My heart sunk when I saw the extent of that A pillar rust, as I imagine did yours. However, the manner in which you’ve tackled it - calmly, methodically and competently - is reassuring. Good luck with the build. I look forward to seeing it progress.
Let's all take a moment to praise the genius of the person who invented the powerfile and made our lives easier. That repair section where the hinges mount is a thing of beauty. 👏
Blimey Martin. There's a serious amount of hidden rusty rudeness and general naughtiness to contend with there. However, your methodical approach and excellent fabrication skills, will no doubt, win the day. Thanks again for yet another great, inspiring video. Yours, Tommy the Toolbox.
Nice to see some Rancho dressing. I'm glad you are taking your time. I saw a lady classic car collector on Johnny Smith's channel recently who had some her rarest cars laser scanned so that parts could be fabricated again if required. Maybe someone should do that with a Rancho if they have the abilty to hide so many issues
That's an interesting idea. Reasonably accurate scanners are stilly pretty expensive unfortunately...although they might be free with three packets of cornflakes by the time I've finished, of course.
More rust than the titanic.. reminds me of the time I took my then recently purchased £140 ‘74 Mini to show my Dad and the driver door promptly fell off… the A pillar sadly a memory rather than reality! Hats off to you for smiling in the face of (rust) adversity Martin.
Great update Martin. That is a scary amount of rust, but with your metal working skills you'll web able to fix it with no trouble. Loved watching all that metal work. Keep going.!
Where others celebrate a thorough wash of some cheaply bought but sound Mercedes, you rebuild the structure of an almost forgotten car that will not be worth a lot financially. But your viewers respect that, and it will ultimately help grow your channel.
Keep at it, there's always loads more rust than you imagine, been doing this for forty years, and still am surprised at how much more there is than I imagined, though it's lovely when you find less. Be a fantastic car when finished, I remember someone in our neighbourhood had a green metallic one, with the spots and grilles, Uber cool when you are twelve years old! Thanks for all you videos, I like your style, and appreciate you NOT pestering for likes and subscribes.
Even as a subscriber I’ve had to go hunting out this video. TH-cam seems to be holding back on the notifications. Maybe someone at Google HQ is a disgruntled former Rancho owner? Once I found the video though, truly excellent content. As always.
Blimey - you don't do things by half, do you? That is an epic project on a complicated structure. Nice work on the repairs and fabrication. Good luck with the project.
When you think about it, modern cars aren’t made much better. They just fit lots of plastic shields under the body which will help with road spray but, if wetness gets in then it’s free to propagate rust totally unseen to the eye. Of course lots of plastic panels are used today especially by the French and I do like a French car.
Hi Martin hope you are keeping well wow well that rust was a bit more than in think we all thought but well done in the methodical and patient approach to tackling it and on fabrication of new panels a great video as ever and looking forward to seeing the rancho progress all the best Daniel
Very impressive progress! I get that it can be frustrating but working through rust and MoT bodges is not easy. Thankfully that car doesn’t seem to have any chicken wire, Daily Mirror and Isopon so it’s still a more solid base than many. Keep going and keep up with the excellent videos!
Thats amazing work! Always loved the Rancho tried buying one in the late 80's early 90's it looked amazing but was sadly rotten underneath. My brother had one for 3 years in Italy (rust not an issue over there) and loved it as a small but big family car.
Good job! Unibody cars, especially from the 70s onwards, are extremely difficult to repair. You have to peal the layers back and then rebuild from the inner layer out.
Agreed. I'm shaping the panels working from the outside in so I've got reference to work from - then I'll cut out each layer in turn and weld on the new parts working from the inside out.
No, cutting discs do not go out of date, the date is there so that if there were to be a faulty batch, they could be identified. The disc failed the way it did because of the way you were flexing it. As others have mentioned, these relatively recent very thin cutting discs do not tend to explode in the way that the 1/8"/3mm ones did. They have a much higher reinforcement to abrasive ratio. When cutting tube frames, I've had blades pinched and lost a chunk. I've then continued to use the same blade! It cut and wore much faster, but survived.
Seriously, they really do go out of date - all the manufacturers say that the resin used to bond the discs together breaks down over time and they have about a 3 year life. It may have been under some flex load when it failed - it certainly wasn't flexing hard, I was just holding it perpendicular to a flat panel - but it failed because it was weakened by age.
I’m a Aussie man living in Australia 🇦🇺 the best place in the world 🌎 I’ve never seen one of those cars before never heard of it look like one of those spastic aluminium Land Rover things to me the only good thing to come out of pomy land was the mighty ford cortina and the Morris miner mini
Wowser! Well, hats off to you for perseverance! Best of luck with that A pillar - daft question - would there ever be a chance of getting a Simca 1100 van shell from anywhere (France, or Spain maybe?) to cannibalise for parts?
Thanks Simon... not a daft question at all, but I probably couldn't bring myself to cut up a good Simca 1100. And actually, while there's a lot to do, most of the shapes aren't actually that complicated to fabricate. They're much simpler than all the compound curves on the Honda Aerodeck, for example.
That’s a good idea but knowing me I couldn’t bring myself to cut into the poor Simca. Luckily most of the Simca panels (and all of the few Matra ones) are reasonably simple shapes to fabricate. Actually a friend did recently bring a really nice Simca 1100 to the UK from France - I hope to feature it in a video at some point.
It’s a budget one from Metz Tools. It works well enough on 0.8mm (it’s better at stretching than shrinking) but for 1.2mm steel I’d advise something heavier duty.
@@NigelWoods-u6v I haven’t. It’s rated up to 1.2mm maximum but I think it would take a long time to make much of an impression on steel that thick, especially shrinking. Metz Tools, Frost etc do heavier duty ones that would probably be a wiser investment if you regularly work with thicker metal.
Thin cutting discs disintegrating are a bit of a nothingburger in my experience. Not enough mass to cause problems unless you are unencumbered with eye protection.
Glad you like it! I create the music myself, mainly to avoid the copyright issues that can happen even with music licensing services (and as a hobby for when I can't work on the cars). Most of it is available on Soundcloud - the tracks used in this video are: Vinyl Silk - The Confidence Trick: soundcloud.com/vinylsilk/confidencetrick Vinyl Silk - Methodology: soundcloud.com/vinylsilk/methodology Vinyl Silk - Grand Funk Auto: soundcloud.com/vinylsilk/grand-funk-auto
Don’t ask! I’ve done some more since the last video but have paused it while I improve my fabrication skills on the Rancho. Hoping to go back to it soon though.
'Still lots to do', brill. I was going to be critical but can see I suffer from the same sort of madness tbh. Only age, laziness, and no fabrication skills save me from following you over the cliff. Maybe if you were compelled to talk it through with someone before getting your wallet out? An escrow bank account or power of attorney would help. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
It must be your good sense because age, laziness and no previous fabrication experience weren't enough to keep me on the right side of this particular cliff :)
Absolutely - I have to order 0.3mm pre-rusted sheets specially. I’m all about authenticity, me 😉 Joking apart, it’ll be getting better rust treatment than the factory gave it.
Isn't the reason for the rust the cost effective manufacturing method of spot welding leaving an effective moisture holding gap too small for rust inhibiting coatings? Why repeat that method in your own shop where you are hand building the bits? Why not butt everything so as to avoid the spot/lap welds and thusly, the moisture trap inherently created by them? Not trying to be critical, I just don't understand why you'd repeat what caused the issue. Your tool collection is lovely.
That's a really interesting question. I always butt weld patches into panels (rather than lap weld, as some do), but plug (=spot) weld where I'm joining two panels together. I coat the surfaces with zinc primer first though, which the factory often didn't. I will then cover the accessible side of any joins with seam sealer and use a cavity wax like Dinitrol ML or Bilt Hamber Dynax with a strong capillary action to get into the seams inside the box sections, which again the factory didn't do (on this car). Hopefully that'll make it last a bit better...
@@GrandThriftAuto Looked those two up. Not easy to find here. Popular in the USA are the lanolin based undercoatings. Woolwax, FluidFilm, SurfaceShield. The Zinc and Copper primers burn off around the plug/spot. They use a lot of rust promoting road coatings around me so I've been avoiding any plug welds. I just cut off the pinch or seams. If they need it I just add a single layer gusset. It is funny that you have Vevor tools just as we do but the corrosion stuff is different. Also, I've never seen a car/truck like the one you're working on.
I winced a little at the rust, I was impressed at the metal work, I was entertained!
Thanks! Objectives met 👍
Heroically shoving a rusty boulder up a mountain with your nose. I’ve always loved the Rancho so thank you so much for this incredible project
My heart sunk when I saw the extent of that A pillar rust, as I imagine did yours. However, the manner in which you’ve tackled it - calmly, methodically and competently - is reassuring. Good luck with the build. I look forward to seeing it progress.
Thanks a lot - very much appreciate your unfailing support!
Let's all take a moment to praise the genius of the person who invented the powerfile and made our lives easier. That repair section where the hinges mount is a thing of beauty. 👏
Amen on the powerfile, and thanks on the repair section 😊
Martin, you never fail to amaze me with your skills and determination to see a project through. Well done.
Thanks Alastair! Determination or foolhardy stubbornness though?
Well done. You are bringing me back to my days of owning a Rancho.I had a 4 seater followed by a 6 seater 40 years ago. Great cars!
Blimey Martin. There's a serious amount of hidden rusty rudeness and general naughtiness to contend with there. However, your methodical approach and excellent fabrication skills, will no doubt, win the day.
Thanks again for yet another great, inspiring video.
Yours, Tommy the Toolbox.
Hi Martin, your metal fabrication skills are amazing, what a complicated project.
Thanks! It wasn't supposed to be complicated...
A++ for the determination to keep on pushing it, all the way through!
Putting a sterling effort into an obscure unexotic motor. All power to you.
Thanks! It wants to be exotic when it grows up, mind.
Good video.
Impressive metal work.
Don't know if you've ever watched Coldwar motors, he's also a master of metal work.
Best wishes.
Nice to see some Rancho dressing. I'm glad you are taking your time. I saw a lady classic car collector on Johnny Smith's channel recently who had some her rarest cars laser scanned so that parts could be fabricated again if required. Maybe someone should do that with a Rancho if they have the abilty to hide so many issues
That's an interesting idea. Reasonably accurate scanners are stilly pretty expensive unfortunately...although they might be free with three packets of cornflakes by the time I've finished, of course.
More rust than the titanic.. reminds me of the time I took my then recently purchased £140 ‘74 Mini to show my Dad and the driver door promptly fell off… the A pillar sadly a memory rather than reality! Hats off to you for smiling in the face of (rust) adversity Martin.
Thanks Simon! There's quite a bit of not-smiling too, mostly off camera.
Fair play for taking this on & nice temporary jig to locate the door hinges.
Great update Martin. That is a scary amount of rust, but with your metal working skills you'll web able to fix it with no trouble. Loved watching all that metal work. Keep going.!
Thanks Gentil!
When I heard ‘that’s not going anywhere’ I knew ultimate dad spec repairs were inbound. Great stuff!
Thanks...I think - is 'ultimate dad spec repairs' a good thing?
@@GrandThriftAuto Dad spec repairs will outlast humanity!
@@GLxGL Ah, excellent!
Where others celebrate a thorough wash of some cheaply bought but sound Mercedes, you rebuild the structure of an almost forgotten car that will not be worth a lot financially.
But your viewers respect that, and it will ultimately help grow your channel.
"A windscreen and a service away from MOT, so that shouldn't take me more than a couple of years"...........oh yes, I know that feeling !
Keep at it, there's always loads more rust than you imagine, been doing this for forty years, and still am surprised at how much more there is than I imagined, though it's lovely when you find less. Be a fantastic car when finished, I remember someone in our neighbourhood had a green metallic one, with the spots and grilles, Uber cool when you are twelve years old! Thanks for all you videos, I like your style, and appreciate you NOT pestering for likes and subscribes.
Fascinating video Martin, but sad to see how much nastiness was lurking underneath the outer layers. I'm absolutely in awe of your fabricating skills!
Thanks Phil, that's very kind of you :)
How does this channel not have more subscribers and views? Another great video, one of my favourites!
A very good question! Glad you enjoyed it though.
Even as a subscriber I’ve had to go hunting out this video. TH-cam seems to be holding back on the notifications. Maybe someone at Google HQ is a disgruntled former Rancho owner?
Once I found the video though, truly excellent content. As always.
@@BungleBare Frustrating, isn’t it? I can only suggest turning notifications on - that’s the only way to make sure you get to see new videos.
Great work I always loved the Rancho it was so different at the time.
Can't wait to see it finished 👍
I can't wait either! Sadly it won't be very soon though...
@@GrandThriftAuto Ah well Rome wasn't build in a day.lm sure it will be worth it
Great video with great fabrication & hard graft, no wonder they are so rare
Your skills really have developed fabulously sir… superb craftsmanship ❤
Thank you! I'm still learning a lot with every piece and there's a great deal of off-camera head-scratching, but it does feel like progress.
Fantastic progress ! looking forward to the next episode 👍🏽 thanks for sharing.
Thanks! Hopefully there won't be such a long wait to the next update.
You beast using a wood chisel like that, Im glad its not just me lol, Great vid great project and workmanship.
Guilty 😬😔
Its a quality job your doin👍 and the Rancho deserves it
Thanks Chris! It really does.
Blimey - you don't do things by half, do you?
That is an epic project on a complicated structure. Nice work on the repairs and fabrication. Good luck with the project.
Thanks! That means a lot coming from your good self :)
Fantastic work Martin, you have impressive patience as well as excellent fabrication skills. It will all be worth it for such a rare machine.
When you think about it, modern cars aren’t made much better. They just fit lots of plastic shields under the body which will help with road spray but, if wetness gets in then it’s free to propagate rust totally unseen to the eye.
Of course lots of plastic panels are used today especially by the French and I do like a French car.
Very true. Plus the shapes are actually not that complicated to remake, unlike some elaborate modern pressings.
It's easy to see why most of these, and probably all other seventies car got dumped. Yikes! You're a brave man.
True. Also you spelled 'foolish' wrong ;)
Great work! I wouldnt know where to start with that repair!
Hi Martin hope you are keeping well wow well that rust was a bit more than in think we all thought but well done in the methodical and patient approach to tackling it and on fabrication of new panels a great video as ever and looking forward to seeing the rancho progress all the best Daniel
Thanks Daniel!
Absolutely fantastic work. Also highly informative and inspirational!
Thanks Alex!
Great to see this special car get the special care you provide - lovely to see and great explanations, thank you
Thanks, really glad you liked it! I've been trying not to over-explain, so I appreciate the feedback.
Bravo, looking forward to the next instalment…..
Working on it...
Very impressive progress! I get that it can be frustrating but working through rust and MoT bodges is not easy.
Thankfully that car doesn’t seem to have any chicken wire, Daily Mirror and Isopon so it’s still a more solid base than many.
Keep going and keep up with the excellent videos!
Thanks! You’re right, it could be a lot worse - I haven’t found any filler at all so far.
Wishing you the best of luck with the Rancho project! 👍
Thats amazing work!
Always loved the Rancho tried buying one in the late 80's early 90's it looked amazing but was sadly rotten underneath.
My brother had one for 3 years in Italy (rust not an issue over there) and loved it as a small but big family car.
Bravo young man, nice to see you finally finding the time to concentrate on your passion.
Thanks Niall! I'm glad to be back on the cars at last. Life has taken a slight left turn this week but I should be back in action next week.
Please keep going! Incredible to see the level of detail you’re going to!
I'm in too deep to stop now...
Great to see you cracking on with the Rancho, look forward to the next installment. 👍
Thanks! By the way, you have my full attention with 'Tagora'. I LOVE Tagoras.
@@GrandThriftAuto Well next time I drag it from it's resting place I'll make a little vid. 👍
Keep with it, I think you should be commended for sticking with it.
I think you might be confusing 'commended' with 'sectioned' ;)
Good job! Unibody cars, especially from the 70s onwards, are extremely difficult to repair. You have to peal the layers back and then rebuild from the inner layer out.
Agreed. I'm shaping the panels working from the outside in so I've got reference to work from - then I'll cut out each layer in turn and weld on the new parts working from the inside out.
Enjoyed every moment.
Good job, very brave, great video
No, cutting discs do not go out of date, the date is there so that if there were to be a faulty batch, they could be identified. The disc failed the way it did because of the way you were flexing it. As others have mentioned, these relatively recent very thin cutting discs do not tend to explode in the way that the 1/8"/3mm ones did. They have a much higher reinforcement to abrasive ratio. When cutting tube frames, I've had blades pinched and lost a chunk. I've then continued to use the same blade! It cut and wore much faster, but survived.
Seriously, they really do go out of date - all the manufacturers say that the resin used to bond the discs together breaks down over time and they have about a 3 year life. It may have been under some flex load when it failed - it certainly wasn't flexing hard, I was just holding it perpendicular to a flat panel - but it failed because it was weakened by age.
I’m a Aussie man living in Australia 🇦🇺 the best place in the world 🌎 I’ve never seen one of those cars before never heard of it look like one of those spastic aluminium Land Rover things to me the only good thing to come out of pomy land was the mighty ford cortina and the Morris miner mini
It's French! No pom content on this one.
Wowser! Well, hats off to you for perseverance! Best of luck with that A pillar - daft question - would there ever be a chance of getting a Simca 1100 van shell from anywhere (France, or Spain maybe?) to cannibalise for parts?
Thanks Simon... not a daft question at all, but I probably couldn't bring myself to cut up a good Simca 1100. And actually, while there's a lot to do, most of the shapes aren't actually that complicated to fabricate. They're much simpler than all the compound curves on the Honda Aerodeck, for example.
Wow you are a true artist! Amazing video! Fantastic
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Wow, you've got your work cut out for you 😉 Maybe try to find and import a rust free Simca 1100 from Portugal or something as a donor?
That’s a good idea but knowing me I couldn’t bring myself to cut into the poor Simca. Luckily most of the Simca panels (and all of the few Matra ones) are reasonably simple shapes to fabricate.
Actually a friend did recently bring a really nice Simca 1100 to the UK from France - I hope to feature it in a video at some point.
Can I ask what brand / make is your shrinker stretcher and will it work with 18 gauge / 1.2mm steel.
It’s a budget one from Metz Tools. It works well enough on 0.8mm (it’s better at stretching than shrinking) but for 1.2mm steel I’d advise something heavier duty.
@@GrandThriftAuto Have you ever tried 1.2 mm in it.
@@NigelWoods-u6v I haven’t. It’s rated up to 1.2mm maximum but I think it would take a long time to make much of an impression on steel that thick, especially shrinking. Metz Tools, Frost etc do heavier duty ones that would probably be a wiser investment if you regularly work with thicker metal.
Thin cutting discs disintegrating are a bit of a nothingburger in my experience. Not enough mass to cause problems unless you are unencumbered with eye protection.
I like the incidental music who is it, please Martin..
Glad you like it! I create the music myself, mainly to avoid the copyright issues that can happen even with music licensing services (and as a hobby for when I can't work on the cars).
Most of it is available on Soundcloud - the tracks used in this video are:
Vinyl Silk - The Confidence Trick: soundcloud.com/vinylsilk/confidencetrick
Vinyl Silk - Methodology: soundcloud.com/vinylsilk/methodology
Vinyl Silk - Grand Funk Auto: soundcloud.com/vinylsilk/grand-funk-auto
Btw, how far are you with the Accord?
Don’t ask! I’ve done some more since the last video but have paused it while I improve my fabrication skills on the Rancho. Hoping to go back to it soon though.
'Still lots to do', brill.
I was going to be critical but can see I suffer from the same sort of madness tbh.
Only age, laziness, and no fabrication skills save me from following you over the cliff.
Maybe if you were compelled to talk it through with someone before getting your wallet out?
An escrow bank account or power of attorney would help.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
It must be your good sense because age, laziness and no previous fabrication experience weren't enough to keep me on the right side of this particular cliff :)
Hope you are using original Italo-French super thin steel.
@@stephmaccormick3195 that is still sold in Aldi, called "foil"
Absolutely - I have to order 0.3mm pre-rusted sheets specially. I’m all about authenticity, me 😉
Joking apart, it’ll be getting better rust treatment than the factory gave it.
Oh noes!
I fear so, Molesworth.
I have something that may interest you it's a radio controlled one of these
Interesting! Don't tempt me though, I'm too easily distracted as it is.
@GrandThriftAuto it won't be a lot I would like to see it go to someone who owns one
Isn't the reason for the rust the cost effective manufacturing method of spot welding leaving an effective moisture holding gap too small for rust inhibiting coatings? Why repeat that method in your own shop where you are hand building the bits? Why not butt everything so as to avoid the spot/lap welds and thusly, the moisture trap inherently created by them?
Not trying to be critical, I just don't understand why you'd repeat what caused the issue.
Your tool collection is lovely.
That's a really interesting question. I always butt weld patches into panels (rather than lap weld, as some do), but plug (=spot) weld where I'm joining two panels together. I coat the surfaces with zinc primer first though, which the factory often didn't. I will then cover the accessible side of any joins with seam sealer and use a cavity wax like Dinitrol ML or Bilt Hamber Dynax with a strong capillary action to get into the seams inside the box sections, which again the factory didn't do (on this car). Hopefully that'll make it last a bit better...
@@GrandThriftAuto Looked those two up. Not easy to find here. Popular in the USA are the lanolin based undercoatings. Woolwax, FluidFilm, SurfaceShield.
The Zinc and Copper primers burn off around the plug/spot. They use a lot of rust promoting road coatings around me so I've been avoiding any plug welds. I just cut off the pinch or seams. If they need it I just add a single layer gusset. It is funny that you have Vevor tools just as we do but the corrosion stuff is different.
Also, I've never seen a car/truck like the one you're working on.
Sorry chap but they were rot boxes when they were new so you were lucky to find one so good luck
Normally I’d be tempted to leap to its defence, but I kinda have to agree about the rot…and thanks!
Man, if that's not impressive, tell me what is.
The next bit will be even better!
I messaged you on Instagram, Martin.
Thanks Frank, I’d missed that. Interesting, I’ll look into that - thanks.