1975 Peugeot 304 S Cabriolet with hard and soft tops.

I've given up trying to make a decent job of rubbing down the nsr wing and am now waiting for a skilled man from the bodyshop dept of the motor group I used to work for doing it for me. Hopefully in two weeks or so.
In the meantime I have completed the repair to the inner wing.



Sanded down and treated the boot area to some etch primer to be followed shortly by epoxy primer.





Sanded and primed the section the hood/hardtop sits on in front of the boot lid.





As I didn't know when my bodyshop man was going to turn up I also burnt and scraped the old underseal off the underside of the boot floor and gave that some epoxy primer.



The after picture seems to have gone awol so will do that next time.

Now that I know I have at least 2 weeks before the osr wing gets some attention I have moved the car over to the side as far as possible, dropped the rear onto axle stands and removed the rear section on the spit. I can now attack the nsr wing/arch with plenty of space on that side and the car more secure. I think I would have been pushing my luck weakening the shell cutting more metal out on the spit and anyway I need the rear bumper on to position the first repair section. More in a few days.

I am enjoying your progress immensely, you are getting better all the time. Great little cars these, my Officer Commanding had one in 1978.

Well, not much getting done in this weather but have been busy although not much to show for it. It is bloody miserable with all this rain as it comes in one side of the tent garage, flows across under the car to the other side and out again. Bit nervous having power cables lying in water and always getting wet when working on the car despite being under cover.






What the pics don't show is the depth of the puddles as the previous owner had a heavy twin wheel transit which has caused various depressions. Takes forever to dry out and causes considerable condensation if the sun come out early morning.

Despite almost being washed away yesterday I managed to get a little bit more done and finished it off today. There is a curved flanged section which takes the panel from the corner to the start of the rear valance. Didn't even attempt to make this in one piece but it turned out better than I could have hoped and at the first try. No wasted metal for once.

The two parts made up ready for welding.


Tacked then removed and fully welded on the inside.


Welds added to the outer edge where I did not get full penetration then dressed back.


Splash of etch primer to see how it looked and am I happy with that? Hell yeah. It is a visible seam so will have a few tack welds from behind and then seam sealer forced in.


Just need a bit of trimming and that bit is done. Other side is almost done and then it will be the rear valance to make and join the whole lot together.. Only got a picture to work from and need to locate the latch for the spare wheel carrier somehow. Also need the recess for the tailpipe but don't have an exhaust so might have to guess or do that later.


I would like to say more tomorrow but better make it next week. (Perfection takes time ha ha.)

Lower section of the rear valance is underway but still very much a work in progress. Wish I knew what I was doing.

Totally flat piece of 18 gauge steel sized up.


Decided to do a joggled joint as the inner will be in a box section so I can fully paint and seal it before closing the box and there is access through the boot grommets for injecting wax.


I got the measurements for the depth of the panel from a French forum as this was what I had to work from.



Gave the bottom of the panel a 90 degree bend and left it deeper than needed so I could get the shrinker on it to get the curve in the panel. Will need to trim that back by half. The old panel had been folded back on itself but that looks like a corrosion trap so I think just reduce the depth of the lip will do it. No idea what it is supposed to be like. Also need to use the bead roller with a round die about 3" up from the bottom of the panel and will try that tomorrow. Just hope I can get it straight.



Still lots to do on this panel before moving on to the inner panel which welds to the boot floor, then onto this panel and carries the spare wheel latch. Need a cut out on the rear panel to clear the latch release.

Check that the gas pipe hasn't fractured in the welding harness, had this happen a while back ,depending on the angle of the harness the pipe split would seal up ,another position it would leak and cause the weld to become full of porosity. Took me ages to trace.

Got the welder working better but strangely I need to have the amps lower than normal and the wire speed higher than normal. Not convinced it is right but it is manageable.

This is one of the slightly better bits.


Much the same as I had to do on the other side.


Work on the rear panel is continuing at a slow pace. Got the measurement of 165mm from the flange at boot floor level to the bottom of the panel from a helpful man on a French forum and more or less have that. Got some movement as I joggled a bit too much.


Also added the swage line at the bottom which I will adjust to length before welding it on. Good thing is the weld will be totally covered by the bumper.

In conjunction with the corner pieces I already made it is starting to look better although it is nowhere near fitting correctly. Should have maybe made the corner sections second and might have remake them.


Got the first part of the inner rear valance held in with self tappers for now. Need to make the cut out for the spare wheel latch and bend the flange for welding to the outer section.

Don't see a problem with it - if you wanted you could replicate the spotwelds on the outer flange - I use a 3mm drill bit lightly to form the centre then a 5mm drill bit with the point rounded off it - again used lightly to form the indent 

Second attempt at the inner valance which carries the spare wheel latch was much better although it took a lot of fitting and removing for adjustments with the shrinker, a hammer and a few swear words. The cut out for the latch is intentional and for once not a Pickle up.




Weather is miserable and today I feel chilled to the bone with standing in puddles all day and the damp in general. The rain is unbelievable and her indoors is giving me grief, "you're 67 years old not 47" I keep being told.