Hi, I'm Ben and I have been restoring classic cars professionally for over 20 years, I'm sharing what I've learnt in that time on my channel to help others who would like to know. The main focus is fabrication but I did paint cars for a good decade and learnt a lot in that field too. Before going into the car restoration trade I trained as a mechanical engineer, this allows me to make tools for my job but as a hobby I design, build and fly experimental aircraft. This is covered on my other channel ru-vid.com/show-UCw0XEA7X57uSpHNpUYQtw2g
@@bensclassicbodywork so a friend of mine has a YT channel, also working on his project, and he was asking for some feedback on his videos. My response? Screw what people think. As long as YOU are having a good time making the videos, then you will keep enjoying it, and the people that enjoy the content will be here with you. As soon as you start making the videos in some sort of specific way to appease the masses, you’re no longer doing it for you. The video part of your job I can only assume is a hobby, so enjoy the hobby!
@@bensclassicbodyworkI’ve just had a quick look again over all of your video titles. Most of them include “rust”, “repair”, “classic”, “bodywork”, “welding”, “restoration”. All things that get picked up and recommended by RU-vid to people with those sorts of interests…. Guess what this doesn’t include! It’s not that it wasn’t a good video, you just didn’t please the robot gods of popular buzz words.
@@6wheels646 Thanks very much for the kind feedback and you're absolutely right it should all be about making the videos you want to make and the numbers don't matter. I think RU-vid are good at making you take notice with how popular your video is, all the analytics you could possibly imagine and I'm a bit obsessed with watching that stuff. When a video does worse than you are used to I find it hard to not think negatively about it but you are absolutely right I shouldn't think that way. I think some People who post on RU-vid have achieved this state of mind, I need to work on it so that I'm not bothered either, it's the only way you can keep making videos long term. I also agree on the titles and this one being different, the oil burning stove did really bad for the first few days, but it went on to do very well indeed. The excitement of a video doing that well is quite addictive, trying to recreate that excitement is perhaps a recipe for disappointment. Thanks again Ben
@@jameshamm7167 Me too, always nice to see it in top coat, I'm still finishing off the filler work but it's not far off now. I will leave the car for a month or two in high build primer to let the paint shrink, then it's going to be final sanded and sprayed, I'm not spraying it myself as my facility's aren't up to scratch for top coats. I need to get the underneath in Upol raptor and get it back on its wheels soon. The axles are all powder coated and ready for assembly.
They certainly did and do have that reputation. I do think the majority of it is well built though, sills are very strong . Unlike a Morris minor convertible where you jack up the car and the doors open by themselves. 😆
yes, it is a terrible part, next time I will be making my own. Don't think there is an alternative. I don't understand how company's can sell such bad parts
En regardant l’ensemble des vidéos consacrées à cette restauration, l’on ne peut que reconnaître que vous mêlez professionnalisme et art. Vous être un gardien du patrimoine automobile. 🙏
Hi Ben. Good to see you do it nearly like me, you can actualy messuring your skils In the layer og bodyfiller you use, when you are down to 3 layer you ar a proff, in the beginning i was on 5 to 6 and a lot of sanding. Thank for a another good video. Cheers Peter
Yes, it was mainly spot welds but there were two small beads of weld on the top at either end of the rail. I had to use a 9" disc cutter to reach the small beads of weld. They are only about 1/2" long but looked factory to me.
Great video. I've been scratching my head about inner A panels for a while for my pickup. Very little on this that I can find on you tube. This helped.
Just another note, I also adore the mk1 cortina, lotus in particular, my friend had a 2 door mk1 gt in bright red, with twin sidedraught Webber's, beautiful car, amazing sound 👍
Bda engine, great sound, terrific engine, and must agree about the stag engine sound. How can anybody convert a classic car to electric, no enthusiast or petrol head would, absolute sacrilege.
Yes, I don't understand what the appeal would be with an electric motor conversion but company's are busy changing classics to electric. Big mistake if you ask me.
@@bensclassicbodywork that would be great. Or if you can share sketches would be great too. I like that you made it modular, to use the frame for shrinking and stretching. I was thinking that too, maybe also add a planishing hammer module. Would love to see your designs. Thanks. Ps. I admire the restoration quality. I have 3 rusty alfas to restore myself...
@@searover83 Unfortunately I didn't keep any sketches happy to measure anything in particular that you need. I've recently made the transition from shrinker stretcher to english wheel quicker by adding T section sliders and friction thumb locks. A planishing hammer option is a great idea, that would be a pretty simple addition providing there is space. Good chance there is. Happy to email some photos/ details as a video might take me some time to make. btdixey@hotmail.com I can tell you I used 11mm thick steel for the frame cnc plasma cut to shape. The screw thread for the english wheel is 7/8" unf.
Ben thank you for all the tutorials. They have been great for me, a novice trying to restore an RS2000 4X4 mark 6 Please have a look and if you can please give me some suggestions.
Over the years, i developed a habit where as I add the coats of filler, since it's closer to the shape, i go finer in grits. Usually, start with 80 , 120 on second, and finish off with 180 plus 240 all over and in with the HB primer. Use to use 1k glaze putty for pin holes. That was a horrible thing to use. Top work the sir 👏 👌
Nothing wrong with that if it worked for you 👍. As you know the finer the grit the less effective it is at cutting, 80 and 120 are pretty course and effective at shaping. Likewise we don't want deep scratches for the paint to shrink into later when it comes to finishing.
Perfect job and advice Ben. There is an incorrect stigma regarding filler that has been passed on to bodywork novices by so-called professionals that really ought to know better. I am sure everyone who has a serious interest in cars knows of Chip Foose. He turns out cars that stun the world they are so good. Every car he does is skimmed all over in filler and then blocked to within a mm of its' life. I think it's worth mentioning though, that show cars and daily drivers are a different breed entirely. There is a quite common restoration technique of filling completely across the door gaps, then blocking across from the door to the adjacent panel. This gives a laser-straight finish when you sight down the car, and also lets you get the door gaps absolutely perfect. The problem is that the door edge has maybe 1 to 2mm of filler on it which makes it very weak when it comes to withstanding the slight knocks of people getting in and out. I guess a happy medium has to be struck sometimes.
Totally agree, I tried the fill and block right across the doors but don't think I'll do that again. Like you say it's weak on the edge, ok if you lead that area but not polyester filler. All it takes is someone shutting the door with the seatbelt in the shut and it will leave a large chip. Like you say fine for a show car but not for a car that's going to be used a lot. Slight curve towards the door gaps looks original to me. Defends what you like the look of I suppose. I watched chip foose on tv and Boyd coddington. I've seen Charlie from American hot rod using lead around the door gaps. It's a lot of work to do.
Thank you Ben. Answers to questions I have never even thought of. I can see a bit of crossover with drywall. I will manage a better job with a couple house repairs.
I always thought you adjusted the door by lining it up with the solid quarter panel. Thats why the front fenders and core support have shims for adjusting the front door gap.
That's correct, in this case removing a shim could have helped the situation slightly except there weren't any shims behind the hinges to remove. No adjustment was possible.
@@bensclassicbodywork I didn't say anything about shims on the door hinges. Read again and think about the front of the frame being lower than it should be.
@@tires2burn oh ok, are you talking about adjusting the height of the A pillar ? This is a Monocoque chassis, no shims to adjust anything like you might have on a vehicle with a separate chassis.
@@tires2burn It would be the right decision to move the 'A' pillar upwards and shim the top door hinge to bring the door down at the back. That would be the optimum way of fixing the car but as you might well know a very large amount of work. I haven't done much with separate chassis vehicles, most I have are monocoque. I did do a morris minor convertible where I had to move the 'A' pillar up, that was a big job and I didn't get it where I wanted it. Nightmare in the end.
@@bensclassicbodywork thank you, any recomendation on how to protect the new sills after ?, undercoat, stone chip?, im a noob but can weld a little, thank you
