I managed to get to Hertford to replace my Acetylene bottle yesterday which was good.  I wanted to use the gas to remove some lead from the front wing because several sections had holes in and I wanted to know if there were more than I could see.  There didn't appear to be any more but it soon became clear that the wing is very thin in places towards the front.  I cut a few sections out and replaced them only to find that I was blowing holes left right and centre, it was a pain.  My mig welder is lovely but I wish it would operate on a lower power level than it does, boy does it get mean with the thin metal.  You can see in the photo that there is a lot of damage from an accident in the wings past life which I will have to look at later.  I am a little worried that the wing will corrode again  in a fairly short period of time due to the thinness of the metal but as I don't have the money for a new set of steel wings there isn't any more I can do,

I had promised myself that I would start at the very front of the wing and work backwards finishing ever job as I went but I could not help but jump around a bit.  The next thing I did was to fit the wing and work on joining the rear of the wing up where I had cut a section out.

I went well so I completed the job.

The wing must be a little photogenic as the door gap doesn't look as good in real life as it does there. The very bottom section is bowed out at the very rear of the panel and I am still concerned about if the wing needs a horizontal section removed as I did on the offside.  The line down the car is better than the other side though so I am going to make a judgement on that once I have removed the car from the garage and can take a long distance look at it.

I then started to fit the new inner door panels that cover the sill and B post.  They don't appear to fit which has me wondering about the position of the sills as these were fitted by the previous owner.

They sit about and inch and a half too high, urmm.

So I did the most logical thing and ignored the problem for a while.  I started on the rear wing.

I eventually got frustrated with it and too the wing off and then the B post off as well.

I got a little further then called it a day
Until next tine,....

Ventured into the garage and finished off the rear wing by welding up the rear section that I repaired earlier and the join from the new lower section that had been attached previously.  I tided up a few more bits and pieces then took the car out to check the lines and swap it round to attach the other side (my garage is not big enough to work on both sides at the same time).

It is hard to show the lines cleanly on the photos but this side is now ok, I can't say its perfect but I think it is acceptable so I am going to move on.

I am however very happy with the lines around the door.  Earlier on I also adjusted the top of the door at the rear to match the lines of the top of the wings and door.  There is a slight difference in the height of the rear wing and the door but not anything that can't be dealt with later on.

Having looked at the other side it became clear of the work that lies ahead as the lines are in desperate need of attention.

However the lines along this side are excellent.

I have been really bad.  I have been in the garage but I got out of the habit of writing up my exploits.  Three weeks ago was the first time I got in there though so it hasn't been too long.

I picked up with the front wing and cut off the lower edge and replaced it with a piece I made.  It went surprisingly smoothly and produced a lovely gap with the door.  I spent some time tidying up the welds and beating it into shape as all the welding had taken its toll on the wing.  It still isn't pretty but it is roughly in line and so I leaded the joins.  I didn't find the leading that easy to do so will look to finish with a skim of filler.

I also fitted a return on the lower section of the wing which naturally had an impact on the hinge movement so I had to get the hammers out again but got there in the end.

The line along the side of the car looks good now

I then turned my attention to the rear wing and started by cutting off the rotten section at the lower  front.  The new section welded on easily enough but as with the other side I had to take a section out of the top half to get the door shut line to a suitable state.

I trial fitted the B post at this stage and it went in a lot easier than the other side did which was good.

Then I fitted the door lock and catch plate to ensure correct alignment then welded the B post on.

I have always been conscious of some heavy corrosion on the top of the wing where a catch for the hood was mounted and decided to cut the area out and replace it.

The rear door gap looks good as well having fully welded the joins up.

That was all two weeks ago  In the last two weeks I took out a section of the lower wing behind the wheel arch that was very corroded.

I started to replace it by welding in the flat section on the underside of the wing.  I enjoyed making this section although it took some time.

The end result is cool though.

Christmas 2014, day 3, New Years Day in fact.  Started off by cutting a section out of the wing and then tacking it together which improved the door gap.

Then I added the lower section of the wing, again after removing some metal.

The door gap looks good now although I am going to cut out the lower edge and replace it.  However, the wing is looking like a patchwork quilt, this is going to take some work to get it flat and ready for paint.









































The shape is looking better though so I am happy with that.

Christmas 2014, day 2 and still on the wing.  Over my first coffee I discovered that the main issue left with the wing was that it is still too big, as in too tall.  When I pull the wing down it sits much cleaner on the car.  So I decided to cut some more metal out of it only this this time by going across other than down.  I also decided that I should fit the sill first as the wing has to sit over this and I wanted to make sure that it was not going to have an impact on the final wing position before I went too far.  To do this I needed to clean up some of the tack welds on the sill section and indeed finish the welding on any areas that would be covered by the sill.  This meant welding on the chassis section that had been galvanised by the previous owner and this created lots of smoke:

Eventually the sill was ready for fitting having tidied up the inner sill and painted it with the usual weld through primer.

The sill was simple enough but like every other panel did require some modification, this time it was too long in the section that sits between the wings and below the door, the newly acquired Oxy-Acetelyne was called into action for that.

So I then pondered the next cut for a coffee or two and then went for it

Once done the wing settled nicely and looked a much better fit.  However, as this is before I have welded the lower section back on I will avoid getting too excited.  Once again my eye was drawn to the rear section which was not quite right, the door gap was not now as good as it could be and before long I was cutting again, this time over the first cut I did a few months back.  At this stage time caught up with me and I washed up and headed inside to light the fire and debate the days progress with the dog over a cold Guinness.

Well Christmas is past but the holiday period is not, a lovely time of year for a teacher.  I am a little disturbed by my lack of access to the garage during the last term, not a single visit, must try harder, must try harder, must....... you get the gist.  I was lucky enough to get some Di2 components for my bike from Santa so I need to fit some time in for the bikes as well, think I need to be more disciplined.

Anyway, yesterday I had an uninterrupted day in the garage and having cleared the bikes out and moved the car over to one side I spent a few minutes deciding what was next to do.

I decided to finish the wing off properly and then work backwards.  By finish the wing off I meant get it ready for final filling / lead loading.  There are some issues which I tried to capture in the photos.

The lower rear edge is shocking (as is the door gap at this point)
The wheel arch has two shocking repairs
The wing in badly bowed in the central area above and below the aperture for the flash trim

I decided to start with the lower rear edge and cut off a section of steel from an un wanted sill, cleaned it up and folded it into shape but lost my nerve before cutting the original off.

Then I turned my attention to the bowed area which is not that visible in the photos but stands out like a sore thumb to me when I look down the line.  I decided that to reduce the bow I should cut into the wing and weld it up again.  Simple plan.

Sure enough, it got rid of the bow, well, more precisely it changed it from bowing outwards to bowing inwards (convex to concave?) which feels better but certainly not finished, umm.

Having cut and welded below the aperture it made the bow above it more pronounced so I cut in to the top section as well.  So now that area is bowed in as well.  When I look down the line of the car it is better than it was but it is not right.   Also, it makes the area around the wheel arch look really bowed out now.  So basically I have just shifted the problem, such is life.

I'm about to walk the dog, have breakfast and then get back in to the garage for the next stint. Looking forward to it already.

Not much energy to get in the garage after work recently and the weekends have been consumed by other stuff.  Last weekend I did go to the classic cars show at the Birmingham NEC with my wife and had a lovely day wandering around.

I spoke with Pro Strip about dipping the wings and think I will have to bite the bullet and do that.  I feel a little annoyed that I spend £310 getting them blasted only to realise that it isn't really the answer.  My issue with the wings now is that there is clearly some rust still in the steel which is visible in the crevices of the steel and there must be rust in the returns for the wheel aperture (where the wing wraps around a steel wire to form the edge) and in the A post (at the rear of the front wing, where it is bolted to the A post) because these are hidden by metal and therefore not accessible to the sandblasting process.  I knew that the returns wouldn't get blasted but when I saw rust in the wing surface both on the inside and the outside I was a little disturbed.  Anyway, with the wings now clear of filler and layers of paint I can at least cut/shut and beat them to the desired shape.

Working this weekend, which for a teacher is a pain and doing a coast to coast cycle next weekend so not sure when I can get on with it.