A cutting mistake, a welding fix and a genius hack

[@peterbradburn9115]

Bloody love this series

[@GrandThriftAuto]

That makes me happy!

[@bloxyblox1]

Bloody love it too!

[@davejones4804]

Nice to see some new metal going in! I find that quite a motivational boost when new bits are welded in

[@GrandThriftAuto]

It really is! It’s quite a milestone welding the first new patch actually on to the car.

[@martinwhite609]

As a fellow Matra owner ( 89 Espace Quadra ) just wanted to say how much I am enjoying this series. Shows what excellent work you can do with basic tools. It also motivates me to get on and start work on a rusty Mini that I have lurking behind my workshop. Thankfully it looks a lot better in the rust department than what you are tackling. Not having salted roads mean cars have lasted better in New Zealand than in my country of birth.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Very glad you’re enjoying it! I have an Espace too - an 87 2000 TSE, so not as exotic as your Quadra but still a fantastic vehicle. Good luck with the Mini, I’d definitely encourage you to get stuck in.

[@neiljarvis8911]

Cool, that panel was a "Fitzee cut'n butt". I take it that you are using genuine drmmel cutting discs, my ebay ones turn to dust in about 5 seconds.... if I attached a damp aldi digestive biscuit it would probably cut better. That repair looked good, you are right about grinding the welds, the most likely outcome is thinning the original parent metal and the repair peice. For it's age it's surprisingly free from rust. Coming along nicely, enjoy watching your work.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thanks neil. Yup, these are branded Dremel EZ Click discs. I find they last pretty well as long as I’m patient and do multiple light passes - if I go slowly and dig in then they very quickly wear down to nothing in the heat.

[@FranzHuber-r6g]

This chanal and the Irish Esprit Stop Motion guy (soup) are my absolute favorites! Filmwise the soup guy is a bit better, but you easily catch up with your humor. Love your series, honestly. Greetings from a German lotus owner.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Soup is one of my absolute favourites too, so I take that as a big compliment, thank you!

[@Kapil-Patel]

Very clever trick to remove sound deadening 😎 and nice result with the panel. More great progress on the restoration. Thanks for sharing 👍🏽

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thank you, and thanks for watching!

[@robertmichel7431]

I just waited until winter when it was almost freezing temperatures in my garage. Worked perfect

[@GrandThriftAuto]

@@robertmichel7431 Now that’s a money-saving hack I can REALLY get behind 👍

[@martysprojects]

Annoying when that happens, we've all done it. Keep up the good work. Cheers Marty's projects 👍

[@benc8386]

Wow. Well done! Those pieces fit perfectly. Also your welding has got much better than when you repaired your Honda Aerodeck (which was fine, I don't mean to be critical, but this was really much more like it).

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thanks! No offence taken, I'm much happier that I've got the welder set up about right and have refined my technique.

[@danielrussell446]

Well done Martin great work as ever on the rancho and those panels are brilliant considering they are hand made and the originals were pressed from steel sheet (my dad was a press operator years back) so glad it is coming along and you can see the work you have put in already great tip about the freeze spray will have to look for some! All the best Daniel

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thanks Daniel!

[@spitfiretrading]

Well done young man, coming along now slowly but surely! Keep the faith...

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thanks! I still haven't done the fuel pump on the SD1, by the way...

[@TK42138]

Nice work as usual. Plumbing pipe freezing spray also works. I've seen this done with dry ice too but that's not always easy to get hold of in the UK.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Good tip. I’ve seen dry ice blasters (not cheap) but never figured out where you get the actual medium from, or how you store it, or what.

[@ivanfernyhough3851]

Your repair panels you have made are very impressive.your doing a great job.dont see many of them nowadays.i remember at school one of the other pupils parents having a red one.late 70s early 80s I woukd guess.

[@fhwolthuis]

Nice job, Martin. I love it that you work so thoroughly. That freezing stuff is a good tip!

[@GrandThriftAuto]

@@fhwolthuis Thanks Frank!

[@Tagora2664]

Cool, more Rancho tinkering. 😁

[@GrandThriftAuto]

You knows it, as they say round here :)

[@edgarbeat2851]

Keep chipping away your doing fantastic work. Been a while. Gave a like also. Wish i knew about the chill spray. Removing the bitumen from my vw 412 was soul destroying.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thanks! There’s a lot of floor in a 412, I don’t envy you that experience.

[@edgarbeat2851]

I ended up finishing it up on a frosty day 😀 it was flaking so I decided to remove it all inside and out. In African market it was popular did the job. It was the inside that was a nightmare polystyrene with bitumen. In UK climate I wasn't having that. In terms of rust a 412 can put a Matra Rancho to shame lucky mine is solid . Prevention by removing the sound deadening and interior floor bitumen.

[@tomwinch9107]

I'm loving this series, your metal folding is so impressive and your explanations really great. Plus this is a car worth saving I've got a Mk1 Rav4, which needs a bit of welding by the rear sill. The Rav4 triggered the (crossover) SUV movement (which has gone way too far - the isolation they provide from the 'dangerous roads' is just encouraging driving that makes them more dangerous!), maybe not something to celebrate! I'm wondering if the Matra Rancho was one of the inspiring factors in the Rav4 ... is it uni body or is the rear half chassis rails?

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thank you! Good point about the Rav4, it was a bit of a revelation at the time that an ‘offroader’ could handle well. The Rancho is technically a unibody in that it doesn’t have separate chassis rails, but the outer shell of the back half is fibreglass. I’m looking forward to finding out what its road manners are like, but there’s a fair way to go yet as you can see 😬

[@endoxr4]

I keep an old wood chisel to use for the bitumen sound deadening stuff

[@hhgttg69]

good job

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Thanks!

[@michaelbyrnes7944]

I like your anvil has a square hole in it do you have any dolly’s that slide into the anvil.. what thickness steel are you welding back into the car .8 or 1 mill

[@GrandThriftAuto]

I’m matching what’s left of the car, which is mostly 0.8mm (including the piece in this video). There’s a thicker strengthening piece inside the door post though, which I’ll tackle soon. I don’t have any dollies that fit in the hole in the anvil yet but I wish I did!

[@Roverjoe]

damn wish i knew about that freezer in a can, i spent hours chiselling away at my sound deadening 😂

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Sorry if I’ve given you traumatic flashbacks!

[@TheDistur]

This is much like eating an elephant. One piece at a time.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

Absolutely. Hard to swallow and a bit tasteless, too ;-)

[@benday1218]

A little set back handled with much sang froid.

[@GrandThriftAuto]

@@benday1218 Must be from inhaling all that freezing spray 😉

[@andybtec]

Nice work. I can't stand having the handle on my angle grinders