625 replies to this topic

[mini danny]

jesus you really are getting on with this i wish i could work this fast really enjoying reading this and will be good to see her finshed

danny

[minifcd]

Great work! I have just read from the start, can't believe I haven't seen this thread sooner! Your home made panels are amazing especially the battery box and you appear to have got the hang of welding very quickly! I'm adding this to my "follow" list. Great work, keep it up.

[sonikk4]

Happy new year Rich, its rocking along nicely. With the quarters off its a good time to get into all of the nooks and crannies to make sure you have not missed anything.

[rich2]

Hi Neil! Yeah there are definitely some bits in the corners of the rear bulkhead that were really hard to get to before. :)

[rich2]

Despite the arctic conditions this weekend, I decided to man up and get in the garage. Grr.

Can't believe I didn't do it earlier, but I finally realised there were discounts to be had with a TMF+ membership. Instantly got my money back in minispares discount on these two bad boys.



Genuine quarter panel and not-so-genuine door step. I added the door step to the shopping list after staring at the B post for a while trying to work out the best plan of attack. It finally dawned on me that I would need to sort the doorstep before even thinking about putting a new quarter panel on. Also, the doorsteps I had sourced previously weren't going to cut it because the rust extends into the curved bits. DOH.

Prior to surgery:



Since the inner sill is mostly rot, I welded in a quick brace to hold it straight while I removed the old door step. The brace will be removed when I replace the inner sill, but the door frame will be much more rigid by then. One hopes, anyway.



Old door step gets chop. Yuk.



Stripped the e-coat off the new door step and trimmed it to size. It took a lot of fettling to get the correct curvature in the corners. Looks messy at this stage, but everything is in the right place.





I did a quick test fit of the door to make sure everything was OK, and when I was happy, I seam welded the joints.



Annoyingly, the curvature into the A post turned out to be a bit thin from rust on the inside. Ho hum. Better to find out now rather than later I guess. I started to cut out the affected area, but it was getting well cold by this point so I called it a day. Hate leaving bits like this unfinished, so hopefully I'll be able to get it sorted during the week.

[Boycie]

Lovely work as usual Rich, on the road for the summer?

You're braver than me in this weather.. mine has been locked in its garage, untouched since November!

[rich2]

Haha that would be nice boycie but I really doubt it. Maybe summer 2015 ;)

[hughJ]

Good to see your work Rich. I do love seeing how you tackle things. Keep moving along.

Hugh

[Mad Max]

Fantastic fabrication skills there, amazing what you have completed in such a short time :)

[PaulColeman]

I have some small repairs to do around the front of my doors and this may be a dumb question but why didn't you do the welding inside the sill instead of on the outside? You're going to have to grind off 90% of what you've put on to make it look pretty (which will also reduce its strength a lot) but if you'd welded it on the other side you could just have left it and put a skim of filler on the outside?

Paul.

[rich2]

Paul: thats a good point - ideally I would have, but the inner sill is still (kind of) in place and I don't want to remove too much of it yet while its still maintaining some rigidity in the car. I could have done it from underneath, but I haven't got the car on a spit yet so it would have been really awkward to weld from underneath. I hear what you are saying about strength, and when I have better access to underneath, I will make sure everything is firmly welded from behind too.

[minifcd]

I don't think you need to worry about strength when butt welding panels. Providing the welds have good penetration (which all of yours look like they do) you can quite easily grind down to a smooth finish on both sides, (providing you don't grind thinner than the surrounding original metal) and the weld will still be stronger and harder than the original metal, due to carbon being drawn in from the gas shield during welding. All of your welding and fabrication is very good. I can see the point made of welding from the inside so you only have to grind the outside down, but I am a strong believer in trying to make repairs of a professional standard where possible. I like to make repairs that anyone who may carry out another restoration in say 10 years time, would have to look twice at to see if its original or not. We're all different though, its personal preference. Anyway, your doing a great job and I look forward to reading every update I get on this thread.

[rich2]

Hi!

After much delicate grinding, I got those welds from the previous update cleaned up a bit. Not exactly concors smooth yet, but the best I can do with the tools I've got at the moment. There are a lot of welds on the car I'd like to revisit with an air grinder at some point. Anyway, a pass with filler might be enough to sort this area out.




On with the quarter panel fitting! I drilled out the spot welds on the remains of the old panel. The inside of the waist rail turned out to be in OK nick.



Wasn't too happy with the state of the seam lip on the lower rear panel so decided the chop was in order.



New metal in:



Before putting the new quarter panel on, I did the usual routine of stripping and double coating all enclosed surfaces with POR15. I've also got the little filler panel clamped in place here. I'm planning to fit the companion bins at a later stage because I've got to replace the inner sills first, so I am leaving a little gap between this panel and the edge of the rear squab. Hopefully I can slot the companion bin into place when the time comes.

I'm not sure if there should be a jacking point in here somewhere that I am missing... I'll have to do some research. Unfortunately the old metal that I cut out of this area was so rotten it was impossible to tell exactly what was in there originally.



Also prepared the enclosed parts of the quarter panel with POR15.



Test fitting - not bad! Hopefully I'll get this properly welded on this weekend or next (depending on what I do about that jacking point).




As I haven't posted a photo of the whole car for a while, this is how things are looking at the moment. Rock and indeed Roll. :)

[sonikk4]

Nipping along there Rich. There is a slinging bracket at the end of the inner sill but its entirely up to you whether you want to fit one or not.

Have a look at minifcd's build thread as he has just done one.

[hughJ]

Rich - it looks great. But it is so much work! When you start you would never believe how much time it takes. Yours is superb repairs. It will be great in the end

Hugh