Replacement door is on now, and it fits far better than the "repaired" one did. Next job is to finish off the front corner where the front panel meets the inner wing, so I can test-fit wing and see if it all lines up before welding the rest up.
Corner of the front panel is now connected, and I've done a reasonable job of straightening the various dents on the slam panel. There's quite a lot of surface rust that needs to come off, though.
Coming on nicely. If it is anything like what I am doing it will seem never ending but now and again you make a big jump forward. Been a while since I did that though.
I'm trying to test fit the front wings to make sure the doors are a decent fit prior to welding everything in place, and I'm struggling with the offside one. The bottom corner of the windscreen pillar (a common issue on HCs) has been replaced with a section from another car
but it's been fitted badly, and it's not in very good condition. It's been "repaired" by blobbing a couple of panels on the inside, which have no protection and are already rusty.
It's also covering up a couple of little holes in the inner part of the windscreen pillar that need to be repaired. Previous repairer must have seen them.
Although this is much better condition than my last project, it's still throwing up a few little areas where I have to remove perfectly good metal to repair a section that is otherwise unreachable. Yesterday was a section of where the dash meets the bottom edge of the windscreen - probably doesn't matter too much (though maybe the dash structure is steel to help contribute to shell strength), and would certainly be visible to the driver if left.
Post by grumpynorthener on May 11, 2022 10:35:37 GMT
Its awkward areas like this that become a complete time sinks - still needs to be done but little bits of tricky fabrication like this takes much longer than fabricating a large straight area of repair work - keep plugging away and all of sudden you will turn a corner where everything starts to fall into place
Yes, I've patched up the little hole at the edge of the dash and then spent more time this afternoon just trying to make the edge of the windscreen surround, back and forth to the shrinker / stretcher but now having to find other ways to alter it because it's too curved to go in the stretcher. I can see the appeal of getting a section from a donor vehicle, but not when it's riddled with holes like this one. I can only imagine how bad the original part was - well, I don't have to, because my other hatch was basically solid filler in that area.
I spent another couple of hours trying to get the windscreen surround edge to sit properly, then gave up and cut it into two pieces. I've "cheated" a bit, but it's much quicker this way and at least it fits. Removing the rain channel repair now, so I can patch the pillar behind it and then start moving outwards again.
Its a horrible piece to repair, I dont envy you with so many curves in different directions! its so common on HCs its a shame someone cant make up a press tool to punch some out
I know someone was trying a few years back, but it takes a pretty big press to do it. I certainly couldn't do it on my fly-press. The drip-rail is a separate piece in any case, I've got that section and have made a start on trying to duplicate the last bit of it.
This is still rumbling on, as I've been a bit busy with shows and making stuff for other people. Since I last posted, I've done some testing of the front corner repair section:
And I've discovered that the repairs I did alongside the offside inner wing top are too low, so I've cut them off and done them again. A chap on the farm threw out a 6' spirit level a few weeks back (one of the bubbles had spread out, but not the horizontal one) which made it much easier to check them. I hesitate to say they're spot on now, but they're probably at least as good as they were.
I've also spent some time trying to use one of the cut-back front wings that came with the car, but it's got a big dent in it which also distorts the swage line. As I've no experience at fixing stuff like this, I've decided to cut back one of the wings I already had so I can make some progress, and come back to fixing this one when "I've got nothing else to do".
I've got a little bit more done on this, for some reason I had a sudden inspiration to get a move on while the really hot weather was here, so I did a bit of welding.
Next job is the front edge and flange where it will be plug welded to the bracket that I should have fitted before welding the outer panel in place, which I did after this photo was taken.
I'm doing the other side of it now, but it's been slow going because I've had other things to do. I can't get the shape the same as the offside, for some reason. The down side of it being a while is that I've forgotten how I shaped it.
I'm doing the other side of it now, but it's been slow going because I've had other things to do. I can't get the shape the same as the offside, for some reason. The down side of it being a while is that I've forgotten how I shaped it.
I've done that too. It's so annoying when you can't repeat something you have previously made.
I'm making progress again now - instead of struggling to shape the piece, I've cut it in half and will fit two sections instead of one. After cutting it, it took only a few minutes to get the shape right for the first half and fit that, and the second half will go into place tomorrow.
I've pretty much done the nearside windscreen pillar now, it fits nicely against the wing, so time to move on. The door pillar has some nasty patches on it, removing one of them shows the reason you should remove rusty bits properly rather than patch over them. The HC door pillar has a second skin inside it to add strength, and behind the first patch there are holes in the inner piece. I've cut out and replaced about 4" of the inner this afternoon, and will replace the outer tomorrow. I've had to cut out more just to get access to the inner, but that can't be helped. I do it in small sections so as to not get too far off track with the shape, though this section doesn't matter too much.
