halstead]

Valance:
Only the side flanges needed replacing.

   

   

   

   

   

Geoff - Two posts to go

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Mud Shield brackets:

No repairs needed, just a long session in the sandblasting cabinet getting rid of the caked on gunk and rust.

   

   

   

Geoff - Nearly done for today.

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Mud Shields, Brackets and Valance given a coat of zinc epoxy primer.
They both need a little filler as it was my first attempt at anything like this, so left a little to be desired, but what the heck, still chuffed.

   

   

   

   

Geoff - Caught up with posting at last.

[Timothy P]

Great progress Geoff.

[Geoff Halstead]

Car nice and cosy and dry

   

Need to bump my thread as I'm likely to spend hours searching for it soon, seeing as weather has a Spring step to it ?
Geoff - Who am I kidding?

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Forgot to post what with boiler on the blink and then two infections this year.
Having to do separate posts as using the iPad.

Scratched my head on how to approach this as it was going to be the first time I did any metal bending of this kind.

   

Geoff - Rearing to get back onto the body now

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Only one way to learn.
Try.

   

That was easy.

Geoff - surprised myself once again

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Let's see how close the fit is after a bit of free hand shaping.

   

My eyes came out on stalks.

Geoff - Beginners luck

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After a lot more head scratching decided the easiest way would be to do the repair in sections and this is the result.

   

There are more photos showing the in between stages.

Getting used to the surprises now.

Geoff - Must have subconsciously learned something watching Dad.