Yesterday I got in the garage in the morning and started looking at the wing.  I bolted it up and positioned the rear edge to give a very reasonable door gap.  The issue I have now is that the wing bows out in the centre.  Actually the wing is quite out of shape.  Not having another car to look at mens that I don't know how the shape of the wing should be exactly but it is clear that it needs some cutting and shutting to remove some metal and lose the bulging but where is not clear.  So I took to thinking about what was needed when I became distracted.

Initially, by chance, I found the original door hinge bolts that were rusty and tired looking.  What I noticed was that they were steel made whereas the new bolts I have been using are some kind of alloy and as a result too soft which cause the cross head to deteriorate when being screwed in and out of the door frame (I have the correct Phillips bit too).  I turned on the wire wheel and got cleaning them as it seemed that these would be better to use than the soft new replacements.  After I had cleaned up about six or seven of these I caught the wire wheel with the bolt and it pulled it out of my hand into and around the metal guard cover before spitting it out at high velocity.  As it is a good day I had the doors open for some day light and therefore the bolt was able to sail out of the garage over my garden and into the neighbours garden where they were sitting having a cup of tea, damn.  We are having a little battle about falling apples and broken glass house windows so I thought it best to check the bolt hadn't landed near them, fortunately it hadn't, phew.  I put the bolts down and turned my attention to other stuff.

I have the use of my Mother in Law's 4x4 this week so it seemed like a good idea to so see if I could get the wings sandblasted.  So I called the chap who did the bulkheads some time ago to discover that he has retired.  He is an interesting chap and was kind enough to recommend two people to me who were both nearer me in sunny North London (it is today, even in October) which was good.  He went on to criticise the first for using soda blasting which he thought was too gentle to the metal as it 'needs to be aggressive to get the rust out and find the holes' but then said the second one he recommended did something better, but what I didn't catch what exactly.  The second chap had an eBay advert which I looked up and it looked pretty impressive so I gave him a call.  He seemed knowledgeable and was happy to do the work and better still he could do it in the timeframe that suited me this week.  I asked for a price and got a guide of £65 per wing but maybe more depending on the amount of rust.  This made me wish for the preretirement days of the original man, oh well.

I then got back to looking at the wing and decided that I really should get the welding equipment situation sorted as I had a week off work to enable me to collect the cylinders.  A few phone calls and I had it sorted.  I had previously rented a set of cylinders from BOC the dominant supplier however they were charging me north of £130 a year for the rent and some years I hardly used the stuff so I decided a last April to return them.  There are a couple of companies who now stock rent free cylinders which seemed a much better deal for me.  I paid £220 to rent two cylinders and £108 for the Oxygen and Acetylene gas which can now sit in my garage until I need a refill without worry that I am wasting money.  The only worry is if the company goes bust and I end up with two worthless cylinders and no one to refill them but it was a risk I had to take.  I duly headed north to Hertford to collect the bottles.  Job done and I could return my attention the wing, or rather I could start procrastinating again, time for a beer and some dinner!

The only issue with yesterday is that having spent or committed £600 plus to the wings and gas I have raided my 'toy' fund which means I will have to wait some time for the Di2 electronic gears upgrade I have planned for my push bike, oh well.

For now I need some breakfast, Wilf needs a walk then I have a good few hours to look at the wing and get brave with the angle grinder.

Had Saturday free to tinker so I thought I'd do one of the jobs that has been disturbing me for a while, the off side door.  

It is easy to see that as the door rises it falls back away from the front wing leaving a dreadful gap. 

I had planned to weld a section of aluminium to the door to make up the gap as shown above but when I called Bell Classics in the week to ask if they wanted to do the job for me (I don't have aluminium welding facilities) they were a little reticent.  They advised that the new piece would have to be a sheet that has been folding to match the edge of the rest of the door and that the welding was likely to cause a few issues with heat warping.  I had quiet a long chat with Andy and he casually asked if I had enough metal to unpick the edge, fold it flat and then bend it back again in the new position.  I look back now and wonder why that hadn't occurred to me.  

I got home that day and checked and realised that I probably did have with the exception of one bit that had been cut away to fit over a rib in the door frame.  I got to thinking about dealing with the small section of the door skin that had been removed and how I might cover that up when I remembered that I had some Lumiweld left over from my kit car building days.  I had, in my mind fallen out with Lumiweld as I had previously struggled to work with it successfully so I decided to google it to see if there was any fresh advise on how to use it.  I eventually came across a post that I made ten years ago  on a kit car forum saying how good it was which really surprised me as I had it down as a little Mickey Mouse in my mind, I guess that I once felt differently about it.  Anyway, I watched a few youtube videos and decided that I should practice with it.  Having returned my Oxy-Acetylene to BOC (the rent was killing me) and not yet got round to getting some rent free bottles I was reduced to using the butane gas canister I have for lighting the fire (don't ask, bad down draft in the chimney in the cold weather on our wood burner).  With the benefit of hindsight I realise that this is a much better source of heat because it is gentle and somewhat broader.  Anyway, a few reasonable practice solders (or whatever one might call using Lumiweld) I got on with the main job.

The folded section of the door skin was very easy to unfold, a result.  I hammered it flat then started working out where the skin should be bent back from.  A few trail fits and a bit of hammering and all was good.  I had split the aluminium in a few places which I think may be from ageing in the metal?  So I got out the butane gas canister and started heating.  It took ages, like fifteen minutes to get the door hot enough to solder/weld with this stuff but when it did flow it flowed well.  I filled the various sections that need it and then waited for it to cool down.

Once done I ground it down and mounted it on the car.  It might look like there is room for improvement but, on the car, it looks loads better as the wing is only roughly fitted so the gap will end up being parallel.

Very happy am I.

The new wing gap

So I have the shroud sorted, apart from the grille aperture, and the off side door.  Both front wings are close but I suspect that they will need some cutting and messing with to get the lines acceptable.  The near side door needs some of the treatment that the off side has had this weekend and the rear wing, near side sill and B post are roughly done.  It almost feels like I am making progress!  I am going to make the off side front wing correct next and then switch sides to other front wing/door so that starting at the front and working back the car gets done.

I have a few days in the garage planned for the week after next due to it being half term holiday which is very cool.  Today I started on the off side door gap which is suspect.  I feel like I have been here lots of times before so I just welded on the panel that has lots of big holes in it and so looks like a piece of cheese.  It sits between the A post and the bulk housing and adds rigidity and strength to the A post, I'm not really sure why it wasn't fitted before.? I then started on the outer sill and realised that I needed to weld up the bottom edge of the inner sill as it will be covered by the outer sill.  This was all nice and easy fun.  Then I trial fitted the outer sill and realised that it didn't fit (of course!) so I then spent some time hitting it with Dad's old hammer which was most enjoyable.  Eventually it got there and I deiced that was enough for one day.

I came into the house and started thinking about the way forward as there are lots of options.  I could get the door edges welded to make them the correct shape for the aperture or I could get the wings sandblasted.  My worry with that is if I get them done when I have the opportunity to work on the car I will miss out as I won't be able to get much done without the parts.  On the other hand I have the use of my mother in laws 4x4 over the half term holiday next week and I do actually need to get them done.  So I decided to look for more local welders and sandblasters and got on to an advert for lumi-weld which I actually have from the kit car days and began thinking that perhaps I could do it my self.  This is clearly worrying so I am going to have a think about it before I decide.

It was the last Sunday in September and a fine day too.  I had the whole day to make the final sections of the shroud lower front brackets and fit them.  I started by cutting out the pieces of steel that I welded to the bulkhead to keep it in the correct position for two reasons.  Initially it occurred to me that these might be doing their job too effectively and preventing the bulkhead from adjusting as required to get the front aligned.  Also, I needed the angle iron to make the brackets.  Anyway off they came and cleaned, cut and ground into shape they were before being painted in primer.  I then attached them to the shroud, refitted the wings and with the use of some straps and ratchets pulled it all into place before drilling and bolting together.  I released the straps and stood back to see the fruits of my labour:

I realise that I have shown loads of these photos before but this is the first that looks square, even and dare I say it, right.  I appreciate that the photos are hard to see subtleties on but it does look better, the chassis legs at the bottom look well spaced for example.

Both sides look similar and appropriate.  The lines along the top of the wing by the join with the shroud look even too, they were miles different before.

The body just looks better.  However, I am not without my challenges moving forward:

Both of the brackets for the lower front of the shroud look similar but the angles are not the same.

When one looks from above the front panel looks warped somewhat.  From the front this doesn't notice but it is there for sure.  I am confident that I can do something about that but what worries me is that when I take the shroud off, for painting for example, it will return to its original position and undo and of the repair work I do.  Will have to put some work into this.

 Also, the doors have moved alignment.  Now I realise that I should have sorted the front out before I did things like attach the doors but I couldn't wait for ever as well.  The off-side rear wing now sits a little low compared to the door but the swage line still lines up meaning that I am going to struggle to raise it.

The door gaps have shifted, and for the worse.

 Over all though it feels good to have made progress with this car.  It was a lovely day.

Stole another few hours in the garage and extended the box section that runs from the bulkhead to the suspension turret.  It is just tacked in place and looks somewhat neater in real life than it does in this picture.  Ready now to get the shroud back on and finish the clamps to the lower front section.  I am feeling quietly confident about this and hope that it helps to align the shroud correctly because I am keen to make some headway with the car.

This feels amazing but I actually got back in the garage today, two days after the last visit, whatever next.  I essentially welded on the new brackets that I had made for the shroud that mount to the front of the chassis legs.  Seemed like a nice job.

I don't think I'll get in the garage before next Tuesday so I hope to make the brackets to attach the shroud to chassis brackets.  That way I can spend some time in the garage the weekend after next and if the weather is good I can get the car out and start to fit up the front wings, doors etc all over again.  Should be fun.

Since my last post I spent a happy couple of hours last weekend cleaning the gearbox with petrol and a brush, it came up wonderfully but like a sausage I forgot to take a photo before I put it into storage at my Mother-in-Laws.

Today I had a whole day in the garage so I dragged the car outside again to take a look at it.  I decided that the near-side is too high so got out a strap and tightened it to a pole clamped to the trailer to pull it down and I felt it looked better, at least the headlights looked level.

So I'm looking at it and thinking to myself that if I could get it to stay there I'd be happier.  If I could get it to stay at that height and shift the front slightly to the right I'd be happy.  So I start looking at the car in detail and realised that I could possibly use the return for the bonnet aperture but failed to secure it in the same place with mole grips and started to think that there must be more to it than this. I make a coffee and sit and stare at it.  I glance at the old original frame that I have under the green sheet to the right of the car and notice the bit of metal at the front that connects to the bottom of the shroud and suddenly feel excited.

On inspection I realise that the metal would have been strong enough 60 years ago to hold the shroud in place and feel like I have had a Eureka moment.  With those inplace I can definitely move the shroud around before adding the wings etc.  I had always thought that I would make some brackets out of thin steel t weld on at the latter stages, it had never occurred to me that I might need them for positioning.  So I set about making some brackets for the frame which I again forgot to photo, think I was too excited to think straight.  I did take a photo of the chassis legs having stripped the galvanised coating off and painted with weld through primer.

The fitting will have to wait until another day though, hopefully not too far away.....