Renault Fregate..

I knew you could meet the challenge one way or another if you really wanted to. Actually they look very much like pre WW 2 Ford wheels.
 
By gove, is that a fregate in the back ground...?

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A coupla lads fixing one up...

Here's a pleasant way to spend 14:05 minutes, if you don't like the music just turn it off...enjoy

 
More likely a Simca, but what REALLY surprises me is that your depth of field got that far!:wink2:
 
Interestingly, it looks more like an MGA than her usual Floride/caravelle (I can never tell the two apart!)
 
Interestingly, it looks more like an MGA than her usual Floride/caravelle (I can never tell the two apart!)

Definitely not a Floride. Looks MGA to me as well. But as you said rather difficult to get much depth of field even to the left.
 
Gees you coves are observant, I didn't even notice there was a car there...must be the old grainy photo that threw me off............
 
Well it's all up to you. You know you've got the capability. Although have you tried making wire wheels yet? There is plenty of info. A car up near Gatton. You will need big spanners. Some nuts are 36mm!! Well at least one is. You are a fast worker. Done in 18 months. The car club in France has some spares. Many, like universals etc, are standard sizes. The rubber dough nuts on the drive shafts can be rebuilt, they were standard off the shelf in the day may still be used in industrial equipment. Go for it!!!


How to make wire wheels...simple when you see how someone does it.:)

P.J.HALLEWELL -- Phil Hallewell- Engineering- Wire Wheel Manufacturers and Repairing
 
A coupla lads fixing one up...

Here's a pleasant way to spend 14:05 minutes, if you don't like the music just turn it off...enjoy


What a great video! They clearly had fun with that project.

I kinda like the Fregate - it has a certain daggy charm :)
 
It is very nice. Great for a Fregate fan, which I am. Unfortunately my internet is so slow that it takes me 12 minutes to watch the less than 5 minute video. Still I persevered just because it was about the Fregate.

On the other video, which I don't want to sit through again because of the speed thing, I thought it appeared that some welding was actually bronze brazing. Do you agree. If so how did he do it without buckling the metal? And would it be strong enough? Also would it be legal? Back in the day it was legal to use brazing to build race car chassis providing a certain type of rod was used. Any one have any knowledge of that and what it was, and is it still available and legal? It appears as if some of the assembly of the Floride Caravelle was done using what appears to be bronze brazing.
 
Brazing !!

It is very nice. Great for a Fregate fan, which I am. Unfortunately my internet is so slow that it takes me 12 minutes to watch the less than 5 minute video. Still I persevered just because it was about the Fregate.

On the other video, which I don't want to sit through again because of the speed thing, I thought it appeared that some welding was actually bronze brazing. Do you agree. If so how did he do it without buckling the metal? And would it be strong enough? Also would it be legal? Back in the day it was legal to use brazing to build race car chassis providing a certain type of rod was used. Any one have any knowledge of that and what it was, and is it still available and legal? It appears as if some of the assembly of the Floride Caravelle was done using what appears to be bronze brazing.

Hi Sunroof,
Regarding the welding.:cool: In times past I used brazing or bronze welding a lot. I was into maintainance and it was applicable to just about every repair. Sheetmetal, broken castings, cracked frames, building up worn shafts, making exhausts etc etc.:cool: It's a manualy applied method which has gone out of favour because its slow and hot but still just as effective as it was before. It was used a lot, all bike frames were brazed together up till perhaps 20 years ago. I raced Karts which were brazed frames. The bronze flows into and around the joint so the stress is spread more than a thin line of weld.:rolleyes: Strength is excellent.

I am sure you can find plenty of information on the web and certainly in some of the older welding books. It is done by visual control so is quite satisfying to do as you can see how it is going and adjust as needed. Just a manual skill which is learnt by a bit of practice. Getting the flame right is the key. CIG had a range of rods and fluxes to cover all types required, not sure if they have now.:nownow:

:cheers: jaahn
 
Hi Sunroof,
Regarding the welding.:cool: In times past I used brazing or bronze welding a lot. I was into maintainance and it was applicable to just about every repair. Sheetmetal, broken castings, cracked frames, building up worn shafts, making exhausts etc etc.:cool: It's a manualy applied method which has gone out of favour because its slow and hot but still just as effective as it was before. It was used a lot, all bike frames were brazed together up till perhaps 20 years ago. I raced Karts which were brazed frames. The bronze flows into and around the joint so the stress is spread more than a thin line of weld.:rolleyes: Strength is excellent.

I am sure you can find plenty of information on the web and certainly in some of the older welding books. It is done by visual control so is quite satisfying to do as you can see how it is going and adjust as needed. Just a manual skill which is learnt by a bit of practice. Getting the flame right is the key. CIG had a range of rods and fluxes to cover all types required, not sure if they have now.:nownow:

:cheers: jaahn

You can even get flux coated rods now , so you don't have to stuff around with dipping the rod into a jar of flux, it makes it even easier.
 
It is very nice. Great for a Fregate fan, which I am. Unfortunately my internet is so slow that it takes me 12 minutes to watch the less than 5 minute video. Still I persevered just because it was about the Fregate.

On the other video, which I don't want to sit through again because of the speed thing, I thought it appeared that some welding was actually bronze brazing. Do you agree. If so how did he do it without buckling the metal? And would it be strong enough? Also would it be legal? Back in the day it was legal to use brazing to build race car chassis providing a certain type of rod was used. Any one have any knowledge of that and what it was, and is it still available and legal? It appears as if some of the assembly of the Floride Caravelle was done using what appears to be bronze brazing.



Everything was brazed once. When I was an apprentice we brazed everything, I remember doing a cut n shut on a HJ Kingswood with oxy straight across the floor under the rear seat. This was before MIG was around, it wouldn't be legal these days but back then thats just how you did it. Insurance companies agreed.

While doing that particular Kingswood we ran out of bronze wire so we snuck up stairs to the locker rooms and pinched some coat hangers and continued welding using coat hanger wire. We were one of the biggest panel shops in North Melbourne back then, 40 years ago and that was the normal repair process, I'm probably not suppose to mention the bit about the coat hangers though.
 
Brazing !!

Hi David and all :)
While brazing is not " current industry practice", it certainly was in times past. I fail to see why it would not be "legal" as it is a recognised professional welding technique. Certainly a lot of older cars had bits held together like that and there was no reason to doubt it. Spot welding just took over the body joining as it was quicker. I suppose insurance companies would not pay for it but that's because they want fast cheap jobs.:joker:

Brazing continued as a repair method as Dave said for quite a while, until spot welders and then Mig became available to the general trade. Faster and perhaps less skill required for average jobs. However in general industry brazing was well used for a lot longer, as it is versatile and you can do a lot with an oxy set and also take it almost anywhere.:rolleyes:

Those coat hanger welding rods, of course were steel, not bronze. We all used them ! They often gave sh*t welds if there was a coating on the wire :crazy: Brazing is easier than oxy welding on thin rusty parts because you do not actually have to melt the metal so it does not "disappear" as you weld and blow holes.:eek: That's the theory anyway:joker:
:2cents: jaahn
 
The satisfying part about car repairs back when was if the surface was a little lumpy after the welding, you just wiped it with lead for a nice finish. Another fast disappearing skill set!
 
Hi David and all :)
While brazing is not " current industry practice", it certainly was in times past. I fail to see why it would not be "legal" as it is a recognised professional welding technique. Certainly a lot of older cars had bits held together like that and there was no reason to doubt it. Spot welding just took over the body joining as it was quicker. I suppose insurance companies would not pay for it but that's because they want fast cheap jobs.:joker:

Brazing continued as a repair method as Dave said for quite a while, until spot welders and then Mig became available to the general trade. Faster and perhaps less skill required for average jobs. However in general industry brazing was well used for a lot longer, as it is versatile and you can do a lot with an oxy set and also take it almost anywhere.:rolleyes:

Those coat hanger welding rods, of course were steel, not bronze. We all used them ! They often gave sh*t welds if there was a coating on the wire :crazy: Brazing is easier than oxy welding on thin rusty parts because you do not actually have to melt the metal so it does not "disappear" as you weld and blow holes.:eek: That's the theory anyway:joker:
:2cents: jaahn



Mig was safer too. A lot of fires started from careless use of an oxy torch. Many a head lining went up in flames while welding a quarter panel on. Plus the distortion from butt welding a C piller was quite a problem. On the plus side it was easier to fill in a hole because you didn't cut the new panel acurately with bronze than with mig.

Coat hangers were usually galvanised or had some kind of coating which you had to burn off whilst you welded so they weren't really recommended but I do remember my mother complaining her coat hangers disappeared when we were fixing an old car in the shed.

What we were told to do to stop heat spreading across a panel and buckling the crap out of it was to lay strips of asbestos on either side and weld down the centre, that way the distortion stopped at the asbestos. It was a clever trick and worked well as long as you kept it moist. Imagine what would happen if you suggested that to an employee these days.
 
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