Rejuvenation

I'm continuing with the renovation of our Evo1's back end, the procedure has been recorded on Youtube. Some major repairs needed doing, with lots of new metalwork welded in.

A new pattern part rear crossmember was installed.

After completing the passenger side repairs, I had hoped the driver's side wouldn't be as bad,

of course I was wrong! So I had to continue with the same work on that side too.

The corrosion had attacked in the same places, the tricky and easily missed rust

was again at the top of the suspension turret.

This is the rusty area at the top of the inner rear wheel arch,

it's a multiple angle pressing spot welded into place. Like many areas on a Delta

there are 3 layers of steel at some of the spot welds, making it a perfect damp trap.

The hole has a blanking grommet and covers access to the back of the door catch.

The only way to properly access this location is to remove the top suspension strut

mounting, drill out all the spot welds and lift the top off.

You can give it a good cleaning and repainting while it's off.

The complicated section is a bit difficult to make,

then it joins to the body behind the strut top, and

joins with the inner wing behind the

exterior bodywork.

If you notice a rust bubble above the rear wheel

opening on an otherwise lovely Delta, this is

where it's coming from.

Welding to the thin original 'steel', as Lancia called it!

can be tricky, even with the thin welding wire at the lowest setting. Lucky I have a big tin of seam sealer.

Lots of rubbing down here!

I again used a home made jig to position the strut top before welding it back in,

so much rusty metal was removed from the area that the pressing was

just hanging in the air.

With the top held in place, I could build up the metalwork around it and

weld it all into place.

A very important point was to get the tailgate closing correctly.

I had left the tailgate in place and I did keep checking its alignment as the jobs proceeded.

I put a new section in the shut rail, and the alignment was important to maintain.

I welded a small strengthening section inside under the back door catch, as we know the

shut rail is a bit weak. I put the rubber around and tested the closure each time before

doing any welding, this has worked well and the door closes correctly.

You'll notice the temporarily disconnected strut brace which was being used

to brace the shell.

All the drilling out of spot welds, and puddle welding the parts back in place, meant a lot of flap disc flattening down. I wanted a good finish inside so I used a combination of seam sealer and a light skim of body filler to tidy it up before painting.

Here's selection of items removed from our Delta's back end.

A good while ago I rang Tanc and enquired about available body repair panels.

Tanc told me his craftsmen make them from scratch for the

individual repairs they are doing, that is properly skilled work.

One day I'll ask if I can watch them in operation, and I'll report on it.

After completing the repairs I sprayed all bare metal with etch primer. When dry I filled and seam sealed the whole area to a fairly flat surface. When fully hardened next day I flatted it all down and applied a couple of coats of spray can red primer.

After another quick buzz down I applied two coats, wet on wet, of single pack cellulose gloss with my gravity fed spray gun. The weather was warm, so the celly didn't bloom

as it does in the cold, and dried quickly to a nice gloss finish.

New struts, wheel bearings, poly bushes, long bush bolts,

diff support bushes and a new diff sump guard fitted.

Repainted diff carrier, new brake calipers, new brake pipes and flex pipes, I even made new brake pipe brackets for these. New strong rear jacking points welded on, fuel tank cleaned and painted, installed with stainless steel straps and a new fuel pump.

I cleaned and serviced the load apportioning valve,

which then leaked from it's new inner seal when

I bled the brakes. This is now a problem.

I will resolve this, and I'll report on it soon.

Thank you for reading this, the car will go for professional exterior painting soon.

I'll then be offering this Delta for sale, if you might be interested in the car

please email us, integralingham@outlook.com