What with it being half term holiday and my lovely wife being away for Ironman training I managed to get a few days in the garage this week.  I also managed to get to Orchard Restorations for their annual open day with my wife and Wilf the Bulldog which was great, more on that later.

I returned to the car and set about finishing the wing.  I fitted it to the car and decided to get straight to the chase and weld it up without any faffing about and it seems to have come out really well.

I then looked at the rear inner section which had lots of pin holes in it (not clearly visible in the photo) so I set about cutting off the original and making a new section.

I kind of like this type of activity, It is one big puzzle to be solved.

Slowly but surely I got there.

It took most of the day though, measuring, cutting, bending & measuring again etc.

At last, all welded.



























I then looked at the side in a little more detail and decided I needed to work on the front wing lower rear edge.  I did the same on the other side so I know what to do.

One of the things that has been teasing my brain is the amount of cut-off that I need on the B post.  Not sure why actually apart from it being really obvious that it would need cutting back from the very first time I welded the inner wing on.  I decided to buy the  aluminium panel that sit on the inner wing and sill to enable me to work out what metal I need to remove.  Only when I fitted it I came across an unexpected issue.  This is what they look like on John Hendrusson's 100 BN1.

And this is what they look like when trial fitted to my car from the inside, miles out.

So in typical fashion I ignored it and got on with the rest of the car.

Happy with the door gap on the rear near side.

In the garage the line down the near side looks good too.

The rain stopped and I got the car out.  I have been looking forward to the moment when I realise that the wings fit, the door gaps are good and I can can get on with the task of welding up the inner body and and fitting the boot panels etc.

I knew that moment wasn't now though.  The lines down the side are just not good enough and the sills must be in the incorrect positions.  So I did what I always do, cut the lot off and start again.

I am not  sure how easy I will find the other side, but this side was easy to remove and reposition.  I am a little worried that I cut too much out of the front section of the rear wing last weekend but I can always modify it again if need  be.

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.